The Right to Remain Silent

We have a first amendment which guarantees, among other precious rights, the right to free speech, specifically speech that is intended to criticize the government, but the general notion has developed that this includes most speech on most any matter. Of course there are exceptions that a wise person will adhere to, limits on their free speech. If a husband exercises his right to free speech when answering his wife whether she actually does look fat in her new outfit, she will in all likelihood exercise her right to deny him certain marital benefits for an indeterminate amount of time. So speech, while it may be free in a sense, doesn’t come without costs, especially when it is uttered without much thought or consideration.

We also have another amendment, the fifth, which guarantees us the right not to incriminate ourselves. It is from this amendment that the Miranda warning comes, this is the line that we all know from the cop shows over the years, the one that tells the would be perp that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can and will be used against him. Most reasonable people are able to balance these two rights and make intelligent decisions as to when to exercise one or the other, in other words, we learn when to speak out and when to keep our pie holes shut. Conservatives and Republicans these days can never be accused of having a surplus of reason. For any Republican out there who might happen to be reading this, you know what a surplus is, it’s what we used to have in terms of our budget and general good will around the world until your guy George W and his evil lieutenant Dick Cheney got hold of the levers of power and proceeded to ram them straight up our collective backsides for nearly a decade. I think it’s high time, until they come up with something worth saying, that Republicans exercise their right to remain silent.

But you say, shouldn’t we encourage a vigorous and robust debate among liberals, conservatives, and moderates? Shouldn’t we want everyone to have their say, in the name of freedom of speech and democracy? Shouldn’t all ideas have a place at the table? Quite simply, no they shouldn’t. Not to the extent that the ideas are lacking in intelligence and are grounded in fear mongering and obstructionist hating of the government or of our president simply for its own sake. And this pretty much sums up the dialogue being offered by the Right Wing in this country, as represented by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and his lapdogs in the Republican party who would sooner have Nancy Pelosi over for a Sunday afternoon barbecue than to stand up to the self-proclaimed Godfather of Conservative Values.

The Right includes Fox News Channel and their litany of blabbering heads who spew forth their venom to a close-minded audience on a continual basis, and it includes Republicans who have designs on unseating President Obama in the next election, which is now barely more than three years away, just around the corner unless you happen to have a life and think about things other than electoral politics. Sara Palin, who will do whatever it takes to keep her overrated mug in front of the cameras, John McCain, who for some reason thinks anyone still cares what he thinks, and now even Mitt Romney, the elegantly coiffed Mormon business mogul from the Northeast who seemed to represent the best hope the GOP had of coming off as at least semi-credible over the next few years.

Et tu Mitte? I actually thought somewhat highly of Mr. Romney, he seems to be a pretty intelligent character, especially in comparison to many of his fellow cast members. But even old Mitt, in an attempt to fit in with the crowd has resorted to a simplistic view of a complex world, apparently thinking that this is what plays in the small towns across our great land on the assumption that these good folk are all a bunch of simpletons with no understanding of the world outside of the county line. How else to explain his recent remark about Obama going around the world apologizing for America?

This was a reference to remarks our president made in his recent speech in Cairo, Egypt, in which he addressed the Arab and Muslim world with deftness and effectiveness that demonstrates the power of the spoken and written word and why we are fortunate to have a president who is articulate and intelligent. I will address the Middle East in a future column, but for now suffice to say that this is arguably the most important region as it pertains to our foreign policy, and that it is a complex and diverse area that does not lend itself to easy solutions. The last thing we need is would be leaders like Mitt Romney painting an inaccurate picture of what our president is trying to accomplish all so that he can pander to the base that he thinks will get him elected. You’re better than that Mitt, leave that demagoguery to Sara Palin.

Not to be left out of the party, John McCain is unhappy with Obama’s response to the disputed Iranian elections. This is pretty rich coming from the guy who distinguished himself as a candidate by his utter lack of judgment and rush to it during the campaign, as shown by his comments on the economy, firing public officials, and selecting a buffoon with an annoying accent to be his running mate. The same guy who sang Bomb Iran is the guy who almost ended up calling the shots, we can all be thankful that at least he can do minimal damage from his safe Arizona Senate seat.

No, we are not served by debate when one side is so devoid of anything worthwhile to add to it. And that is a shame, because the last thing I would want is a lack of debate, I believe that our system is best served when there are good ideas being bandied about and discussed, not when one side has a monopoly on the process. Which means that Republicans, Conservatives, Libertarians, whoever else is out there who might have something useful to add better start stepping up to the plate and taking a healthy cut. As of now, the debate is sorely lacking in intelligence, relevance, and responsible disagreement, in other words, the stuff of which successful and vital democracies are made of.