Liberties threatened, but not by White House
Published November 4, 2016
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photo courtesy jleonard, News and Observer[/caption]
by Paul O'Connor, special to The Salisbury Post, November 1, 2016.
A few years ago, a young friend joined us older guys for a beer at our local spot. He’d been watching a lot of Fox News and had had Rush Limbaugh on the radio that afternoon, so when the conversation moved from sports to politics, he emoted his anxieties.
“I’m afraid for my liberties.” President Obama was going to confiscate his guns and pass laws without the approval of Congress, he said with genuine concern.
Playing the role of Uncle Paul, I tried to allay his concerns. Obama wasn’t going to take his guns or his beer.
Americans aren’t about to allow the government to take away their liberties, I said.
Now, after 18 months of this interminable campaign, I’m not so sure he didn’t have a legitimate concern, but not about the now-departing Obama. The greater danger in this regard are the very conservatives he’s so sure would protect his assault rifles. I’m not sure about their willingness to protect any of our other rights.
Donald Trump’s assault on civil liberties have been well documented. He’s enunciated policies that attack our freedom of religion and the press, and he’s proposed elimination of due process in some cases.
Even with Trump’s election looking less likely, my concerns remain because of the North Carolina political environment.
Sen. Richard Burr has attacked his opponent, former state Rep. Debra Ross, on civil liberties grounds. Ross, as a young lawyer, was the executive director of the state’s ACLU chapter, and Burr is loading the TV and Internet with accusations that she’s pro-flag burning and anti-sex offender registry.
That Ross denies both charges is immaterial to this column. Instead, I’m concerned about the civil liberty implications of Burr’s attacks.
Flag burning is distasteful, but it is a form of political speech, the heart of freedom of speech. If the First Amendment only protects what is popular, then it protects nothing.
The sex offender registry raises serious civil liberty questions. It eliminates the notion of paying one’s debt to society and starting anew. We need a serious discussion of the registry and how to protect our children, but we don’t get that in Burr’s political ads; we only get knee-jerk oversimplification.
Voting is at the heart of our civil rights, yet the General Assembly, with Gov. Pat McCrory’s assent, passed a series of measures aimed at suppressing the vote of minorities and young people. The voter identification law recently overturned by the courts was not intended to fight almost non-existent voter fraud. Its purpose was to make it harder for Democratic-leaning voters to vote. And if that isn’t enough, the legislature has decided it will pick our legislators and congressmen with outrageously gerrymandered districts.
When North Carolinians rallied at the Legislative Building to “petition their government for a redress of grievances,” our legislators had them arrested. So, young friend, I share your concern about the threat of our liberties. But the threat comes not from the White House but from the conservative leadership right here at home.
Paul T. O’Connor has written about North Carolina state government and politics for 35 years, He teaches at the School of Media and Journalism at UNC.
http://www.salisburypost.com/2016/11/01/oconnor-liberties-threatened-not-white-house/
November 4, 2016 at 10:55 pm
Norm Kelly says:
'He teaches at the School of Media and Journalism at UNC.' Now there's a scary darn thought! Someone who goes through life with eyes half shut, brain partially disengaged, teaching snowflakes all about media & journalism. No wonder so many snowflakes come out of journalism school with the attitude 'i want to change the world'. Which is not the purpose of any journalism student/practitioner. The job of journalism people is to first report news. Second to keep tabs on & report on those in power and how they impact the rest of us.
What journalism has become, in waaaay too many cases, is defenders of libs/socialists/liars/law-breakers. You may not like Fox News but at least they are honest about their stand on issues. It's the likes of the Raleigh Noise & Disturber that calls itself a news paper, MSNBC which is so despised for it's lack of honesty that it's audience is going away, CNN which is rightfully called the clintonista news network that only terminated DonnaBrazil AFTER she was caught pandering to the liar who wants to be chief, that are biased, liars, anti-American. And it's this list of 'journalists' that want to change the world; but not in a good way!
'The voter identification law recently overturned by the courts was not intended to fight almost non-existent voter fraud. Its purpose was to make it harder for Democratic-leaning voters to vote.' First, the court that did the over-turning: they ignored the rest of the country in order to come to this bogus conclusion. They ruled that blacks are incapable. They ruled that blacks are easily deceived. They basically said that blacks can't be trusted to properly vote unless they have demon-party help. And they said blacks are incapable of getting (paid for) state issued IDs. All of which is the most racist, disgusting, hateful stup1dity that could spew forth from a group of people that claim to love blacks, respect blacks, and have the best in mind for blacks! Such hypocrites! And racists! When these racists point a finger of blame at conservatives, remember that 3 are pointing back at themselves. Cuz it's the demon/socialist/media types who are the actual racists! And an ignorant bunch on top of it!
Why is it hard for demon-leaning voters to vote just because they have to prove who they are? Is it because so many dead people are voting for demons? Is it because so many illegals are voting for demons? Is it because so many people who have moved out of the district are voting for demons? Why exactly is it that demons ALWAYS prevent voter rolls from being properly purged of dead or moved individuals. There was just another case brought by the NAALCP that was decided AGAINST voters this week that said voter rolls could NOT be purged of dead people or those who appear to have moved. What is it about the NAALCP that they believe people who aren't authorized to vote should stay on the rolls? Other than the fact that the NAALCP has been duped by the demon party!
'the legislature has decided it will pick our legislators and congressmen with outrageously gerrymandered districts.' You mean these districts are WORSE than the districts gerry'd by demons for DECADES? You mean like the districts that were purposely configured, regardless of the shape, so that only a black person could win the election? Because there was an overwhelming number of blacks in the district? You mean that kind of gerry? Funny how libs hate gerry when they aren't in control of gerry!
I'm not surprised at the tone & content of this post. It comes from a die-hard, left-wing zealot who found a home in 'higher' education. If he would concentrate on actually educating, perhaps real journalists would come out of UNC!
And, YES, Hildaliar will appoint 2nd amendment haters to SCOTUS; Hildaliar will appoint socialized medicine (single payer) advocates to SCOTUS. So, it's the current unqualified socialist occupier and the Hildabeast who want to take away personal freedoms, implement central planner control of daily life. It's Hildaliar who wants to attack private business and allow government control of every aspect of business. You don't have to like or vote for Trump to see the disaster that is both Hildaliar AND socialism. Some of us have our eyes wide open. Then there's media and 'scholarly' types!
