[Vision2020] Freedom From Ideological Tyranny

[Tom Hansen]

>From "Character Counts" at:

http://charactercounts.org/michael/

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Freedom From Ideological Tyranny
By Michael Josephson

The Fourth of July should be more than a birthday celebration marked by 
fireworks. It’s a time to appreciate and honor the great democracy our 
forefathers created, including a profoundly wise system of Constitutional 
checks and balances.

Conflicting views of rights and responsibilities are unavoidable, but 
passionate disagreement and debate should strengthen rather than undermine 
our national commitment to peacefully and respectfully resolving 
differences. It doesn’t serve us well when our most cherished principles 
are assaulted under the banner of what some people call a “cultural war.”

The process of refining our definition of liberty in a manner that 
balances personal freedoms against various perspectives of a good society 
is continuous and endless. Every decade has seen momentous conflicts 
involving civil and religious rights, including prohibition, polygamy, 
pornography, capital punishment, euthanasia, abortion, and private 
homosexual conduct. In each case, court decisions pleased some and 
infuriated others.

I’ve disagreed with many majority decisions of the Supreme Court. Still, 
it’s unwise and essentially unpatriotic to attack the court system and 
vilify judges when we disagree with a judgment. And it’s arrogant to 
equate the intensity of our convictions with the likelihood that we’re 
right. 

The issues that reach the Supreme Court are significant. But it’s vastly 
more important that we have and support a method of peacefully and 
thoughtfully resolving ideological rifts that threaten our ability to live 
together in respectful peace. 

If we lose confidence in the wisdom or integrity of the judicial process 
and try to rig it so we’ll get the answers we want, we will all someday 
find ourselves on the other side of ideological tyranny.

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Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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