We have a regular caller named Jeff, who always ends his comments with, “Your right to be free is my right to be free from you.”
That’s a powerful reminder that freedom is not the infliction of someone else’s frustrations on the rest of us. And that's really the basis for the opening section of the Declartaion of Independence about the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You can pursue happiness as long as you don’t infringe on someone else’s life.
But at the moment, America seems beset with people who not only refuse to pursue happiness, but seem determined to make sure that everyone else is as unhappy as they are.
We have the anti-racial harmony crowd, who promote racial strife every chance they get. We have the anti-American crowd, who want to stomp on the American flag. There's the anti-Christian crowd. And the anti-happiness crowd. They’re not happy about anything and they try to rain on everyone’s parade.
And, yes, the Founders decided to guarantee that they would all have freedom of speech. But just because you have freedom of speech doesn’t mean you have to be stupid about it. The founders didn’t try to legislate anti-stupidity because they knew that wasn't their job. Some things you’ve got to do on your own.
The anti-Christian crowd wants to take out their frustrations on the rest of us. If you don’t like Christian beliefs, that’s your choice. But I have the right to believe as I want to. One of the motivating factors that caused the founders to want to break away from King George was that they were being denied that religious freedom.
So I want to say something, as we approach this celebration of our 239th year of our independence, to the anti-racial harmony crowd that always wants to stir up messes, and to the anti-American crowd that always wants to desecrate the flag, and to the anti-Christian crowd that doesn’t care that you have a freedom of religion, and to the anti-happiness crowd determined to spread its misery to everyone else. I say this: While we celebrate, you can leave – take a vacation out of the country – or just shut up. Stop trying to rain on our parade.
Many Americans are sick of it. So am I.
All the anti groups out there have one thing in common: They want to be destructive and divisive, and never constructive. To those who want to desecrate the flag, do you have a better alternative? If you do, why don’t you go to that country? To those who are trying to silence Christians: You don’t like our faith? Fine. Present your case for yours.
But you know what? One of the reasons there’s this anti-Christian movement is that our way of life has won. The first time Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister, he gave a speech in Florida to a very large audience. His message that 9/11 was our first major encounter with terrorism, and there are two things about terrorists that America needs to know. 1. They want to kill all of us. 2. They’re envious that your way of life won. The only way they know to fight us is to try to destroy us.
They know that freedom has won. And they're furious about it. The ones that hate us the most don’t just want to catch up to America. They want to destroy America. And when the anti-racial harmony crowd holds its destructive demonstrations, you’re helping the enemy.
So yes, all these malcontents have their freedom of speech. But what they don't have is the right to infringe on everyone else's pursuit of happiness. If you're one of the people doing that, shut up. The rest of us are out of patience with you, and we're not going to give you what you want. You might as well understand that now, so you can make other plans. Such as: Get out.
