Legal doesn’t always make it right

Author: Barrett Rainey

One of life’s harder lessons for me has been to accept something as legal when I know damned well it’s wrong. Very wrong. And within the last year, the U.S. Supreme Court has hit me square between the eyes with just such a conflict. Twice.

First, it was assigning the personal right of free speech to corporations to allow them to contribute unlimited amounts of money to political candidates and their campaigns. While it may be legal in the eyes of a majority of the Court, there is something morally wrong in the effect the decision has already had on American politics. To say nothing of the lack of common sense in granting all “individual” rights to corporate entities.

The second assault on reality, and the accompanying common sense, came this week in a SCOTUS decision to push the freedom of speech right far beyond the commonly accepted boundary of our society. It did so by finding in favor of a little Kansas “church.” I say “church” because these cretins represent no God I’ve ever worshiped. Their loud litany of vileness comes from no teachings of the Christ I know.

From now on, when the loons and hatemongers of that “church” show up at the military funeral of some soldier, sailor or Marine to shout and march and display their anti-gay signs, they do so with that decision in their collectively slimy pockets. They have the “right.” It’s legal.

Legal? Maybe. But it damned sure ain’t right!

I’ve never been confronted by them personally. Just watching their antics on television has made me switch channels. I cannot possibly imagine the soul-deep pain of a wife, mother, father, brother, sister or child that has to bury a loved one with the chanting and sign waving of their evil presence.

The father of a dead Marine took the case against these people all the way through our legal system, hoping to save other families from the intrusion and hatred he and his family experienced. He lost in the Court, 8-1.

After the decision, he predicted there would be violence and possibly armed confrontation at some future clash over a military grave. Yes, it can be said he was speaking emotionally, reacting to the bad news he had just received. But I believe he meant it. And I believe he’s right.

If you’ve ever attended a military funeral, you know it’s impossible to participate in the rite without being affected; without some shivers in your bones caused by the deep meanings of the traditional ritual. That’s especially true for the family. And it’s always true for a veteran.

Like the grieving father, I believe the SCOTUS decision … while legal … will eventually lead to bloodshed. We have become a country of people reaching for a gun whenever they feel wronged. The Tucson shooter put 31 bullets in a crowd at a quiet shopping center political meeting. A couple of teens at Columbine High didn’t like their social treatment by other students so they killed as many as they could.

We’re told one in four military personnel coming back from our undeclared wars has PTSD. And lot of ‘em won’t be treated. Others will have suffered physical or mental anguish and many of them, too, won’t be cared for. All it takes is for one who knows how to use a gun, is himself walking wounded, and who takes personal offense at these “legal” haters. Just one.

I have friends who condemn the ACLU for defending unpopular and, often, extremely minority causes. They rail about the liberal nut cases who side with people or issues which offend them. They react to the ACLU and its court actions emotionally and not legally. Though a firm believer in the First Amendment, even I have to choke back anger at times that the organization is representing something abhorrent to me.
But in these two decisions in the last year, the U.S. Supreme Court has handed this country two societal problems that overshadow many ACLU issue defense actions. Legal? Apparently. Right? I don’t think so.

The 2010 national political campaign saw hundreds of millions of corporate dollars poured into the election which, in reality, completely overshadowed the legitimacy of issues or candidacies; the direct result of that SCOTUS decision granting the individual “free speech right” to corporate America. We didn’t get the government we voted for. We got the government that was bought for us. The spawn has been born. It will only get worse.

As for the free speech decision dealing with that little Kansas “church,” we’ll see. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it. And, like the grieving father, I believe what we will hear of it next is gunfire.

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