A Constitutional Crisis

America is facing a constitutional crisis. As each day draws closer to the 9th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on this country, America is being drawn into a whirl wind of Islamic controversy. A whirl wind that can only end one way in my opinion.

Compliments of a little man and his little church in Gainesville Florida. The entire nation is being set upon and set against each other by the intended actions of this man and his church. And the issue at hand? Is as basic and fundamental as any. "Freedom of speech."

Much has been said and much has been made of the constitutionally protected act of speech, particularly since the end of the Vietnam war. But what has been resolved? An endless number of free speech issues have made their way to the public over the last forty years and in many instances, the issues involved things that were at the least offensive and at worst, questionably of political relevance at all.

The problem with the first amendment protection of speech, is that it was originally designed and aimed at the right to speak out politically. Specifically to aim commentary and protest at the government and to express opinion as such on an individual basis at the powers that be.

Admittedly, we have come a long way from the original intention of the right of free speech. The American Civil Liberties Union has been at the forefront of the battle and they have frequently championed the distasteful and unpopular. Everything from nude dancing to blasphemous attacks on Christianity have been defended by the union and declared freedom of speech issues. But not a peep to be heard from them now as this controversy brews.

Everyone from the Vatican to America's general in Afghanistan have come out in opposition to this little man and his little church in Florida and it's plans to burn Korans on Saturday. And even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the president have chimed in and voiced their displeasure.

Mainstream Christian leaders and personalities from Pat Robertson to Franklin Graham have added their voices to the calls for a stand down by this little congregation in Gainesville. And all of these calls and cries have been hinged upon one simple and basic reality. Those of the Muslim faith? Have threatened violence against Americans if this protest goes forth

Another act of love on the part of the religion of peace? I hardly think so.

And now we have Afghan clerics chiming in and openly threatening American servicemen in Afghanistan with violence and death if this proposed Koran burning goes forth on Saturday in Florida.

An Afghan cleric threatened Thursday that U.S. troops in the country's north would face large protests if a small American church burns copies of the Muslim holy book as planned on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.Religious and political leaders across the Muslim world, as well as several U.S. officials, have called on the church to call off the plan, warning it would lead to violence against Americans. The Rev. Terry Jones, of the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has vowed to go ahead with the bonfire on Saturday, even though he has been denied the required permit.
Abdul Hadi Rostaqi, a member of the cleric council in Afghanistan's largely peaceful Balkh province, said Thursday that, if the burning goes ahead, "a big protest will be held" in the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif next Monday. NATO-led troops stationed in the city — one of the country's main centers of the Islamic teaching — would be the primary target.

So it looks like we have a constitutional crisis in the making if you ask me. Do we as Americans accept the basic premise of our constitution? And the bill of rights that provides for every citizen to ave the right to speak out or act in order to make a political statement? Or do we cower in the face of global pressure and threats from the supposed religion of peace?

Make no mistake, the intended actions of the pastor in Florida may be distasteful to many, but they are the actions of a man and his church who are engaged in no more than their constitutionally protected right to speak out against what they see as wrong.

The only problem being? What they see as wrong and what they are speaking out against, is the religion of Islam. And there in lies the dilemma. At what point do we draw the line. At what point can a line be drawn. At what point is the believed greater good of the whole, allowed to supersede and trump the good and benefit of the individual or their constitutionally protected right to free speech?

I believe that this pastor and his congregation will reap the wrath of both state and federal governments if they go ahead with their plans. The state of Florida will prosecute them on the sham that they failed to obtain a permit to burn. Meanwhile the federal government will launch an investigation into alleged "hate crime" violations, probably via the Justice Department's civil rights division. And no where in the mix will you hear so much as a whisper from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Nay, they will flee from the presence of this controversy like vampires fleeing from the rays of the sun. And in the aftermath, we will see those in Washington, led by those like Hillary Clinton, attempting to revise and preempt any and all future attempts by Americans to speak out on any level against Islam and the religion of peace. And when Americans are killed in the name of Islam? No one will point an accusatory finger in any direction other than toward this little man and his little congregation in Florida.

Yes, we have a constitutional crisis upon us. And the time may very well have come for the opening of the eyes of many Americans. An opening of the eyes to the revelation that our freedoms are at best fleeting glimpses of what they once were. A reality that we have finally arrived at the place forewarned by many. A place where individualism becomes a thing of fantasy, along with the practice and belief that the individual has or should have anything more than limited freedom. and that the freedom that is allowed, is controlled and rationed by those more capable of determining right from wrong than the lowly citizen who actually believed in his or her own right to self determination.

Watch closely the outcome and the aftermath of what is about to unfold. Will this little man in Florida along with his little congregation succeed in triggering the catalyst event that calls all individual rights in America into question? More than probably. And we will all have front row seats as all that has been fought for to maintain for the last two hundred years is subjugated to the religious desires and threats of an alien religion and a nation of leaders who will willingly subjugate their people on the alter of political correctness and the worship of an egalitarian god..