Politics make strange bed fellows

A friend sent me an article that appeared recently in The Lima News. "What's behind the pastor's messages?" by Leonard Pitts Jr. who writes for The Miami Herald. My friend has spent years working in local government doing his civic duty. In the article Pitts makes his claim that 1: Fred Phelps is actually gay. Phelps is GodHatesFags.com and is currently traveling to military funerals with his followers celebrating the death of fallen soldiers by yelling and holding signs that say things like "Our soldiers are dying in war because the United States supports gays!"
2: As despicable as his behavior is, Phelps has the right under our constitution to free speech and we should be careful not to restrict Phelps or anyone's rights under our constitution.

It kind of reminds me of the saying "politics make strange bed fellows." I strongly believe that Fred Phelps is a sore on the ass of mankind. His views are egregious and abhorring. He is out of touch with the God that he professes to worship.
But.....
I agree that he should have the right to free speech. Our democracy is weakened by States like Wisconsin that recently enacted legislation limiting free speech. I understand Wisconsin's desire to protect the right to grieve for families of fallen soldiers. However, if more and more restrictions are placed on the Bill of Rights, before we know it, we will not have any rights remaining. Our Federal government, thanks to George Bush, has already paved the way to the destruction of our civil liberties. After all, it was George Bush who created "free speech zones" to replace "free speech."
George Bush has and still is illegally wiretapping innocent American citizens.

In January I purchased a copy of our constitution. I wanted to have my own personal copy before it becomes completely obsolete. In a recent poll only 1 in 20 people surveyed could list all five rights guaranteed in Article One of the Bill of Rights (1.freedom of religion, 2.freedom of speech, 3.freedom of press, 4.freedom to assemble, 5.freedom to petition the government).
However in the same survey 5 in 20 people could list all five members of television's Simpson family (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and I forget the baby girl's name). I take from this survey that the American people don't really care about their guaranteed freedoms. It could just be that they take them for granted.

When we hear or see stories of abhorrent behavior such as the behavior of Fred Phelps at military funerals we must recognize Phelps' constitutional right of free speech. When we become aware that our government is illegally spying on us we must never claim "as long as you are not doing anything wrong, why should it matter?" The right of privacy guaranteed in Article 4 of the Bill of Rights is a guarantee for all of us American citizens especially when we "are not doing anything wrong!"

Wake up to what is happening around you before it is too late.