First Amendment Courage

The self-righteous right is dead wrong that a Muslim community center 2 blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center dishonors the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack. The mere suggestion that our Constitutional rights be suspended in this case actually dishonors those who perished as well as all Americans.

The purpose of rights in America is to protect people from exactly this type of "mob rule". The Constitution specifically protects individual liberties from the "tyranny of the majority" in instances such as these. Of what value is a right if you cannot exercise it?

Some "compromises" suggest that even though they have the right to build the community center, they should choose to build it elsewhere. Let's apply the same "reasoning" to the second amendment right to bear arms. The right would howl if we said that they have the right to bear arms, but since some people don't want them to have guns, that they should choose to not have them. Or, in another example, how absurd would it be to ask minorities to not exercise their right to vote in the South out of reverence for those who died fighting for the Confederacy? Ignorance of Constitutional principles and intolerance of others are simply not acceptable reasons to deny Americans our freedom.

We cannot let the 9/11 terrorists change America by making us willing to give up our First Amendment. If we allow the terrorists to change our beliefs, to make us blink, then all of the 9/11 victims will have died in vain. If we don't let them build their community center, then the terrorists win.

We must use this opportunity to show our resolve as Americans to live by our founding principles and to demonstrate to the world that we take our freedom seriously.