The "Supremes" Sing Off Key

Notes of Concern…
….Jack Blair


THE “SUPREMES” SING OFF KEY


Imagine.

Your child or the child of a friend or close relative dies in the service of his country in a far away land. His remains are returned to you in an impressive military ceremony at an airport where his coffin is somberly carried, covered by the flag of The United States of America, to a waiting hearse for transport to your funeral home and eventually to the memorial service you have carefully planned as a celebration of his life.

But.

The Supreme Court of The United States has ruled (8-1) that a bunch of angry people can picket the funeral. None of these people knew your son. None of them, in fact, have any connection with anyone who knew your son.

Their presence is a publicity stunt.

Their presence will successfully transfer attention from the sacrifice of your son to the political question regarding the armed conflict abroad.

They will use your son’s tragic death to bring attention to their displeasure with their government.

And.

The “Supremes” rule that they most certainly can disrupt your service because their right to free speech trumps your son’s right to a dignified ceremony honoring his service to his country and his untimely passing.

The same government that placed a uniform on your son and sent him out to die has decided that civility and common decency will not prevail at the time of his funeral.

We could argue all day about freedom of the press. It is not my intention to deal with nuances of the importance of that Constitutional guarantee. I just want to suggest we use a little compassion in applying the guarantee.

It is my intention to suggest that common sense, common decency and compassion for the grieving family of a fallen soldier should trump the intellectual and scholarly argument of the “Supremes” on this matter.

When we sink to the level of taking basic, elementary understandings of decency and shoving them aside in support of a broad general principle never meant to be applied in such a manner, we label ourselves a society in decline.

May God Bless the fallen heroes and their families who are required to deal with such silliness in the name of protecting free speech and may God Bless Associate Justice Samuel Alito for standing up to his eight colleagues in writing the dissenting opinion on this matter.

“The First Amendment protects freedom of speech but it most certainly does not protect violent criminal conduct.” –Justice Alito

How long my fellow citizens must we put up with the outrageous interpretations applied to our Constitution, a document meant to be a guide for future generations and not, in my opinion, meant to be a hard and fast rule never to be interpreted with generosity and compassion in reference to the sensitivities of the nation?