"Someday, the entire college education system will be taken over by radical leftists who refuse to hire a conservative educator or who ban conservative speakers at college graduation ceremonies. Oops! That’s already happened."

Will Conservatives Soon Be Sent To Re-Education Camps?

by Wayne Allyn Root

Hello I’m Wayne Allyn Root for Personal Liberty. Silly me! I thought free speech was legal in America. I thought this was a republic with a Constitution guaranteeing our right to express ourselves? I didn’t know speaking your mind or expressing your opinions could result in the end of your career or the confiscation of your property.

Don’t look now, but it’s happening — if you’re a conservative.

It’s time to start getting nervous about expressing your views publicly — if you’re a conservative.

It’s time to worry about bans and witch hunts – if you’re a conservative.

What’s next? Re-education camps, where our fellow citizens are taken away to be brainwashed into changing their views or attitude? Don’t laugh; it’s already happening (see below).

Let me give a few examples of political correctness run amok. Interestingly, in each case I personally disagree with the views expressed, but vehemently disagree with the actions taken against those who expressed the views.

Let’s start with Michael Sam. On Saturday, he became the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL. I say congratulations. I’m happy for Sam and personally thought he should have been drafted higher.

But have we traded one prejudice and civil rights violation for another? Many Americans were offended by Sam’s publicly caressing and kissing his boyfriend on national TV after his selection. If it’s called “progress” and a sign of “freedom” that two men can openly kiss on national TV, what is it called when someone offended by that same kiss is fined and suspended from his job? Is that progress? Is that free speech?

Ask Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones. He tweeted that he was disgusted and offended by the kiss. Jones was immediately fined and barred from team activities until he finishes “training for his recent comments made on social media.” Training? You mean like a “re-education camp?” You mean the NFL now believes it has the right to “train” its employees how to feel and think? Who determines which thinking is accepted?

Jones’ comments undoubtedly hurt Sam’s feelings and were offensive to gays. But that’s not the issue. We are allowed to be as “politically incorrect” as we want in America. We are protected by that silly little thing called the U.S. Constitution. Just because you disagree with someone’s opinion, does your employer have the right to suspend you from your job? Fine you? Can that same employer demand “thought training” to get your job back? This was tried with the Vietnamese “re-education camps.” Millions of people were imprisoned. More than 165,000 people died of abuse, starvation and torture.

This is a football team. Whether you are gay or straight should not matter. But neither should your views on two men kissing. All that should matter is how well you tackle in the open field.

I may not agree with what Jones said publicly, but I think the Miami Dolphins and the NFL should be sued for $100 million dollars for violation of the employee rights of Jones. He has every right to believe and say what he wants. Where is the public outrage? Where is the American Civil Liberties Union?

You are allowed to express your opinions in America, even if others find them heinous. Didn’t the ACLU defend the rights of a neo-Nazi group to march in Skokie, Ill. (a city with a large number of Jewish Holocaust survivors)? But in this case, all an NFL player did was say he was grossed out by two guys kissing. He wasn’t marching with Nazis. Yet the ACLU is surprisingly silent. Have the “thought police” successfully squashed dissent in this country?

If we allow employers like the Dolphins to censure, fine, suspend or fire a player for his thoughts or his political or religious beliefs, have we made progress? Or have we just switched sides? A different group is now in the closet. A different group is running the witch hunt.

It’s happening across America. Free speech is no longer tolerated by the left. Take the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She was supposed to receive an honorary degree from Brandeis University as a courageous campaigner for women’s rights. But her honorary degree was canceled because of student protests.

What were her critics angry about? She is a fierce critic of radical Islam and the way women are treated (and mistreated) in Muslim societies. So in response to her pointing out that dissent is suppressed in Muslim societies, her free speech was suppressed at Brandeis University.

Even CEOs of a private business are under attack. Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich recently lost his job for making a donation to support Prop 8, the ballot initiative that barred same-sex marriage in California.

Once again, I happen to disagree with the opinion of this CEO. I personally think government should stay out of our boardrooms and bedrooms. I don’t believe government should be involved in “allowing” or not allowing marriage. It’s a personal and religious issue. But the issue here isn’t gay marriage, it’s freedom of speech. Should a CEO in America be fired for his personal belief that marriage is between a man and a woman? Worse, he wasn’t fired for leading the battle, but rather just for writing a check to a cause he believed in.

This isn’t supposed to happen in America. Where is the public outrage? Where is the ACLU? Is the free speech of a NFL player, or conservative CEO or courageous women’s rights crusader worth less than the free speech of a neo-Nazi group?

I think it’s great that being gay is now openly accepted in America. But does that mean that others should now be forced into the closet? Is that progress? Or is that trading one civil rights violation for another?

For the first time, I’m rooting for the ACLU to take a stand. If not, soon in Barack Obama’s America, Christians who oppose gay marriage or abortion will be forced to the back of the bus. CEOs will be forced out of their jobs for publicly opposing minimum wage increases. We’ll see signs openly displayed at businesses: “Republicans need not apply.”

Someday, the entire college education system will be taken over by radical leftists who refuse to hire a conservative educator or who ban conservative speakers at college graduation ceremonies. Oops! That’s already happened.

Where’s Alan Dershowitz when you need him?

Link:
http://personalliberty.com/will-conservatives-soon-sent-re-education-camps/