THE GHOST OF JOHN ADAMS AND THE IMPERIAL, RACIST PRESIDENCY OF BARACK OBAMA

And be it further enacted, that if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist,, or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with the intent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said President, ......,then such person being thereof convicted before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.  Section 2, Act in addition to the Act, Entitled "An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes Against the United States" (Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798).

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ( First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America)

The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills signed into law by President John Adams in 1798. Conceived by Federalist politicians who feared that Democratic-Republican opposition would threaten the power of the central government and bring a French Revolution-style of anarchy to the United States, the portion of the acts pertaining to freedom of expression were particularly onerous.  All told, 10 persons were
convicted under provisions pertaining to sedition.

Although these laws, in their time, were considered manifestations of a central government intent on the tyrannical exercise of power, the Supreme Court (not yet having any precedent for judicial review) never subjected the Alien and Sedition Acts to its scrutiny.  Nevertheless, President Thomas Jefferson pardoned those who had been convicted, and subsequent court opinions having to do with other issues have reflected a widespread view that the Supreme Court would certainly consider the legislation unconstitutional.

Today, generally speaking and with particular import for political expression, freedom of speech includes virtually any and all forms of expression proceeding from one's oral, written or bodily communication, with exceptions, of course, having to do with obscenity, libel, slander, etc.

Indeed, there are some forms of expressions which might be considered boorish or in bad taste, but such is the way of life in the political arena. For example, during a joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009, Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted, "You lie!" as President Obama delivered an address in which he indicated that illegal immigrants would not be covered in subsequent health care legislation.  Although many felt that Congressman Wilson's outburst was ill-advised and tasteless, he was within his rights in expressing himself in that manner.  As an aside, it would seem that Wilson's view on  health care legislation. has since been vindicated.

Just this week a hornet's nest was stirred up when a rodeo clown at the Missouri State Fair appeared in a President Obama mask.  By the resulting outcry and comments emanating from the White House, one would think that a unique, egregious violation had occurred.  Misguided and constitutionally uninformed officials at the fair banned the offending clown from future appearances in the arena, and Missouri's Senator Clair McCaskill - with a dubious record of underhandedness in her own political history - spoke out as if the poor clown had committed an unforgiveable transgression.

SOME MASKS OF PRESIDENTS PAST

Somehow, all this hulabaloo strikes me as ridiculous.  Various manufacturers have for many decades marketed outlandish masks of presidential likenesses, which have been worn in a variety of settings to express differences of political opinion.  I can remember when certain characters appearing at public events wearing George W. masks participated in some really disagreeable behavior, but nothing was made of it.

Somehow, with our current president, all caricatures should cease and the imperial person of President Barack H. Obama should not be sullied by the same sort of ridicule endured by previous chief executives. After all, these sorts of actions could very well be motivated by racism!  Whatever happened, pray tell, to the sentiment of  Harry Truman - a real Missourian, by the way - expressed as, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!"

Apparently, in a move smacking of the same sort of stuff we used to associate with "re-education" under communist regimes, the folks at the Missouri State Fair have called for "sensitivity training" for rodeo participants.  For those in the U.S. who are still broadly educated, this will probably sound a bit too "Orwellian."


Sadly, race now affects virtually all aspects of the current administration in Washington.  Incredibly, every conceivable issue somehow reeks of ethnicity and tribalism; thus, resulting in a special type of  presidential racism, which is effectively used to obscure the many failures of the Obama White House.

Hopefully, the rodeo clown booted out of the fair in Missouri will put in an appearance at the Texas State Fair, where he will probably be received most enthusiastically.  Personally, I can't wait until he gets a big Texas round of applause!