“First came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then …

“Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal,”
President Trump’s Executive Order to unilaterally
repeal energy and environmental regulations
 
Donald Trump’s insatiable thirst for and expansive interpretation of presidential power has been the defining characteristic since his inauguration.  His issuances of daily, often legally-questionably, Executive Orders and Actions have …

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Attributed to Voltaire
 
For nearly fifty years Liberals have been justifiably accused of censoring speech with which they disagree.  It has taken the form of establishing so-called free speech zones on high school and …

“he who saves his country does not violate any law”
Donald Trump
 His wildly inaccurate remark, “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president,” and embracing the label of “king” epitomizes Donald Trump’s exaggerated and narcissistic ego and disrespect for the Constitution!
Trump’s election …

“Every 25 seconds, someone in America is arrested for drug possession.”
Human Rights Watch and the ACLU
America’s War on Drugs dates back to 1971 and is estimated to have cost our nation more than $1 trillion, sent millions of people to prison for low-level and non-violent offenses, and seriously eroded Constitutional-protected …

“Trump demands that government actors pledge loyalty to him, as opposed to the law or to the Constitution”
Rick Pildes
 
Donald Trump’s rants claiming undocumented immigrants are all recently released criminals from foreign prisons and mental institutions and “poisoning the blood” of Americans and declaring of Haitian immigrants, “They’re eating the dogs. …

“A Law repugnant to the Constitution is void.”
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
 In a concurring opinion supporting the Alabama Supreme Court ruling frozen embryos are people, Chief Justice Tom Parker leaned heavily on Christian scripture, “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God,” and “All human …

"I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."

Donald Trump

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump spoke the following words, "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will …

'Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That's my worldview.'"

Speaker Mike Johnson

Newly-minted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has made it clear his actions are driven by his faith and looks to the Gospels to form policy positions.  Echoing evangelical and Christian Nationalists ideologies, he …

“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation.”

James Madison

Ask any politician, political commentator, or cable talking-head about the greatest threats facing America and you will predictably hear China, Russia, Iran, …

“Truth and hypocrisy cannot exist in the same room.”

Matthew 23

Think of the irony, one political party claims to champion “parental rights” and a “less intrusive government.”  Yet, that party’s most visible politicians have no problem advocating for and enacting laws restricting the rights of individual citizens who may not share …

“I hate prejudice, discrimination, and snobbishness of any kind – it always reflects on the person judging and not the person being judged. Everyone should be treated equally.”

Gordon Brown

For nearly a century, successive Administrations championed the expansion of the rights of disenfranchised Americans, whether based on gender, race, nationality, religion, …

               Muzzling Speech Endangers Democracy

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country …

“I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth for home defense.  But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon of needed for defense of a home.”

Ronald Reagan

The Constitution and Bill of Rights …

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1903) … although often attributed to Voltaire

“Anti-Woke” rhetoric has become the centerpiece of conservative politics and given license for subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, demonization of and discrimination targeting non-straight (LGBTQ) …

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

Marcus Aurelius

In 1935, during the depth of the Depression Sinclair Lewis published a novel in which the average American’s political ignorance and complacency resulted in a …

“If a public school were to remove every book because it contains one word deemed objectionable to some parent, then there would be no books at all in our public libraries,”

Peter Scheer – Executive Director

California First Amendment Coalition

There is a dangerous movement sweeping across the country.  It began with pressures …

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Certain recent Supreme Court decisions have embraced high-priority political objectives of conservative, primarily Christian Right, activists; justifying their opinions on “originalism” and questionable interpretations of the First Amendment.

These range from …

Be Careful What You Wish For

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”

Margaret J. Wheatley

Last week, to the dismay of Democrats, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a women constitutional right for an abortion.  The Court’s …

Kamaljeeth Vijay and Patrick Lichtner, seniors from Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem and who were joined by their parents, were named winner and runner-up in a countywide civics scholarship essay contest sponsored by theLegacyof1776.com, the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer.

The contest was open to all Bucks County …

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….”

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Justices Thomas and Alito recently demonstrated ideology holds sway over their alleged “strict constructionist” view of the U.S. Constitution when they lambasted the religious liberty implications of the Court’s …

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”

President Trump (July 13, 2019)

For the past 2½ years I have assumed Donald Trump’s rambling Tweets and political agenda were aimed at simply placating and revving up his base.

However, his recent tirades …

 
The NFL players taking a knee are “very disrespectful to our country.”
President Donald Trump (September 30, 2017)
 
The furor over athletes taking a knee, raising a fist or sitting during the national anthem or people burning the Flag continues unabated, with President Trump fanning the flames those believe that such actions …

“Get that son of a bitch off the field”
Donald Trump (09/22/2017)
 
Referring to NFL players who have followed Colin Kaepernick’s lead and taken a knee during the national anthem, President Trump’s recent rants demonstrate he has clearly forgotten his oath of office to, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the …

“It’s very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their President,”
Donald J. Trump
 
President Trump’s recent tweets provide unmistakable evidence he has forgotten, does not understand or chooses to disregard the oath that he and all other federal officials …

“Agency shop” laws, which require public employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment, violate well-settled principles of freedom of speech and association.”
Plaintiffs in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association
It is clear that the Supreme Court is likely to overturn its 1977 ruling in Abood v. Detroit Board of …

Christine Brennan’s September 12th USAT0day OpEd plea for the Washington Redskins to change their name as, “if only some Native Americans think it’s racist … It’s racist”, is yet another sad example of selective political correctness and displays her lack of appreciation for the very rights which make her profession …

“If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress
 who value the symbol more than the freedom the flag represents.”

Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-New York)
It is clear that Mike Fitzpatrick and Jonathan Last simply do not get it! 
In recent OpEds Congressman Fitzpatrick defended his recent vote …

“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual consent and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
 
In the wake of the recent election night flip-flopping by the television networks over who won the Florida presidential election, there …

 “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions.”
Justice William O. Douglas
The hallowed chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, where those men and women elected to serve the people once debated ways to enhance the rights of man, recently became a cheap forum for …

“Belly Dancing is like Jello on a plate with a vibrator under the plate”
J. Donald Silva (UNH)
 
There is no greater danger to individual rights than committed zealots, operating under the color of real or usurped police authority, as they attempt to reorder public policy.  Their actions become all the more …

“Live free or die.”
John Stark
 Once again powerful forces across the Granite State are embroiled in an emotional debate testing the mettle of New Hampshire’s movers and shakers.  For more than half a century this highly charged polemic has ebbed and flowed from the Connecticut River to the Isle of Shoals …

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
                                                Voltaire
A new McCarthyism is loose in America.  Unchecked, its impact on the fabric of our society can be more devastating than any consequences which resulted from the Wisconsin senator’s brief reign of …

“It is harder to preserve than obtain liberty.”
Voltaire
The past decade has witnessed an alarming trend emerging on the American political landscape.  Activist forces on both the left and the right have become increasingly outspoken in their efforts to justify the limitation or surrender of fundamental rights in the name of …