The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 170, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 27, 2013 Page: 4 of 10
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4 The Baytown Sun
Viewpoints
Tuesday
August 27, 2013
The constriction
of freedom
Mark Levin, i
n
KATHRYN
LOPEZ
Our nation has “entered an age of post-constitution-
al soft tyranny.”
Mark Levin, most known for being a talk-radio
host and best-selling author but also
the president of the Landmark Legal
Foundation and a veteran of the
Reagan Justice Department, makes
this assertion in his new book, “The
Liberty Amendments.”
The New Mexico Supreme Court
subsequently offered evidence of
this, deciding that photographers who
object to same-sex marriage can’t
opt out of taking pictures at same-sex
weddings.
The court ruled that you can believe whatever you
want -- as long as you don’t take it all that seriously.
But then, this is how the soft tyranny develops.
In his book, Levin turns to Alexis dfe Tocqueville,
the famous 19th-century writer, to help Americans
reflect on their path and their future.
Levin quotes from “Democracy in America,” speak-
ing of unreasonable government interference: “Such
a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence;
it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates,
extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation
is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid
and industrious animals, of which the government is
shepherd.”
Not mincing words. Levin says of America today:
“Social engineering and central planning are imposed
without end, since the governing masterminds, drunk
with their own conceit and pomposity, have wild
imaginations and infinite ideas for reshaping society
and molding man’s nature in search of the ever-elu-
sive utopian paradise. Their clumsy experiments and
infantile pursuits are not measured against any ratio-
nal standard. Their preciousness and sanctimony are
justification enough.”
They may do so with the best of intentions. But lost
is a respect for human dignity in the quest to dictate
belief. Law may no longer serve as a teacher but an
ideological enforcer.
Levin quotes more Tocqueville: “1 wish ... that they
would never forget that a nation cannot long remain
strong when every man belonging to it is individually
weak; and that no form or combination of social pol-
ity has yet been devised to make an energetic people
out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled
people.”
Here we might respect a photographer’s conscience
rights rather than insist that her work affirm a radical
cultural shift that courts insist we not simply tolerate
but affirm.
In the New Mexico case, one justice’s concurring
opinion was clear: Think what you want, pray to
whom ever/whatever, but don’t let harmless nonsense
infect your interactions with others.
He said that the Christian couple with the photogra-
phy business, the Huguenins, “are free to think, to say,
to believe, as they wish; they may pray to the God
of their choice and follow those commandments in
their personal lives wherever they lead. The Constitu-
tion protects the Huguenins in that respect and much
more. But there is a price, one that we all have to pay
somewhere in our civic life.”
What are we going to do about it? The civil society
that so impressed Tocqueville is waning and threat- ,
ened.
When the government says that conscience beliefs
that conflict with its mandates on health insurance,
in the realm of contraception, sterilization and even
abortion, are not fit for the public square and even
cause for punishment, it marginalizes the diverse cast
of characters and ideas that a democratic republic
needs.
The Founders, Levin reflects, sought to figure out
“how best to preserve the civil society in a world of
imperfect people and institutions.”
That’s our civic mission today, if we are to be good
stewards of the gifts - of God, and man, and an ex-
f"-.'. ceptional experiment in freedom - we’ve been given.
tactedat klopez@nationalreview.com.
Where to write your lawmakers
Governor
Riek Perry (R)
P.0. Box 12428 Austin, Texas
78711-2428; 512-463-2000
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515; 202-225-1555
U.S. Senate
John Coreys (R-Texas)
517 Hart Senate Office Build-
ing, Washington, D.C., 20510
202-224-2934
Texas Senate
Sybil Garcia (D-Dist. 6)
P.0. Box 12068, Capitol
Station, Austin, TX 78711
512-463-0106
5425 Polk Street, Suite 125,
Houston TX 77023
713-923-7575
Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
185 Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20510; 202-224-5922
U.S. House of Representatives
Steve Stockman (R-Texas, Dist.
36)
326 Cannon House Office
Texas House of
Representatives
Wayne Smith (R-Baytown)
P.O.Box 2910 Austin, TX
78768:512-463-0733
909 Decker Drive, Suite 104,
Baytown TX 77520; 832-556-
2002
Kathryn Lopez is the editor-at-large of National Re-
view Online www.nationalreview.com. She can he con-
A dream from the mountain:
toward a more perfect union
We are only days away from
celebrating the 50th anniversary
of the 1963 March on Washing-
ton, which was a watershed in the
fight for equality, opportunity and
affirmative action.
Let us not forget that it was a
March on Washington for jobs
and freedom. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and the leaders of the civil
rights movement understood that
without jobs, there was no free-
dom.
They also understood that while
competition might be good for
business, without cooperation
there is no business.
In 50 years, we have made a
lot of progress. We’re no longer
surprised to find minorities in
positions of responsibility or in the
public eye. We don’t have to worry
about the first African-American
this or the first Hispanic that.
A lot of glass ceilings have been
broken: women Supreme Court
justices - more diverse than the
men; black head coaches in the
NFL; an African-American pres-
ident. Next up, maybe a woman
president.
Looking over the political and
social landscape since the March
on Washington for jobs and free-
dom, back in August 1963, it’s
hard to argue with Chief Justice
John Roberts, who wrote, “Our
country has changed.” He’s right,
to an extent. America has changed.
In many ways, it's changed for the
better.
And yet...
The conclusion of Martin Luther
King Jr.’s “1 Have a Dream”
speech remains as poignant and as
inspiring and as relevant today as
it was 50 years ago. Go listen to
it again. He talked of mountains,
saying, “With this faith” - the
faith that America will live up to
its promise - “we will be able to
hew out of the mountain of despair
a stone of hope.” He quoted the
sbrrg “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,”
which concludes, “from every
mountainside, let freedom ring,”
and then named mountain after
mountain - let freedom ring.
DONNA
BRAZILE
Over the years,
I’ve thought
about that pas-
sage. I’ve studied
the nuances of
that speech, felt
its words echo in
my heart. But I
wondered: Why
name so many
mountains in so
many states?
And as I thought about what
Chief Justice Roberts said, and
as I tried to find the words to
express what I know to be true,
that America has not changed as
much as it needs, I came back, as I
often do, to Dr. King’s dream. And
1 realized why the chief justice
was projecting his own sense of
privilege rather than reflecting the
reality of America today.
You see, freedom can only ring
from the mountainside if someone
climbs that mountain and rings the
bell. Someone has to have that job.
But climbing a mountain isn’t
steady progress up and always
forward. There are detours, twists
and backward steps, retracing and
loose footing.
What I see, and what all of us
who dedicate every day to the
proposition that we must work
together toward equality in the
' workplace, must see, is that we are
stili climbing the mountain to ring
the bell of freedom - that free-
dom does not yet ring from Stone
Mountain of Georgia or from any
of the mountains Dr. King named.
Because freedom can ring only
w:hen the self-evident truth that all
people are created equal is ex-
pressed in that most fundamental
proving ground - the workplace;
We have won many battles. But
if we thought that a battle once
fought and won is won forever -
well, we need only look at recent
events.
We have had too many attempts
to restrict freedom - freedom that
begins with creating more access
to the voting booth, not less; free-
dom that requires more reasoned
discussion, not more talking
points.
We have had too much indiffer-
ence to jobs; we’ve had lip service.
But what we need is a commit-
ment to education, to health care
(you can’t work if you’re sick),
and to the industries of the future.
Jobs require cooperation, com-
promise, a strong infrastructure,
public investment and private
enterprise.
It is easy to teeter on the ledge
of the mountain of despair w hen
we consider the implications of
decisions such as the Supreme
Court’s in the affirmative action
case Fisher v. Texas.
As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
said in dissent, “only an ostrich
could regard the supposedly
neutral alternatives as race uncon-
scious.”
So how do we avoid being an
ostrich? How do we respond to
the supercilious dismissal of facts?
How can we find our way to a
post-racial society in the midst of
all this polarization and hyperpar-
tisanship, where even the mention
of civil rights can create a “mad
dog” response (sometimes on both
sides)?
I think we begin by not just
remembering, but embracing what
Dr. King told Nichelle Nichols,
who played Lt. Uhura on the
original “Star Trek,” when he told
her the importance of her charac-
ter: “We will be seen as we should
be seen every day - as intelligent,
quality, beautiful people who can
sing, dance, but who can also go
into space.” And further, while we
may be black or female or Jewish .
or Hispanic or male, those are not
our roles.
Our role is to work together in
mutual respect, each with his or
her talents, through increased acts
of goodness and kindness, toward
a more perfect union.
Donna Brazile is a senior Dem-
ocratic strategist, a political com-
mentator and contributor to CNN
and ABC News, and a contributing
columnist to Ms. Magazine and O,
the Oprah Magazine.
TODAY IN HISTORY
. Today is the 239th day
of 2013 and the 68th day
of summer.
TODAY’S HISTO-
RY: In 1859, the first
successful oil well in the
United States was drilled
by Edwin L. Drake near
Titusville, Pa.
In .1928, the Kel-
logg-Briand Pact, which
outlawed war and provid-
ed guidelines to peaceful
conflict resolution, was
signed in Paris.
In 1979, British war
hero Lord Louis Mount-
batten was killed, with
his grandson and two
others, in a boat explo-
sion for which the IRA
claimed responsibility.
In 1999, the final crew
left Russia’s Mir space
station.
TODAY’S BIRTH-
DAYS: Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel (1770-
1831), philosopher; The-
odore Dreiser (1871-
1945), novelist; Man
Ray (1890-1976), artist/
filmmaker; Lyndon B.
Johnson (1908-1973),
36th U.S. president;
Ira Levin (1929-2007),
author; Alice Coltrane
(1937-2007), jazz musi-
cian; Charles • Fleischer
(1950-), actor; Paul Reu-
bens (1952- ), actor; Ce-
sar Milan (1969- ), dog
trainer; Chandra Wilson
(1969- ), actress; Sarah
Chalke (1976-), actress;
Aaron Paul (1979- ), ac-
tor.
TODAY’S FACT:
The Valles Marineris
canyon system on Mars,
also known as the Mars
Grand Canyon, stretches
for 2,500 miles and is up
to four miles deep.
TODAY’S SPORTS:
In 1982, Oakland.Ath-
letics outfielder Rick-
ey Henderson stole his
119th base of the year,
setting a new single-sea-
son record. He went on to
steal three more bases by
the end of the game and
finished the season with
130 stolen bases, a record
that still stands.
TODAY’S QUOTE:
“We learn from history
that we do not learn from
history.” - Georg Wil-
helm Friedrich Hegel
TODAY’S NUM-
BER: 43,129,566-votes
cast for Lyndon B. John-
son in the 1964 presiden-
tial election.
TODAY’S MOON:
Between full moon (Aug.
20) and last quarter moon
(Aug. 28).
Thf%aytown Sun
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The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 170, Ed. 1 Tuesday, August 27, 2013, newspaper, August 27, 2013; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1065699/m1/4/: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.