Justin wrote:
> >The U.S.Ct. wouldn't take Hale's case. Personally, I think that's wrong. I
> >think he should be admitted to the bar (if he passes the bar exam)
> >regardless of his political views. There's legal basis for this--the cases
> >from the 60s saying that the states couldn't keep commies out of the bar.
quoth I:
>right. If there are precedents of denying free speech to right-wingers,
>the prosecutors, courts, etc., will jump at the chance to apply them to
>the left....
sez CB:
>Wrong. Precedents for denying free speech were
>originated and established based on cases of prosecution of socialists
>and communists. Historically, the prosecutors have not prosecuted
>rightwingers denying their free speech, but this "precedent" did not
>prevent prosecution of leftwingers.
I agree with you on the history and that history can be a guide. But I
think it's wrong to let history limit one's thought (just as it's wrong to
let theory limit thought).
The fact is that the establishment tends to equate the "left" and the
"right" as "extremists" (since many believe that "it's not a continuum,
it's more like the Greek letter omega, where the extremes meet at the
bottom"). The proto-fascists like Buchanan are seem as basically the same
thing as radical-liberal anti-globalists like Nader. Of course, those two
guys are _respectable_. It's those further on the fringe who get arrested.
So if law that prohibits the Nazis from marching in Skokie had stood the
test of the courts, it could and would be used to "get" the extremist
anarchists, for example, preventing them from marching within 5 miles of a
police station (a symbol of the order the anarchists hate). Precedents will
be used as needed, as is opportune.
Of course, when the chips are down with mass leftist parties, economic
crisis, etc., the powers that be will likely gamble by allying with the
fascists to restore Order (and smash the left), as they've done in Germany,
Italy, Chile, and other places. The "center" will move radically to the
right. But the chips aren't currently down.
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
