Christmas, and other politically incorrect stuff...

America was founded on the idea of protecting the individual FROM THE GOVERNMENT, hence the Constitution's Bill of Rights, but not from each other. The individual is protected from the mob rule of a "pure democracy", yet between one another, we must agree to certain laws, none of which can violate the Bill of Rights.

We have, however, allowed such nonsense as "Political Correctness" to not only stymie our freedom of speech (1st Amendment), but it has paved they way for us to be judged by our thoughts, a la "Hate Crime" legislation. Now we are not only judged criminal by our actions, but our opinions of the victim. The Bill of Rights protects my freedom to be a jerk, a bigot, or whatever. It also protects the rights of those around me to have nothing to do with me for having such attitudes. Just as PC is an attack on free speech (just because you do not like it does not mean the other person is denied their right to say whatever they wish), so "Hate Crime" legislation is an attack on equality under the law. It is saying some people are inherently worth more because of both innate and chosen attributes, and it moves us further toward a "1984" Thought Crime justice system, or even a "Minority Report" world of "crime" prevention. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. How quickly it is to slip from the seemingly kindergarten world of PC speech to a complete dishevelness of the Bill of Rights.

Christmas -- CHRISTmas -- even has the Name of the One to be celebrated in its name, yet, we are called upon to ignore this fact, and many do, for the government or mobs to demand it is a violation of freedom of religion. In this case, it is the government and mobs crossing the line and attacking those of us who celebrate the Christ of Christmas. Should the "government" allow religious displays on "their" grounds? Hmmm, whatever happened to the Lincolnesque "...government OF the People, BY the People, FOR the People..."? And sorry, there is no "separation of church and state" in the Constitution, only that the government cannot ESTABLISH a religion or church (like the state churches of Europe, but please, go look up the word "establish" in your Funk & Wagnell's). As a matter of fact, any religion should be able to display on government grounds, IMHO.

Underlying the issues of PC is the desire for "the government" to be wrangled from The People and established (aren't you glad you looked that word up?) as a ruling entity apart from the people, where a few will rule the many. PC is an instrument of oppression of liberty. None of us SHOULD behave badly toward one another, but we all have the right to do so. Case in point, the far left response to Christians and conservatives -- their ideological and personal attacks at both go unabated under the 1st Amendment, but to attack them in the same fashion can invoke criminal sanction due to the PC ideology (see where "Hate Crime" comes back into play?).

Why desire smaller government, significantly smaller (cut by more than half) than we have now? Because larger government, regardless of the party flag, is always oppressive, and the Founding Fathers knew this fact...