Not Surprising, But Still Maddening

Perhaps conservatives should be grateful to the anti-war lunatic left for its behavior this past weekend. It’s doubtful that anything I, or any other conservative, could say could illustrate moral bankruptcy of those for whom law and order are, more often than not, impediments to the achievement of their goals better than what they said themselves by their actions this past Saturday.

During the War of 1812, the British captured and burned the United States Capitol Building. Since that time, I am unaware of any direct assault intended to deface the capitol until this past weekend, when anarchists – Americans – were allowed to march up to the west front of the building and spray paint anti-war graffiti on the Capitol steps.

Please understand, I am not making a direct comparison between the two events. Obviously, the foreign troops, and the government they represented, were a far more formidable enemy, physically and intellectually, than the hippy-holdovers and hippy-wannabes that were allowed to do something that most Americans are simply too decent to even consider. But that both represented enemy assaults on our system of government is, in my mind, beyond question.

The Chief of the Capitol Police offered up the far-too-often-misused “freedom of speech” excuse in defense of his decision to allow the disgraceful activity to take place. But really, if this qualifies as freedom of speech under the First Amendment, what’s to stop people from other forms of “expression” on the Capitol steps – like maybe overt sexual activity, or worse yet, perhaps spray painting the Ten Commandments on the building?

Why is it that the adults among us are having to accommodate these overgrown children by allowing them to exercise their alleged “rights” to the detriment of the rights of those of us who disagree with them? Why are they allowed to deface a piece of public property – moreover, to many, a cherished symbol of the United States – when the vast majority of Americans – with the law on their side, mind you – don’t want such to be done?

The foolish displays usually seen in such leftist demonstrations are generally nothing more than an attempt to force the rest of us to listen to what they have to say – which is not a right that any of us holds. But their significance should not be downplayed. These attempts by the godless fringe left – which holds greater influence over one of our major parties now than probably any time in history – to force-feed their viewpoints while actively seeking to silence any dissent gives us all the chance to see what an America under the thumb of the left would be like. And, as I said, perhaps for that we should be grateful, if only we can take the hint before it is too late.

Truly Deserving

Kudos to the newest inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame – Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. In recent years, I have become convinced that the membership in the hall has become too large, due to the induction of many who were, while certainly good players in their day, don’t really measure up to clearly being among the absolute greatest to play the game in its 100+ years.

This year, however, both selections were right on the money.

Tony Gwynn, while never providing the nation with the spectacle of a run at .400 like Rod Carew or George Brett, nevertheless had no equal during his playing days as a dominant hitter. The absence of a World Series championship from his resume – he made it to the series twice with the Padres – does nothing to diminish his status as a legend, and a nice guy, to those who follow the game.

Cal Ripken will always be known primarily for “the streak” which saw him play in over 2,600 consecutive games, obliterating a record set by the legendary Lou Gehrig that many thought would never be broken, especially in an era of prima donna players that are comfortable taking the day off for a runny nose, while collecting multi-million dollar salaries. The breaking of this record alone is certainly enough to set Ripken apart from most of the rest who have played in the majors. But the fact is that, even without that item on his resume, his career statistics would have been enough to number him among the greats of the diamond. The only real question surrounding his selection is, why did he only get 98.53 percent of the vote?

Both of these men demonstrated a level of grace and class in addition to their athletic ability and work ethic that made it easy for anyone to take satisfaction in their victories and accomplishments – including this latest one. Many congratulations to Tony and Cal – two of the true giants of baseball history. And may history grant us a few more like them before it’s all over.