"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Thus reads the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. I could probably write a book on the so-called "establishment clause," which the ACLU has used to stomp on anybody who dares to pray at anything that’s even remotely related to a government function, but it’s the "freedom of speech" part that concerns me here. In this unfortunate era of "political correctness," our freedom of speech is being eroded at an alarming rate. The political left, as it has done historically, tries to squash anything that deviates from its agenda. We all know about campus speech codes, the ridiculous "hate crime" laws, and the attempts to stifle conservative talk radio – those are bad enough (see below). Now Hispanic rights groups are getting into the act trying to silence a television commentator.

Let me digress for a moment and present a little background. There are some eleven or twelve million illegal aliens in the US at last count. Yes, that’s right. I said illegal. By entering the country any way but legally, you are breaking the law so, technically speaking, every one of these people is a criminal. I know all the arguments about "undocumented workers" who do the jobs American citizens won’t do and how they’re just looking to better their lives, etc. etc. But they are still illegal. And they are soaking up taxpayers’ dollars. In addition, they are changing the face of America including culturally. Before anyone accuses me of being anti-immigration or anti-Hispanic, let me say that I am the grandson of Italian immigrants who came to America in the late nineteenth century, as are many of my friends in my home state of Rhode Island. America is made of immigrants and descendants thereof. But most of our forefathers came to the US legally. And we assimilated. Unfortunately, this is often not the case with the latest wave of immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries. I quote from a Hispanic website called "Hispanic Research Inc:"

 "Assimilation no longer works because our society is different now from what it was before.  New immigrants today can easily maintain close ties with their home country through Internet connections, telephone communication, and accessible travel.  They are also able to have access to their cultural heritage and language through product and service offerings that are targeted to the Latino community. The idea of diversity and maintaining one's heritage has become very important in the American culture and works against the assimilation tendency." (www.Hispanic Research Inc., "Why Are Latinos Not Assimilating?" )

I also direct the reader to the article by Jason Richwine in the 24 August 2009 issue of National Review, "The Congealing Pot." Richwine makes a compelling case that the Hispanic immigrants are not like the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, etc. that came to America wherein each generation became more Americanized than the one before.  He maintains, like the Hispanic Research article quoted above, that  Hispanic immigrants are not following this model and discusses the ramifications of this phenomenon.

Now to Mister Lou Dobbs of CNN fame who has been railing against illegal immigration for many months. Something called the "National Council of La Raza" has demanded CNN take Dobbs off the air. ("La Raza" means "the Race." Can you imagine an organization of white people calling itself that? ) Lou is hanging in there, however. Apparently anyone who speaks against illegal immigration is branded as "anti-immigrant" or worse. (Indeed, if you "Google" Lou Dobbs’ name, you will find numerous websites calling him a racist.) The irony is that Lou Dobbs’ wife is Mexican-American!

The political left in America, as in Europe, prefers to squelch ideas it does not agree with rather than debate them in the public forum. Mainstream, traditional ideas are now branded as "right-wing," and those espousing them are "extremists" and members of "fringe groups." (That was some "fringe group" on the Mall in Washington, DC, recently protesting against big government, wasn’t it? Even left-leaning MSNBC posited that the group numbered in the "hundreds of thousands.") Some members of Congress have even proposed bringing back the heinous "Fairness Doctrine," which would force radio and television stations to "balance" programming supporting one set of ideas with programming supporting the competing ideas. In essence, this would take such commentators as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, etc. off the air. Of course, that is exactly what the Left wants. Leftist commentators cannot compete with right-wing talk radio – that has been proven time and again. Practically no one listens to them. The solution? Prohibit "right-wing" radio! Goebbels would be proud.

The Nazis did it, the Communists did it, Islamo-fascists do it, and the Left does it. Squelch the opposition. Stomp on competing ideas. Shout down speakers you disagree with. Ban these people from radio and TV.

And the First Amendment be damned.