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 Leftist
Hypocrisy
Saving California from the Sea Scouts…
[Ray Haynes] 1/2306
My
leftist friends in the Legislature like to think of themselves
as lovers of freedom and the true inheritors of the legacy
of our founding fathers. They believe that only they protect
the first amendment and the fourteenth amendment (on equal
rights), and that they stand between freedom and fascism in
California. They believe they are the protectors of the poor
and oppressed in our society. Only they have the heart and
the head to govern (or so they think).
Pending before
the California Supreme Court is the demonstration of their
hypocrisy. A few years ago, the Berkeley City Council got mad
at an organization known as the Sea Scouts. While the Sea Scouts
are affiliated with the Boy Scouts, they are not governed by
the Boy Scouts. They are a completely separate organization.
For many years, the Sea Scouts were allowed to berth at the
Berkeley Marina for free, along with other nonprofit organizations
like the Berkeley Yacht Club. That allowed the Sea Scouts to
teach underprivileged children in Berkeley the joys of sailing
and the sea.
Contributor
Ray Haynes
Mr.
Haynes is an Assembly member representing Riverside
and Temecula. He serves on the Appropriations and
Budget Committees. [go to Assembly Member Haynes website
at California Assembly][go to Haynes index] |
They have
the word "scouts" in their name, however, and they
appreciated their affiliation with the Boy Scouts, since it
opened doors to areas and people that helped the Sea Scouts
with their mission. It is in this affiliation that their problem
began.
You see,
several years ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled that
the Boy Scouts could determine their own membership rules.
They are a private organization, with the first amendment right
to freedom of association, and, if the Boy Scouts did not want
homosexual Scout leaders, the Court ruled, the government couldn't
require them to open up their ranks to homosexuals. This rankled
the homosexual activists. They wanted to force the Boy Scouts
to utilize homosexual scout leaders, calling the Boy Scouts
discriminatory for not doing so. The Boy Scouts were unmoved,
and to this day, have refused to allow homosexual scout leaders.
To punish the Boy Scouts' intransigence, liberals throughout
the country have tried to prohibit the Boy Scouts from using
government facilities for their functions.
Enter the
Sea Scouts. They have no rule prohibiting homosexuals as leaders,
and they are not a part of the Boy Scouts. Not good enough
for the Berkeley City Council. The City Council demanded that
the Sea Scouts denounce the Boy Scouts. The Sea Scouts refused.
The Council cut off the Sea Scouts free-berthing rights. Now,
the Berkeley Yacht Club, devoted to subsidizing the rich, gets
free berthing, but the Sea Scouts, devoted to helping the underprivileged
youth of Berkeley, must pay $500 a month to berth its boat.
The teacher who advises the group pays for the berth from his
own pocket. So much for liberals helping the poor. Of course
they'll help, if the poor do their political bidding. If they
don't, there will be heck (or the government) to pay.
The Sea Scouts
have sued, saying their freedom of association rights (as well
as their free speech rights) under the first amendment have
been violated. Thus far the courts in the liberal Bay Area
have been unsympathetic. The Supreme Court granted them a hearing
last month.
Where is
the ACLU? Where are the leftist defenders of the First Amendment?
What right is more important than the right to associate with
whom you wish without fear from the government? What about
the poor children of Berkeley? Why won't the leftists defend
them? Because they won't attack the Boy Scouts. That is the
leftist hypocrisy. They'll protect your rights as long as you
agree with them. If you don't, they will use the entire power
of government, and all of their political power to pound you
into submission.
That, by
the way, is true fascism, not eavesdropping on terrorists.
Using the power of government to try and protect innocents
from those who might hurt them is legitimate. Using the power
of government to enforce political uniformity is wrong, and
it is resistance to that attitude that resulted in our revolution.
Let's hope
the Supreme Court does the right thing, and restores the Sea
Scouts' freedom of association. That is specifically protected
by the first amendment, as much as some anti-war protesters
right to burn the flag. -CRO-
Mr.
Haynes is a California Assembleyman representing Riverside
and Temecula and frequent contributor to CaliforniaRepublic.org.
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