|
| |
Judge
Roy Boots The Rallying Cry
EDITORIAL
Frank Salvato
September 2, 2003 |
In the end most of the people in the United States and
around the world will remember it was about a stone monument. That is the
way it is in the fast-paced primetime attention span society that we have
created for ourselves. For this reason alone Judge Roy Moore,
the Alabama Supreme Court Justice who defied Federal Judge Myron
Thompson’s order to remove the monument containing a depiction of
the Ten Commandments, should have realized that he had to have a message
that went along with his actions. In the end his actions and statements made
it all about religion when it should have been about so much more. It should
have been about the conviction of beliefs and the conviction of the Framers
of the Constitution’s beliefs. It needed to be about collective
individuality.
The truth be told, in the end this is turning out to be a bad thing for the
people of Alabama. Here they have a good man in Judge Moore yet he is now
being prohibited from performing the duties of the office he was elected to,
all courtesy of the primetime attention span and a little bit of blur in his
vision.
Let’s say for a moment that when the workers came to take the monument away
he had calmly, and with the dignity of someone who has risen to the level of
legal excellence as he has, stood in front of the bank of microphones and
said, "They may be able to take away a piece of stone that signifies the
very foundation of our American legal system but they can never remove their
significance to our system from my heart.” What if he had made the entire
placement of the monument a moot point?
What
if he had gone on to say, "There are those among us that would like to have
religion and especially the word God taken out of every public venue, every
song about our country and every book that is used in our schools but when
it comes down to it we all know that they cannot remove any of these things
if they exist in our hearts and in our homes. It is our right to raise our
children the way that we see fit. It is our right to educate them beyond the
point where public education ceases. In fact it is our obligation to make
sure that what we believe continues on in our children long after our
stewardship in their lives comes to an end.
"As they move this monument that is but a piece of stone in its physical
state but which is so much more in its significance, perhaps we should
realize that this is a monumental day instead of a day for mourning a
monument. This is the day marking the moment that those who would compromise
the principles on which this great country was founded freed us from the
societal bounds of political correctness. This is the day that marks the
awakening of the silent majority. The liberal left and those who would
re-write history and the way that our country was born should fear greatly
the awakening of this sleeping giant for this giants name is civic
responsibility.
"Come to Alabama if you will to mourning the removal of a token if that
eases your heart and placates your mind. But wouldn’t it serve a greater
purpose if each and every one of us were to sit down with our children and
tell them why the phrase ‘Thou Shall Not Kill’ is so important? Wouldn’t it
defeat the very action of removing the monument if we took the time to
instill in our children the magnitude of ‘Thou Shall Not Steal?’
"My friends, I stand before you today but a humble public service with the
strength of my convictions and the common sense knowledge of right and
wrong. I do believe in following the Ten Commandments; first because it is
part of my religious beliefs, secondly, and more importantly, because they
represent the correct and compassionate way that we all should live our
lives and thirdly because I understand that our very system of law was
founded on the bedrock of these guiding principles, not bound to religion
but bound to the idea of justice by God fearing men who had far more vision
and intelligence than those who would become upset with a stone’s placement.
" My friends, I am going back to the work that I love and I suggest that you
do too. But from this day forward we should all keep a piece of that
monument in our hearts and maintain the conviction of the message that it
signifies. They can remove the monument from our courthouse today but they
cannot remove the monument to its message that lives on in all of us, the
way it influences our lives and the way that it influenced how the American
judicial system was created.”
What if Judge Roy would have said that instead of pursuing the matter as he
did? Something tells me he would have rallied those of us that understand
the foundation of our legal system a bit more than he has. Something tells
me this could have been the rallying cry of those who are fed up with
political correctness. We shouldn’t let the removal of a rock stop this
momentous occasion from occurring. Political correctness may have moved the
monument from the halls of the Alabama Supreme Court but we should make this
its finest hour.
Frank Salvato is a
political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a
contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials,
Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are
regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The
O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer
Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan
Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The
Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and
international publications.
|
|
