Barry Goldwater Where Art Thou?
04. May, 2010 
9 Comments
By Phil Russo
I can already hear everyone I know bitching at me about this blog post. This will, to me, prove who really stands for liberty and who is ready to sell out the Constitution when it suits their needs. The phrases like “don’t tread on me” and “give me liberty or give me death” can only mean so much if, when called to defend the Constitution, we let fear come between us and liberty.
The guy they arrested for the attempted car-bombing in Times Square has a foreign sounding name but he is an American citizen. John Mccain is out there saying he shouldn’t have been given his Miranda rights and I’m sure many people reading this agree. He is, after all, a terrorist, right Weren’t Tim Mcveigh and the Unibomber? I am sure they were read their Miranda rights. They were taken to civilian courts with a jury for sure. And why wouldn’t they be? They are American citizens.
If they want to try this bastard for treason and have him drawn and quartered that is fine by me. But please don’t tell me that an American citizen arrested on the streets of one of our cities, shouldn’t be given Miranda rights. I’ll bet if he were an illegal immigrant Mccain would have no problem with him. If they can do it to this guy, they can do it to any of us. If Obama decides that some tea party organizer is a “threat” to national security can he arrest them and not give the Miranda warnings and take them to a military court? We are not talking about someone found fighting our soldiers in Iraq or some foreign national; this is an American citizen just like all of us.
I hope people understand that this is where the tea party folks need to stand up for the Constitution even though it is uncomfortable. If they can take one of his rights away, they can take all of his rights away. If they can take away his rights, they can take away our rights. People that are citizens of other countries do not need to be read Miranda rights. People caught fighting us in Iraq should not be given Constituional rights. American citizens, arrested in America deserve Constitutional rights. End of story.
Thank you so much for pointing this out! We must stand by the Constitution, and not be distracted-despite the wish of the Progressives
There are well-established exceptions to reading US citizen suspects their Miranda rights, including the public safety/emergency exception. Given the context, I think it would be an appropriate use of the exception. Plus, failing to give Miranda warnings is not in and of itself a constitutional violation. It is only when the State attempts to enter incriminating un-Mirandized statements into evidence during trial that the exclusionary rule is triggered. As an American citizen, you don’t have a RIGHT to have your Miranda warnings read to you. It’s merely a prophylactic rule created by judicial fiat. You need to read up on the issues before opining on them. When you don’t, you not only sully the Tea Party, but even worse you sully Goldwater.
I LOVE GOLDWATER!
In a 1994 interview with the Washington Post the retired senator said,
When you say “radical right” today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.[37]
In response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell’s opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, “Every good Christian should be concerned”, Goldwater retorted: “Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.”[38] (According to John Dean, Goldwater actually suggested that good Christians ought to kick Falwell in the “nuts”, but the news media “changed the anatomical reference.” [39]) Goldwater also had harsh words for his one-time political protege, President Reagan, particularly after the Iran-Contra Affair became public in 1986.
What a great resource!
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
When I think of Barry Goldwater, for some reason Dr. Ron Paul is the first person to come to mind.