By Former Assemblyman Steven Sanders
Donald Trump is entitled to run for President… It’s a free country. Donald Trump and the others are entitled to say whatever they want, true or untrue… It’s a free country. Everybody is entitled to like or dislike whomever they wish… It’s a free country.
What makes us free and strong and unique in the history of nations is our Constitution, and in particular the first ten amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. Included in the Bill of Rights is the freedom to worship without any impediments, the freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom to peacefully assemble. The eighth amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment (i.e. torture). In addition, the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution confers citizenship on any person born in the United States. That same fourteenth amendment further states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of the law or deny to any person the equal protection of the laws. It is these precepts that has made America the exceptional nation that we are. At the time of the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791, these were unprecedented rights granted by the government to its citizens. It was revolutionary!
What is troubling about the candidacy of Donald Trump and others is that in exercising their right of free speech (facts be damned), he and others have revealed their vision for America. In a word, it is frightening.
