by
Wayne Allyn Root
Hi! I’m Wayne Allyn Root for
Personal Liberty. Boy, do I have a merry Christmas story for you.
A duck hunter stared down the powerful forces of Hollywood — and
Hollywood blinked!
And the result is… It isn’t that gays are coming out of the closet.
It’s that Christians and conservatives are coming out of the closet. A
duck hunter may have fired the shot that ignited a new American
Revolution.
Something amazing is happening: an awakening. More people showed
support for the star of “Duck Dynasty” in 24 hours than signed up for
Obamacare in its first three months — which means that at this point in
time, Americans are starting to come to the conclusion we’d rather have a
duck hunter in the White House than Barack Obama. We couldn’t do any
worse. By the way, the duck hunter may be simple, but he never committed
fraud to sell us his product.
By now, everyone knows about the whole controversy involving the
reality TV show “Duck Dynasty” and its biggest star, Phil Robertson.
Robertson made some controversial comments about homosexuality. That
didn’t sit well with Hollywood.
A&E Networks suspended Robertson indefinitely, which is another
way of saying: “You’re fired.” A&E thought it was a cut-and-dried
case. They thought, “Who’d take the side of some uneducated, ignorant
duck hunter?”
Perhaps someone should ask the executives of A&E what is feels
like to step in duck poop? Because don’t look now; but that uneducated
ignorant, duck hunter just took down an entire billion-dollar TV
network. It’s no joke. A&E made the biggest mistake in the history
of Hollywood. It showed middle America (the people who watch their TV
shows) how the thought police tyrants in Hollywood (and D.C.) really
think.
And America told Hollywood to “Go duck yourself!”
Here is what has me in a celebrating mood this Christmas. The tyrants
and control freaks like Obama, Hollywood, the leftist thought police
and the media elite are shaking in their boots. They have visions of
peasants with pitchforks and gas cans at the gates of their offices and
mansions.
I really do believe this was the moment in time when Christians and
conservatives woke up from a long slumber. It took a simple duck hunter
to inspire us. And what Middle America is saying to Obama and his
socialist cabal is: “We have rights, too. We deserve free speech, too.
We’ve had enough of your oppression and intolerance toward our values
and beliefs. And
we’re not going to take it anymore.”
A&E is backed into a corner, with no easy way out. Cracker Barrel
has already backed down. That company took “Duck Dynasty” products off
the shelves and got so many angry calls and emails that all the products
are back on the shelf. Cracker Barrel actually had to issue an apology.
In so many words,
Cracker Barrel said:
“We were flat-out wrong. Our customers have spoken.” Wow! You mean
Christians and conservative consumers actually do have power!
Amen to that.
It’s about time we woke up and realized we have rights, too.
And we have power. It’s time to
not turn the other cheek. It’s time to stare right in the face of our oppressors and do unto them as they do unto us.
A&E claims the “indefinite suspension” (i.e., firing) of
Robertson is about “branding.” What it’s insinuating is it couldn’t
possibly allow a close-minded, Neanderthal gay basher to remain as the
face of its billion-dollar brand.
Well guess what? The new brand for A&E is “the Christian-hating,
Bible-bashing, intolerant TV network.” And in a Nation still dominated
by Christians who actually believe in God, guns and the Bible, that’s
not a viable brand. In other words: Oh, how the tables have turned.
A&E is “
ducked.”
Let me explain my background. I’m a lifelong Republican conservative.
My heroes are Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater. I’m a leading
conservative commentator and bestselling conservative author of
The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide. Yet
I’ve always differed from my fellow conservatives on one issue: gay
rights. Like my hero Goldwater, I have no problem with gays. Goldwater
is the father of the modern-day conservative movement. Yet he, too, was
pro-gay rights. In so many words, he once said of
gays in the military, “I don’t care if they’re straight, I only care if they shoot straight.”
Ronald Reagan was also open-minded toward gays, as a result of a
lifetime spent in Hollywood in the acting business. I’ve always been
pro-gay rights. I believe what people do in their private bedrooms is
none of government’s business.
But this isn’t a gay rights issue. The firing of Robertson, star of
“Duck Dynasty,” is a free speech issue. It’s symbolic of the biased,
one-sided way the media and leftist elites treat free speech. People
have every right to express opinions considered “progressive” or
“politically correct” nowadays. But the same rules don’t apply to
salt-of-the-earth, apple-pie, middle-class Americans who believe in God,
country, guns and, yes, the Bible.
You mean Christians and conservatives don’t they have the right to
free speech just like Hollywood leftists? Just like Washington, D.C.
socialists? You mean Christians or conservatives don’t have the right to
express their views in the workplace, without fearing for their jobs?
You mean if any of us quote the Bible at work, we can lose our jobs?
Robertson only expressed his personal opinions. Those opinions are
shared by millions of Christians not only in America, but across the
globe. Agree or disagree, he had every right to express that opinion
without losing his job. I may disagree with the exact words he chose,
but I stand hand-in-hand with Robertson to support his right to say it.
Oh, by the way, Robertson is a reality TV star. His success and
popularity are based on his opinions. A&E fired a reality star for
having controversial opinions? Are you kidding me? A&E execs need to
visit a psychiatrist’s couch… pronto!
The “Duck Dynasty” scandal is about intolerance. But the intolerance
is on part of Hollywood and A&E. The star of a reality show is
allowed to have opinions. If you don’t like them, you have no right to
ban them. That’s intolerance. That’s tyrant behavior. That’s
McCarthyism. That’s the attitude of police states we find in countries
run by tyrants like Josef Stalin, or Fidel Castro, or Huge Chavez, or
the old East Germany. Is this what America has become under Obama?
I don’t have to agree with Robertson to stand behind him. I support
free speech. If it can happen to Robertson, it can happen to anyone of
us. I’m a TV and radio personality. I have opinions. I won’t change them
— or back down. If you don’t like them, change the channel. That’s
called
freedom.
Defenders of A&E and Hollywood claim this is about “private
property rights.” They say a private business (like A&E) has the
right to fire anyone hurting its brand.
That would be true if this were a fair two-way street. I, too,
support private property rights for business owners (like me) to run our
businesses anyway we want. Only the CEO should decide who works for his
company, not government.
But this is not the way the rules currently work in America. If any
private business said “I won’t serve a customer because of his race or
sexual orientation,” would that decision be allowed by government? Would
Hollywood or the media elite take the business owner’s side? Of course
not. So “private property rights” are extended only to people with the
same views as Hollywood?
If a businessman, in his own private business, decided to fire any
employee who supports gay marriage, would that decision be allowed? If a
CEO fired employees because they were atheist, would that decision be
allowed? If a CEO fired a woman because she was an outspoken supporter
of abortion, would that decision stand?
How about if a CEO concerned about his brand said, “You’re fired
because your outspoken support of gay rights is killing my business” —
would that decision be allowed?
More specifically, how about a TV network firing the star of a
reality TV show because he made remarks in an interview supporting
abortion or gay marriage or stem-cell research. Would government, courts
or Hollywood accept that decision? Leftists and gay rights
organizations would beg government to intervene. And we’d see $100
million class action lawsuits galore.
So it’s a lie to say that private businesses have a right to fire who
they want. The law is used only to protect leftist and “progressive”
views. This was never about “branding.” It was about the shock and
horror when people who drink Obama-Kool-Aid realized that their biggest
TV star actually believes in Christian and conservative values. And he’s
popular.
Gasp! This could be trouble. This kind of thinking could spread. They had to move quickly to silence him.
Why? Because Obama and his socialist cabal are petrified of free
thought. They keep their modern-day Tammany Hall going through
intimidation and the demonization of opposing viewpoints. They use Saul
Alinsky tactics: destroying the reputation of your opponent and making a
mockery of him and his views. They want to set an example. Once you see
the star of “Duck Dynasty” lose his job and be vilified in the media
for merely giving his opinion and quoting the Bible, you’ll never try it
yourself. You’ll be put in your place, too frightened to talk out loud
about your views ever again.
Leftists, socialists, communists and intellectual elitists cannot
afford to allow conservative or Christian values to be affirmed by a pop
culture celebrity — for fear it might start a trend. It might stir up
the masses. It might encourage conservatives to speak out. It might
embolden Christians to quote the Bible without fear. Hollywood cannot
allow that. Because they know it could get out of hand. Americans might
actually be inspired to fight back. Some of us might escape the
thought-police plantation.
Well, I’ve got news for you: It’s too late. The spark is lit. You just woke a sleeping giant.
A duck hunter may have just ignited a revolution. Robertson just went
from TV phenomenon to American hero. Salt-of-the-earth Middle America
has been now unchained. The gloves are off. We are free to speak our
minds. And the truth shall set us free. Here’s what we have to say to
control-freak tyrants like Obama the Hollywood elite thought police:
“Duck you!”
And now that we’re free to speak our minds…
Let’s start by throwing out that politically correct pablum “Happy
Holidays.” It’s time to stop cowering in fear. It’s time to say publicly
and loudly “Merry Christmas.” It’s not a generic holiday. It’s a
religious holiday. It’s called Christmas because it celebrates the birth
of Christ. Can you imagine that?
Open your window and scream it out loud: “Merry Christmas to all. And
to anyone who doesn’t like it, we don’t give a duck what you think.”
The revolution has begun. And capitalism still works, too. A&E just made Robertson a billionaire. I’m Wayne Allyn Root for
Personal Liberty. God bless America. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
