Hypocrisy at its Finest

I ran across an editorial this week discussing the controversy surrounding the Duck Dynasty hero, Phil Robertson, regarding some remarks he made about African-Americans and Gays when interviewed by a popular magazine.

Governor Jindal and Sarah Palin both jumped on the fact that the TV station, A&E, was infringing on Robertson’s first amendment rights by suspending him from the Duck Dynasty show for his remarks.

It’s odd that a man of Jindal’s intelligence, and one who works so hard to foster his national image as a staunch constitutionalist would completely misinterpret this amendment.  The first amendment allows free speech without government or legal sanctions being directed towards those individuals for their actions.

The Duck Dynasty cast member received no such governmental or legal sanctions such as fines, arrest and/or imprisonment for what he said, which occurs quite often in some other countries throughout the world such as Russia and China.   Instead, a corporation decided to dismiss an individual whose professed thoughts ran contrary to theirs.  Granted, A&E was probably more worried about the loss of sponsorship revenues rather than anything else, but they had the right to suspend Robertson under our free enterprise, corporate system.

We, as consumers, have the right to disagree with this action and punish A&E by boycotting the station.

However, let’s not forget that Jindal‘s actions of removing individuals who disagree with his governing philosophy are the mirror image of A&E’s.   During his reign of terror he has ousted, or systematically removed individuals  from the LSU Board of Supervisors, the LSU system president position, positions that provide over site for the university’s public hospitals, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), department heads, legislative committee chairmanships, etc.  The list goes on and on.  In fact, he has been one of the most successful governors in recent history in implementing the philosophy of ‘it’s my way or the highway.’  You might have to go all the way back to Huey Long to find someone who has out done him. 

These individuals made no 'politically incorrect' statements to magazines.  Their only fault being that they disagreed with some of Jindal's plans.  Where were the public outcries regarding these firings?

Oh, I forgot, they're not TV stars, just average Joes.

From Jindal’s past actions it is readily apparent that once again he has seen an opportunity to promote himself nationally by misapplying the first amendment argument to  actions initiated by a corporation; actions, which he strictly adheres to himself.  It seems like the old adage 'People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones' certainly applies to Governor Jindal in this situation.