Am I a radical?
By Charles A. Morse
web
posted August 20, 2001
A radio station in Boston, a major market, has been considering including my talk show as part of their all talk format, which they are planning to roll out this fall. The station owner was impressed after interviewing me, listening to a tape, and reading my book, and had given me an enthusiastic oral commitment. After six years of nightly radio catering to the freedom community, this would have been the break I had worked for and dreamed of. Broadcasting in a major market, my program would have likely had a major impact. The opportunity has suddenly hit a major snag. I just found out that a decision maker, apparently, views me as some sort of a radical.
 Chuck doesn't even like the Revolver album...or Rubber Soul |
Maybe I took the sixties slogan "question authority" a little too literally. I thought that this slogan meant that it was my responsibility, as a public commentator, to constructively criticize such august establishment institutions as the United Nations, the Federal Reserve, the National Educational Association, the National Council of Churches, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Clinton Administration, Planned Parenthood, the Civil Rights Act, The Income Tax, Gun Control, Ted Kennedy, the Beatles, Hillary Clinton, and other sacrosanct paragons. I thought that a free speech and a free press was supposed to be a vehicle to examine those in positions of influence over our lives and freedom and if appropriate, as a means of exposing corruption and abuse of power. I suppose I'm just viewing life through rose-colored glasses.
This was what the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the first amendment to the Constitution. The idea of free speech, like so much else in our society, has been transformed to mean freedom to engage in toilet humor and vulgarities, or worse, race baiting in the name of conservatism. Conservatism has been damaged by mean-spirited talk tinged with racist innuendo. Commentators taking phony opposite positions, one on the supposed left, one on the supposed right, spew vacuous, meaningless clichés. Trivia, with a titillating edge, is blown up with obsessive coverage and presented as something of actual relevance.
Like most of my fellow freedom advocates I am addicted to the truth. Sometimes when truth flies in the face of conventional wisdom people get angry and feel threatened. I have seen this reaction in my own life, particularly since the release of my last book, Thunder out of Boston. Most people would rather not delve too deeply into important issues such as the spiraling loss of national sovereignty and individual freedom confronting us all. Most people don't want to contemplate such inconvenient issues as an examination of the moral dimensions of current trends and events. Most people would rather not think about the future, only focus on the pains and pleasures of the present. Most people don't want to see what is right under their noses.
It seems that the term radical is presently used to describe anyone who takes a clearly defined stand on virtually any public issue. The predominant cultural trend is conformity or "consensus." The highest virtue, our establishment thinkers tell us, is to find consensus between diverse opinions. They call this practicing "tolerance" with the implication that to do otherwise is intolerant. Also implied in this maxim is the threat that lack of conformity to consensus, or "intolerance," is dangerous and worthy of punishment.
Once in a while, a public lynching is performed against a designated enemy of "consensus." This serves the purpose of destroying the career of a true dissenter to establishment opinion. A genuine debate over the issue represented by the perceived enemy is conveniently avoided. Such lynchings send a clear and understood message to the vast majority which is that if you step out of line this will happen to you. Recent enemies subjected to such lynchings include John Ashcroft, Kenneth Starr, Bob Barr, Newt Gingrich, Clarence Thomas, Bob Packwood, Jesse Helms, and countless others.
I'm proud to be called a radical. Standing up for freedom and liberty
really is radical in relation to the present authoritarian trend. Our
founding fathers were radicals. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams were radicals in
their fight for liberty and freedom. As a radical, I know I'm in good
company. 
Chuck Morse is the author of the upcoming book "Why I'm a Right-Wing Extremist".
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