Ben & Jerry’s First Amendment Crunch

I’m not big on boycotting companies, especially considering politically offensive actions are usually made in corporate suites by searingly hypocritical corporate officers who will feel little of the boycott while the in-the-trenches workers will suffer the most. But sometimes you have to put your foot down – especially in these days wherein the left has made almost every moment of our daily lives and every molecule of our being into a political battlefield.

Ben & Jerry’s makes some tasty ice cream but it is also long-known to be a politically correct bellweather – even after its acquisition by ubercorporation Unilever (That’s right, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold out to the man!)

Anyway, recently Ben has become intimately involved in shutting down political speech he doesn’t agree with. He’s heavily funding the loathsome MoveOn organization’s loathsome campaign to “amend” the Constitution to modify or eliminate (basically the same thing at this point) that pesky First Amendment.

He says that he’s merely “reclaiming our democracy” by getting “big money” (like his) out of politics. He would seem to have a strange definition of “democracy” if it involves shutting some people up by making their “speech” illegal. (But then, he is a liberal…)

Exactly how one gets “big” money out of politics via emasculating the First Amendment is always left a bit fuzzy in these liberal proposals – one of those classic acts of liberal invocation – simply insisting that something is or will do the job. Obama lives this way.

However, Ben is completely misunderstanding that the whole point of the freedom of speech movement (looking back to its modern origin in John Milton’s time) is that you can put your money to work saying what you want without having to get permission from a governmental body (royal, federal, state, local or elected or self-appointed busybodies). Money is the milk of free speech. You have to have money to buy the press or buy time on the press. It’s not that kind of “free.”

For reasons I’ve never grasped, the left (actually only many of its naïve foot soldiers – its leaders know exactly what they are doing) seems to think that it can remove all money from the system and that somehow the system will still function… and that it will present nice speech that they and everyone fully agree with, including hate speech monitors, feminists, the Gaystapo, activist Muslims, and others of the professional victim class.

You know, lately, I’ve been thinking “we” should eliminate “big” money from “big” ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s does that “free cone” thing one day a year, right? Well, I think every day should be free cone day. Free ice cream for everyone – all the time!

Of course Ben’s already gotten his millions so it wouldn’t really hurt him that much but as his buddy the president says, some people have already made enough money and don’t really need to make anymore. I bet Ben would go along with that… maybe not. He then wouldn’t have money to spend on all his favorite lefty causes.

I’ve never bought any Ben & Jerry’s and certainly will not ever knowingly buy any, ever.