by Carolyn Abell
Just when I think I have become shock-proof over the continued shattering of moral principles within elements of our country, and in particular the judicial system that seems to increasingly side with the law-breakers rather than victims and honest citizens, something happens to reignite my outrage.
The recent decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, that a United States law passed by Congress making it a criminal offense for someone to lie about receiving military medals is unconstitutional, is probably one of the most outrageous in a long list of bad decisions made by this particular court. In fact, I believe the 9th U.S. Circuit Court holds the record for having more decisions overturned by the United States Supreme Court than any other lower court.
The majority opinion of the 9th Circuit Court held the position that lying is merely an expression of free speech, and that nobody was hurt by the falsehood perpetuated in this case by Xavier Alvarez, the imposter who fraudulently claimed to have been awarded the nation’s highest honor.
To declare that nobody was hurt by Alvarez’s deliberate charade is the ultimate insult to more than 3400 true heroes who have been honored with the award, the majority of whom were posthumous recipients—their courage demonstrated in extraordinarily heroic circumstances leading to an early death. Their actions of self-sacrifice for fellow servicemen and for the protection of our country have just been cheapened and devalued by one sorry excuse for humanity, claiming something he never came even close to achieving. The two judges who ruled in his favor are the real villains, though, for rendering this preposterous decision.
But perhaps even more harmful than the gross insult to our country’s foremost icons of courage is the advancement of the notion that lying is an acceptable expression of free speech. The courts have already forced us to accept pornography (including that involving children), extreme violence, and “art” that mocks and demeans all aspects of Christianity as merely exercising first amendment rights. Now the right to lie is a newly discovered entitlement under the same pretext of “freedom of expression.”
What is to stop people now from lying on job applications, passport applications, and other official records? They can simply claim that the lie doesn’t hurt anyone, and be free to creatively invent qualifications and attributes they have always wished for. Some colleges and universities routinely ignore cheating, so many students are already conditioned to expect dishonesty to pay off for them in their careers.
And what about the legal system itself? How long before perjury in court is no longer a crime? How does one prove that a lie actually hurts someone else?
This disastrous decision has so many negative ramifications, that the possibilities are endless. The idea that such morally deficient purveyors of injustice should reside in a court with responsibility for upholding laws which they contemptuously sneer at, is another terrifying leap down a spiraling tunnel to an abyss of moral decadence. We’re not going to hell in a hand basket; we’re headed there in a downward elevator with the cables cut.
Copyright 2010 Carolyn Abell
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