There comes a time in every bad comedy when, just as you think the dreadful humor is over with, an even bigger doozy is hurled your way.
Such is the case with Prince Harry, who of late has been (to put it mildly) estranged from the rest of the Royal Family across the pond. He’s spent the last couple of months engaged in a war of insinuation against his family, letting his wife lead him by the nose ring while she tries to ignite America’s ridiculous cancel culture against an establishment that’s 1,000 years old, give or take.
Yet for all the headaches he’s caused our British cousins, Harry seems determined to outdo himself now that he’s settled unfortunately on U.S. soil.
During a recent podcast interview, Harry, who apparently doesn’t know much about our Constitution but still behaves like an expert, stated he thought the First Amendment was “bonkers” in regard to the American paparazzi.
"I don't want to start sort of going down the First Amendment route because that's a huge subject and one in which I don't understand because I've only been here a short period of time. But, you can find a loophole in anything. And you can capitalize or exploit what’s not said rather than uphold what is said. I’ve got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers.”
Bonkers huh? While I can understand his dislike of the paparazzi, I can’t help but find it laughably ironic that a British royal is complaining about an American fundamental right.
Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher are hanging their heads in shame at his multifarious ignorance.
Perhaps if Harry weren’t spending so much time doing interviews openly attacking his family and now our political system, the First Amendment wouldn’t be such a huge issue for him. As it is, Harry is willingly making the choice to go on public forums and whine about how hard his life is while the rest of us work for a living.
It would also make some sense if Harry were an American citizen calling for a meaningful debate on what counts as protected speech. But Harry is an ex-pat who no one seems to really want either here or in the United Kingdom. Until he takes the citizenship test he has no business lecturing us about our way of life.
To borrow a line from one of my favorite movies: “He can’t do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges!”
The very fact Harry is able to foolishly run his mouth as he does is a testament to the power of our Republic. In some countries, people are jailed for saying things less foolish.
When our Founding Fathers decided to rebel against Harry’s ancestor, it was partially because they wanted to speak out against the foolishness of King George II and King George III’s policies. If idiots were free to say stupid things, well then that was just an added bonus!
Harry can be forgiven perhaps for not knowing everything about our country’s history. If he did, then perhaps he would understand just how many people have sacrificed blood, sweat, and in some cases their lives, to safeguard the First Amendment.
It was that ideal that made men stand their ground on Bunker Hill and cross the Delaware on a cold winter’s night. It was that ideal that drove the men who won the Battle of Gettysburg. It was that idea that drove our grandfathers as they stormed the beaches of Normandy to push back the evil that might have consumed the blessed Isle of Britain.
That’s what the First Amendment means to Americans.
If Harry will take my advice, it’s this: shut up and learn some respect for your new country’s laws before you call them “bonkers.”
Harry, in America we allow people to say stupid things.
Even you.