The far-Left advocates now running elite societal institutions and the federal executive branch do not merely seek to legalize certain activities, they seek to coerce the rest of us to assist. From President Obama’s recent abortifacient mandate in Obamacare, to the expulsion of Christian social-work student Julea Ward: if you don’t affirm and participate in politically correct orthodoxy, you will be punished.
This agenda is even spilling over into sports.
Recently President Obama hosted hockey’s 2011 champion Boston Bruins team at the White House. (Why he did it seven months late is unclear to this hockey fan.)
Of the more than 50 Bruins engraved on Lord Stanley’s hallowed cup, one decided that President Obama’s big government policies are too personally offensive for him to attend the White House ceremony. Tim Thomas, the Bruins goaltender, who is having another stellar season, politely declined to attend. He notified management well in advance, posted a short explanation on Facebook describing his Tea Party reasons, and emphasized these were purely his individual views rather than that of the organization.
Many members of the chattering class went apoplectic. Some, though not all, sports writers called for Thomas’ censure and suspension. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Thomas lacked “basic courtesy and grace.” The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont called Thomas “Immature. Unprofessional. Self-centered,” among other names, and said he should give up his Team-America silver medal from the 2010 Olympics.
To their credit, the Bruins management decided not to penalize Thomas and has casually respected his ability to follow his own political and social views. Yet sources even there are whispering that Thomas’ decision might lead to him being traded after this season.
Why would anyone think that in order to qualify to be a professional sports player one must not too vehemently or publicly disagree with the radical agenda of Leftists? What kind of mindset would consider the dissent of merely one guy out of 50 to be an intolerable level of intellectual diversity? And what kind of suicidal thinking would advocate pulling a league-leading goaltender out of the lineup of a conference-leading team for purely ideological reasons?
This is the face of the modern Left: coercion above all. As Michael Gerson aptly described the Obamacare compulsion against religious groups, “Modern liberalism uses the power of the state to impose liberal values on institutions it regards as backward.”
Freedom in America used to mean respect for ideological diversity, and thankfully some fans have supported Thomas for that reason. But the consensus in favor of freedom is eroding under Leftist pressure exerted to march their agenda forward through government, business, and elite institutions.
Said Thomas about his decision, “I followed my conscience.” Didn’t anybody tell you, Tim? In today’s America you must embrace the Left’s conscience. You’re not allowed to have your own.