ESPN created an uproar earlier this month by publishing an article in which author Robert Montgomery claimed that President Obama was being pressured to sign an executive order that would significantly limit, if not ban outright, recreational fishing in America’s coastal and inland waters, and that public input concerning the order had been terminated.

Conservatives, libertarians and sportspeople went ballistic. Rants were ranted on the air and in print (including by yours truly), collars were heated under and, to paraphrase Groucho Marx, roths were waxed.

When called about the ban, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s staff responded by blithely dismissing the entire story on the grounds that no such order had ever been signed. The ranters themselves, including yours truly, were also subjected to the usual clichéd litany of insults, defamations, smears and so forth, for the same reason.

And that reason was entirely false. The story, and anyone who responsibly commented on it – including yours truly – never claimed that the order had been signed, only that it was in the works.

ESPN reportedly pulled the story a few days later. And, it turns out, those reports were as mistaken as those that the order had been signed.

In a commentary that is now linked to the original article (viewable at http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/news/story?id=4975762), Executive Editor Steve Bowman attributed the rhubarb to errors in editing and presenting Mr. Montgomery’s piece, rather than the factuality of the subject.

According to Mr. Bowman, the ruckus developed because the article was Mr. Montgomery’s opinion, rather than a balanced news story. It was not identified as such, and it did not contain dissenting perspective. Neither was there any citation of ESPN’s series of news articles and commentaries on the subject, of which the column in question was an installment. Mr. Bowman manned up and took the blame for the errors.

Does that mean that the story itself is false? That there is no such executive order in the hopper? Hopefully without wandering into the logical minefield of proving negatives, I’ll believe it when I don’t see it.

The problem, from my perspective, is not Mr. Montgomery’s column, ESPN’s mishandling of same, or the ensuing frenzy. The much more serious problem is that this government’s arrogance and contempt for the people – as Senator John Kerry exemplified when he mockingly asked during his presidential campaign, “Where can I get me a fishing license?” – and for liberty itself gives more than ample credibility to concerns that it would destroy something as basic and legal as recreational fishing.

Consider how zealously government control of health care is being pursued. If the government seizes responsibility for your health, then rest assured your liberties and privacy will be grossly infringed upon. I touched on this in my previous comments on the ban. But the eagerness of certain congressional Democrats to simply deem the legislation as having passed the Senate, in total disregard of the legislative voting procedure set forth in Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution, is a fell omen indeed of what awaits your liberty should it be signed into law.

Consider crap and tax. Should that debacle become law, you most assuredly will find the government clamping down, either directly through punitive regulation or indirectly through punitive taxation, on your liberty to use energy.

Consider, again, firearms. I made a strong statement in my earlier remarks about the ban that, were it to be enacted, similar limitations on your right to keep and bear arms would follow. The statists and hard liberals to whom this president listens would love to see you disarmed, and have tried gambits from outright bans of certain weapons to pricing ammo off the market to make it so.

With that history in place, is it any wonder that this new proposed intrusion drew such a strong response? Whether Mr. Montgomery’s column was journalism or editorializing, the outrage it prompted attests to the edginess and unease we Americans feel towards this current government, given its agenda of unconstitutionally expanding its power and compromising liberty.

And now that I’ve opened that door, I heartily invite all of you Bush-haters to come right in. But only if you can stop reflexively screaming through frothing lips, “But Bush! But Bush! But Bush!” long enough to acknowledge that his real or imagined tramplings of liberty and the Constitution were child’s play compared to what is unfolding today.

The pros have taken over the field, and you need to either join us conservatives in protesting the actions and philosophy of this government, or never again complain about the Bush years. That is water under the bridge, and if your obsession with chasing that dribble down history’s gutter blinds you to today’s dangers to the Republic, then you too will be swept away in the rising flood of tyranny.

Thomas Berry, for the Children of Liberty, http://www.meetup.com/The-children-of-liberty/

Tags: Children of Liberty

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Guest Column, Opinion.
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