Sunday, May 21, 2017

Franklin Republican Town Committee statement on Immigration Event Cancellation

"It is with regret that the Franklin Town Republican Committee announces the cancellation of Thursday night’s talk on immigration by a noted subject matter expert Jessica Vaughan. Due to gross and persistent misrepresentations about Ms. Vaughan and the nature of this event and the implicit threat of disruption by demonstrators and hecklers, our hosts at the Veterans of Foreign Wars who were well aware of the topic and speaker in advance cancelled the event.

Although Jessica has been a respected voice on news media outlets across the country and across the political spectrum -- and has testified before Congress -- she has somehow run afoul of the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization funded in part by billionaire George Soros -- which has alleged, on what basis we can’t imagine, that Jessica is associated with or sympathetic to a “hate group.” Perhaps those peddling these untruths simply fear accurate information about an important subject in American life today.
 
What has happened to the America of Liberty Trees, Patrick Henry’s rousing “give me liberty or give me death,’ and the generations of Americans who risked and sometimes lost their lives fighting to protect our ideals and rights. Freedom of assembly and speech are first and foremost among the rights we all hold dear. So, it is with great sadness that we record the cancellation of this non-partisan event offered as a service to citizens. Intimidation, insinuation, and character assassination through prejudicial, inflammatory, and false language is now the rule rather than the exception. And, so often, particularly on college campuses, this is married to the implicit threat of violence and vandalism. These trends are a true threat to our country and our civil society. Sadly, today they arrived in Franklin with some local Democrats contributing."

2 comments:

  1. "Freedom of assembly and speech are first and foremost among the rights we all hold dear. "

    First, while I agree that those freedoms are important, they are not rights that require private venues to be involved. The VFW is not publicly owned, and has the right to decide what happens in and on their property.

    Second, there were no "threats of violence and vandalism" - tossing in a strawman like that is irresponsible.

    Third, the SPLC has explained their decision to designate CIS as a hate group; you may not agree, but you can easily look up their reasoning. And if you want to invoke George Soros then you should also recognize that CIS was founded by a proponent of eugenics (have you read Brave New World?).

    Fourth, if you really want to provide an immigration discussion for the benefit of Franklin residents, maybe you should work with other groups to host a balanced presentation, with speakers on both sides of the issue.

    Lastly, don't forget that those "generations of Americans who risked and sometimes lost their lives fighting to protect our ideals and rights" have included - and still include - immigrants.

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  2. Well said, thank you for taking the time to read and comment

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