Michele Bachmann's Crusade to Ban Pornography is More Proof She Isn't Tea Party

Patriot Act supporting Michele Bachmann has another strike against her when it comes to being Tea Party. The Minnesota Congressman is pushing a personal moral campaign to ban pornography. I know what many of you are thinking. You need to consider some things prior to applauding her actions.

To be fair, Bachmann hasn't come out and made an official statement on banning pornography. However she did sign a pledge created by The Family Leader, which the ninth part of the pledge reads she vows to ban all forms of pornography.

Now obviously tramples upon the First Amendment. First of all, like him or not, Larry Flynt successfully argued as the federal government attempted their witch hunt against him that Hustler magazine and his other publications were protected by the First Amendment. While I am no big fan of either Flynt or Hustler, I am not going to deny Flynt is a champion of free speech. You see with free speech protection comes the fact that all free speech must be protected. You can't just pick and choose which free speech is acceptable in society or it's no longer free speech.

Secondly, who is going to decide what is pornography and what isn't? Do you seriously want the federal government performing this job?

Because to some, this may be pornography.

Walt Whitman's great erotic American poem From Pent Up Aching Rivers may be forever removed from libraries depending on who wants to interpret it.

From that of myself, without which I were nothing;
From what I am determin’d to make illustrious, even if I stand sole among men;
From my own voice resonant—singing the phallus,
Singing the song of procreation, 5
Singing the need of superb children, and therein superb grown people,
Singing the muscular urge and the blending,
Singing the bedfellow’s song, (O resistless yearning!
O for any and each, the body correlative attracting!
O for you, whoever you are, your correlative body! O it, more than all else, you delighting!) 10
—From the hungry gnaw that eats me night and day;
From native moments—from bashful pains—singing them;
Singing something yet unfound, though I have diligently sought it, many a long year;
Singing the true song of the Soul, fitful, at random;
Singing what, to the Soul, entirely redeem’d her, the faithful one, even the prostitute, who detain’d me when I went to the city; 15
Singing the song of prostitutes;
Renascent with grossest Nature, or among animals;
Of that—of them, and what goes with them, my poems informing;
Of the smell of apples and lemons—of the pairing of birds,
Of the wet of woods—of the lapping of waves, 20
Of the mad pushes of waves upon the land—I them chanting;
The overture lightly sounding—the strain anticipating;
The welcome nearness—the sight of the perfect body;
The swimmer swimming naked in the bath, or motionless on his back lying and floating;
The female form approaching—I, pensive, love-flesh tremulous, aching...

I just don't see any Constitutional authority for the federal government to determine judgement on such a thing. This is once again why I approach Michele Bachmann's claim that she is Tea Party with caution. With freedom, which the Tea Party advocates for, comes self-responsibility for one's self. What might be right for you, might not be right for some, but only true freedom comes by not trampling on one's liberty to choose.

This reminds me of an interesting conversation I had last year about marriage. Even in marriage, many people who follow a religion like Christianity often put limits on what is acceptable in the bedroom even in marriage. However, a Christian told me God puts no limits on sex when it is just between a husband and wife, and went on to tell me his church encourages married couples to liven it up in the bedroom by experimenting. He believes this is a solid way to keep things interesting in the marriage and avoid getting bored. In fact, the church recommends married couples enjoying places like Adam and Eve, which as you know is a store with the naughty goods.

What I found fascinating about this is this man went to the same denomination as John Ashcroft, The Assemblies of God. Which further proves the confusion that would take place if such a bill was even launched.

Obviously, Bachmann's pledge is nothing more than pathos that will never come to light. The fact she signed it proves to me once again, Bachmann is weak tea. Trampling on the First Amendment is the last thing I would have expected from Bachmann, who wanted to organize Constitution for Dummies classes before this current session of Congress convened.