Commence This

President Obama gave the commencement address at my alma mater, the University of Michigan. He took the opportunity to denounce those who criticize the government too harshly since it can lead to an atmosphere out of which comes violence. Furthermore, in a democracy, the government is, after all, us.

You know what? I don't like much being lectured by anyone about how we shouldn't go too far in criticizing the government. I especially don't need to hear it from the central emblem of that government.

When Ari Fleischer, White House spokesperson, responding to a question a few weeks after 9/11 said that people should watch what they say, commentators jumped all over him. Now we have the President, in a planned speech, warning us of the same thing. I'm waiting for a similar reaction.

The President isn't against criticizing government in general. He's just against criticizing government if you do it improperly. What is the dividing line? No one can say for sure, but we're on notice.

(The President, of course, has no trouble strongly criticizing government when it suits him. For example, the government--"us"--in Arizona passed an immigration law. The President responded before it was even signed, saying it threatened "to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans." He added if immigration isn't handled on a national level, it'll "open the door to irresponsibility by others."

Seems kind of harsh. Since he said that, there have even been protests that featured violence. But I guess it doesn't step over Obama's line. When the President does it, it's okay. But all you others out there, stop the namecalling--it's dangerous, and besides, government is great.)

PS Obama's example of why we need big government--our "small" government didn't have enough regulations to prevent Wall Street from causing the financial crash. It's arguments like these that should make us distrust government even more.