Letter: Dixie Chicks see the bigger consequence

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

Regarding Lee Walsh's July 9 letter in response to my June 25 letter and Joelene Smith's letter defending the Dixie Chicks' right to speak the truth, Ms. Walsh states that the problem appears to be that the Dixie Chicks don't grasp the term "consequences."

What Ms. Walsh fails to grasp is that there are far greater consequences in not standing up and exercising the right of free speech than losing Ms. Walsh as a fan. Simply stated, the Dixie Chicks stood up for a principle larger than themselves and certainly larger than the country-western music industry and those who control it - the right of free speech and the right to criticize.

U.S. Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, in her remarks to the U.S. Senate in 1950, recognized "... some of the basic principles of Americanism - the right to criticize. The right to protest. The right of independent thought. The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood ... Otherwise, none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in."

Yes, the Dixie Chicks suffered the consequence of losing Ms. Walsh as a fan, a fact that should give them great concern, especially in their efforts to "cross over" from country-western music. However, we as Americans should recognize that our failure, including the failure of the media, to properly criticize this incompetent administration resulted in the far greater consequence of the re-election of one of worst presidents in the history of the U.S.

Tom Harper, Henderson