A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about the War on the Individual. In case you missed it, the War on the Individual is broadly defined as any action taken by governments, corporations or other powerful bodies that seek to undermine the power of the individual and promote the need for human interdependence.

Liberal democrats, socialist elites and advocates of massive government are mainly fueling this war. The war has spread into our public school system, property rights and contemporary politics. Some may think this war is being fought far from home or not at all, but this war was fought in Pittsburgh during the week leading up to April 1, 2007. On that day, the University of Pittsburgh College Republicans and the Young America's Foundation brought Ann Coulter to speak at Pitt.

There have been a couple of columns and a couple of letters to the editor about Ms. Coulter's visit to Pitt, all available online, so there is no need to recap the entire event. But briefly, Ann Coulter is widely known for her strong conservative beliefs and her courage to actually vocalize them. She openly criticizes liberals, Democrats and anyone else whom she disagrees with. She has sold thousands and thousands of books, writes columns and makes appearances on television every now and then. Many people didn't like the fact that she was coming, people were called names, people protested, she came, she spoke, people laughed, people clapped, she left.

The interesting thing here is not that so many people don't like her - even though they have never even met her. The really interesting thing is that this is proof that the War on the Individual is being fought right here at Pitt.

Some people believe that because they are human beings, the Creator granted them rights, one of these rights being the freedom of speech. Almost as if they had a crystal ball, the founders put this right into the Constitution to ensure that even if the idea of "a Creator" came under fire, Americans would still be guaranteed this right.

The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Although every part of this amendment is equally and greatly important, for the sake of this column we will just deal with the freedom of speech.

Essentially, this allows people to say what they want within certain constraints, such as not being able to slander people or yell "fire" in a crowded, public place. The founders didn't put this in the Constitution because they wanted to protect Americans' right to say nice things. On the contrary, they put this in to protect Americans' right to say things that may be unpopular, critical or unusual. The day we stop this practice is the day one more individual right bites the dust. Any action taken to strip a person of his or her right to free speech is definitely an act of war on the individual.

Sadly, as Ms. Coulter's speech drew nearer, it became evident that many people don't support freedom of speech. Some tried to paint anyone who supported, agreed or had any connection with Ms. Coulter's visit as a hate-monger or a hate-spewing crazy, an obvious attempt to crush anyone's vocal support of Ms. Coulter. After all, who wants to be publicly branded a hate-monger?

The use of public opinion to dismantle freedom of speech is not a new tactic. Leftists, socialists and Democrats (sorry for being redundant) have used this tactic to strip individuals of the freedom of speech for a long time. The whole politically correct movement is based on this approach. By alienating anyone who disagrees with their agenda, they successfully stop anyone from challenging them.

As much as collectivists love to take away your individual freedoms, they will use them to push their agenda to the best of their ability. For example, when Professor Ward Churchill called victims of Sept. 11, 2001, "little Eichmanns," a Nazi who was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death, many people jumped to his defense reminding everyone of the First Amendment.

That's strange. So its okay to compare innocent civilians who died at the hands of barbarians to a Nazi, but its over the line to suggest that women are getting rich off the deaths of the very same people? I think there is a word for this. Hypocrite. The only thing stranger is people using their First Amendment right to protest the very reason the First Amendment was created!

As evidenced by recent events, the liberals/collectivists/Democrats are waging a war on the individual. It is happening closer than you think. Fight for your individual rights and don't let someone else tell you what you can and cannot say.

Did you enjoy Ms. Coulter's speech? E-mail Joe at jjm4@pitt.edu.

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