Other articles by David Fitzsimmons:

Daily Fitz Fix 07/05/2009Daily Fitz Fix 07/04/2009Daily Fitz Fix 07/03/2009Daily Fitz Fix 07/02/2009Daily Fitz Fix 07/01/2009Daily Fitz Fix 06/30/2009Daily Fitz Fix 06/28/2009Daily Fitz Fix 06/27/2009Daily Fitz Fix 06/26/2009Daily Fitz Fix 06/25/2009

Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Construction
West-Press
Printing Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President

At the mall I saw a slacker wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon light bulb floating above the words "Fear no Idea." Maybe he thought his right to snicker at "South Park" was in jeopardy. Consider those who truly fear ideas. Publish a cartoon that is sacrilegious or write a blog that challenges the official view in some dreary states and a court will edit you with irons, a whip or the grave.

Long ago, in the age of torchlit dungeons, our revolutionaries renounced such terror. "Keep your guns, worship as you wish, think and speak freely," they said to their fellow citizens in Philly. "And wait, it gets better: In a few centuries you'll get 'The Simpsons.' "

Imagine how a guest from a repressive corner of our planet would be shocked by Bart and Homer's irreverence toward everything sacred. Religion, sex, race and politics are all fair game. For us, weaned on satire, it's no big deal. Everyone gets offended at one time or another. That's the admission fee. Part of the daily diet of deliciously offensive shtick that we simply laugh at.

Infantryman Bill Mauldin carried a pack and a rifle and a pen during World War II. The two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist didn't focus on Hitler or Tojo. He chose to ridicule a closer target: officers. To an army of free men fighting the enemies of individual liberty, such irreverent "disrespect" was as American as an apple pie in the face. And a value worth dying for.

Trying to ease my guilt over taking my boys to a violent bloodfest called "300," I reminded my sons that the Persians were an army vast in number, but being slaves, tiny in spirit and will. Armies of free men will always defeat armies of slaves. Whatever. Pass the popcorn, Dad.

Those who fear ideas drive away their treasure. Take the father who discourages free give and take. My way or the highway. In this man's home there is only one way of thinking and you best keep your mouth shut or … you get the picture. He rules his dispirited family with fear.

There is little difference between such a petty dinner-table tyrant and the cruel leader who crushes dissent and kills individuality.

Like the teenager who dreams of running away from the old man, refugees around the world jump walls and cross oceans to escape the tyrant. Such homes, states and nations are doomed to fail.

Not ours. Our nation's dinner table is an open place where we discuss and argue over everything and anything — freely. Our forefathers chose not to rule over us or our thoughts. And here is the rock upon which their faith and our faith rests: the Constitution.

With faith in the rule of law that protects our right to laugh at ourselves, question authority and even ridicule our government, we cannot imagine being afraid to speak our minds. And such speech, whether it's free, obnoxious, seditious, reactionary or questioning, enriches our homes, our communities and our nation. It is how America talks to itself: neighbor to letter writer to newsman to street protester to late-night comedian.

Respect the rights of those who annoy you. Be unafraid. I know you're up to it. You're an American. Fear no idea. And leave the light bulb on.