DEBBIE DUNNEGAN

She was a nondescript minor functionary in a Tea Party Active Southern County, and her hatred of the Black president was hardly noteworthy. What makes this an important quotation is that it was frequently shown to foreigners who really did not understand the great degree of freedom of speech. Here a public official being paid by the government, not only calls for the removal of a sitting president, but also openly asked the army to rebel against their commander in chief. She was not punished, nor even arrested or tried. She was not even dismissed from her elected government job. That was up to the voters in the next election. There likely is no other country in the world where that can happen.

She was a nondescript minor functionary in a Tea Party Active Southern County, and her hatred of the Black president was hardly noteworthy. What makes this an important quotation is that it was frequently shown to foreigners who really did not understand the great degree of freedom of speech. Here a public official being paid by the government, not only calls for the removal of a sitting president, but also openly asked the army to rebel against their commander in chief. She was not punished, nor even arrested or tried. She was not even dismissed from her elected government job. That was up to the voters in the next election. There likely is no other country in the world where that can happen.