It Doesn’t Matter if Brittney Griner Sucks

by Marc J. Randazza

Brittney Griner sucks. She didn’t want the National Anthem played at any of her games. In July of 2020, Griner said, “I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season. I think we should take that much of a stand.”

Then she got busted for weed, in Russia.

All of a sudden, she seems to have discovered that she’s got a patriotic streak after all.

For that, much of the Right is saying that we shouldn’t help her. She disrespected the USA, she disrespected the Anthem, she disrespected The Flag. Whatever it is, yeah. I agree that she did those things. I agree that the Stars and Stripes appear to be a “flag of convenience” for her.

I also agree, emotionally, that it would be just desserts to tell her “hey, you didn’t like America when it was time to get your face on TV, but now all of a sudden, you want her help?”

But no.

No way.

Griner unquestionably has every right to despise the National Anthem. She can burn an American flag. She can call for the downfall of our government and for the creation of a new communist state where you get elected based on how many underage prostitutes you bang while smoking crack with Hunter Biden and Maxine Waters.

Because that is what being an American means. You get to “disrespect” the very institutions that protect you. You get to call the Constitution trash, and the Constitution will turn the other cheek, and will still protect you. It must, or the Constitution really does become trash.

If the Constitution is not a neutral principle, then it is nothing. If it doesn’t apply to Nazis, Griner, and Olive Garden advertisements for pineapple on pizza, then it doesn’t apply to Kerouac books, Hustler Magazine, or the Bible. And if believing in the First Amendment means anything, it means that we do not have orthodoxy of thought. It means that we share our foxhole when protecting the Constitution with people we would otherwise hate. We stand up for the thought that we hate. We defend and uphold the right to express yourself, even if we hate what you say. Hell, I would say that we defend it especially when we hate what you say.

Because that is the majesty of the First Amendment.

If our government listened to the cries to treat her differently because she said terrible unpatriotic things, then our government acts unconstitutionally. I don’t care if the Russians lock up Captain America, Captain Antifa, Captain KKK, the president of NAMBLA, or Brittney Griner. We do not treat those people differently because of things they said.

And if you think we should, you’re wrong.

Now of course, we may have little grounds to intervene. If you or I were arrested for possession in another country, the Embassy’s “help” would likely be some guy coming by and handing you a crooked photocopy of a list of some lawyers who can speak English. Griner broke the law. Was the law stupid? I think so. But, there’s a reason I tell all my friends and clients to “always cross a border clean.” If you’re going somewhere that you can’t buy weed easily, then you don’t need to be smoking weed there!

I’m not sure why our government should intervene.

When one of the hottest girls I ever met sat next to me in a bar in Singapore and after a half hour conversation, asked if I liked Ecstasy, I threw a hundred bucks on the bar, stood up, and walked out without saying a word. Why? Because I knew the damn score. I knew that she was either a cop setting me up, or if she got busted for any reason, and I was with her, I was guilty by association. It could have been an epic night, but if I had gone to jail, you think President Bush would have sent the marines or an envoy or even a post card? No way.

Griner knew the law, she broke it, and Russia has a right to enforce it.

Of course, you have a First Amendment right to mock her. I think the schadenfreude here is absolutely delicious and nutritious.

But, if you think the government should treat her differently because she said things you do not like, then you are the one with a patriotism deficiency.