Breitbart:
Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), a member of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Tribe who sponsored a 2003 law protecting federal monuments, called for the defense of a statue of Andrew Jackson and other monuments on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with host Rebecca Mansour and special guest host John Hayward.
Mansour asked Campbell about the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003, which Campbell sponsored and introduced in the U.S. Senate. President Trump announced his intention to enforce this federal law, which carries a ten-year jail sentence, against the protesters toppling statues.
Campbell said, “It’s really interesting. Sometimes it is said, ‘What goes around comes around,’ and I guess in this case that bill introduced years ago came around. I was disturbed, particularly because I’m a Korean War veteran, and some of the vandals defaced the Korean War Memorial. I had friends die in that war. It’s a very personal thing to me.”
Campbell described his motivation for composing the bill. He said, “I’m an artist in my private life. I paint, make jewelry, and so on. I’ve always been concerned about an artist’s or craftsmen’s right under the First Amendment, so I was thinking of that and reflecting on a lot of other things at the same time.”
“One of my points of thinking when I first introduced that bill was also protecting integrity of the original artist,” shared Campbell. “They have a First Amendment right not to see their works destroyed.” read more
Cream rises to the top.
What a great American.
Sen. Campbell is an interesting story. He started as a Democrat, became a “moderate” Republican in the mid-90s, and progressively became more conservative through his political career. He is one of the few politicians I have met that actually left office when he decided his time was up, rather than spending his whole life ruling other people.
I will not call him a hero, because I do remember the early years, but, in my mind, he learned as he got older.
To paraphrase the old saying: show me a college student who isn’t a liberal, and I will show you someone without a heart. Show me an older person who isn’t a conservative and I will show you someone without a brain.