Political Brouhaha

Here in the politically chilly midwest, my students had a spirited political exchange. *GASP* Last night, one of my students was responsible for presenting/leading a discussion on ethics, and she decided to use some *very* politically charged examples (mostly from the right--OBL, Clinton, Dan Rather etc.), while students countered with mostly-left counterexamples (FOX news etc.). It was civil, student-led, and would likely be totally illegal if our distinguished legislator speech-code Gestapo law takes effect. My students (all adults--duh) were able to handle crafting their own arguments, and I even managed to have a pretty interesting conversation with one of my students afterwards. The students pretty much feel that while some teachers bring politics into the classroom that there should not be government intereference in running class discussions. The student responsible for the presentation brought up the example of the middle school teacher who got into a row because she put the picture of Bush in a special bulletin board display with the Declaration of Independence, etc. and not with the other presidents. There are conflicting reports as to whether the teacher was fired or not, and for what reason, but in the end, she transferred to another school. Funny thing is, I think that involving layer-upon-layer of government regulations, declarations, and pseudo "Bills-of-Rights" to the equation will make it MORE difficult, not less. Legislation is not the answer to this, folks.