Did Lew take an oath?

Lew makes a big deal of his veteran status with the US Army, where he spent his time in Vietnam keeping the Jesus nut tight on helicopters.  To get there, Lew had to have sworn the following oath:

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

Now, there's a bit in the constitution about freedom of speech.  It's there to guard against the government restricting our freedom of speech, and telling us what we can and can't say.

There's no question that Lew is not the government, but most Americans understand that in a public opinion forum, all voices should be allowed to be heard, even unpopular ones. Normal adults recognize this as the marketplace of ideas, where your ideas are placed for the public to examine and evaluate, then accept or reject as needed.

But Lew's fragile ego can't exist in this environment, because, shockingly, occasionally people do disagree with him. Truthfully, it doesn't even take a disagreement with Lew to set him off.  Just a rational person suggesting he dial his rhetoric back until the facts are out is sufficient to earn them a permanent place on his long list of hatred.

Take, for example, a recent exchange on Facebook.  In the public comment forum South West Washington Opinions, where Lew is one of several administrators, he posted an article that highlighted an error that Councilor David Madore made in a public comment.  Madore suggested that people were disappointed in Councilwoman Stewart's vote in a recent Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation meeting, based on an article that stated that the only dissenting vote was from Clackamas County.  Stewart's defense was that she hadn't even attended the meeting.  The confusion is understandable, because it's perfectly reasonable for Madore to have expected Stewart to have attended this rather important committee meeting.

Instead of being an adult about it, and informing Madore of his error, Lew, who has a hate-on for Madore among many other people, decided to highlight it as a hit piece. He didn't take the time to verify Stewart's claim, hearsay was quite enough for him.

A comment was made by a citizen that the minutes of attendance should be readily accessible, and that facts should be verified before insinuations were made. Lew, doubling down on stupid as usual, tried to spin this into some sort of defense of Madore, and in the process insulted the person who made the comment, because Lew is apparently just lacks the capacity to be civil when being a complete ass is an option.

Of course, Lew's myopia prevents him from seeing that he was engaged in the exact sort of character assassination against Madore that he accused Madore of committing. In the ensuing exchange, Lew realized he came into a battle of wits unarmed, and in true fascist thug fashion, ended the exchange by removing the person who called for facts to be examined before sentence was passed.  Another member added Lew's victim back tot he group, and when called out about his thuggish behavior and censoring opinions that placed his stupidity in a bad light, he proceeded to block the individual. It's a temporary thing, because Lew isn't the only admin in the group. It would be instructive to post a record of the exchange here, but like a child who has been caught, he proceeded to delete salient bits of the conversation that exposed him in a foolish and mean-spirited light.

As it turned out, a request to the metro council office yielded the attendance list, verifying that Stewart had not attended the meeting. This was never introduced into the discussion because Lew booted and blocked the person who engaged him, because who needs facts when you're on a roll ranting?

This highlights the mindset of THE Clark County Conservative:  Disagree with him, and you will be silenced. Totalitarianism cannot tolerate differing opinions, and when exposed for what it is, will always do whatever is necessary to silence those voices. Lew, no doubt dealing with demons of PTSD from his time in Vietnam - skinning your knuckles on a wrench can leave such psychological scars, after all - cannot manage his deeply seated insecurities and delicate ego. Any challenge must be silenced, because facts and logic are only useful to THE Clark County Conservative when they serve his sometimes nonsensical agenda.

The tragedy in all this is that Lew has a serious problem with identifying friend from foe. The multitude who populate his hate list often share most of his values and viewpoints.  But in Lew's totalitarian worldview, you toe the line on every single issue, or YOU. ARE. THE. ENEMY.

Seek help, old man. There's no upside to dying bitter and filled with hate.