Many of us across the political spectrum toss around the words “free speech” these days. But I think more of us ought to take full advantage of those rights.

Gloria Steinem, a longtime feminist leader and creator of Ms. magazine, spoke at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville March 19. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch coverage of her words asked in its headline, “Gloria Steinem at 69: More radical with age?”

Some of the comments that earned Steinem this sort of speculation were, “Bush is not our elected president. He took office due to fraud in Florida. He is an illegitimate leader and does not deserve our respect or obedience. He is making us hated around the world.”

When Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks said she was embarrassed Bush was a Texan, Clear Channel Communications pulled the act’s newest single from its many radio stations. The media conglomerate is in bed with the Bush administration through the newly watered-down FCC run by Colin Powell’s son. Maines later apologized for her comments.

Michael Moore’s bestselling book, Stupid White Men, explained fully the theft of the White House from the American public. After accepting his Best Documentary Oscar for Bowling for Columbine, Moore called out our fictitious “president” and declared America did not support the war in Iraq. People’s booing drowned out much of Moore’s speech.

Apparently I’m in the minority because I fail to see what is radical about those statements – they are facts. The people of the United States did not elect George W. Bush president by a popular or electoral vote. The Supreme Court took that inalienable right away from us. People got tired of following the story when it dragged on too long and just wanted an answer. People got bored with their civic duty and someone else decided for them. They should have popped a Ritalin and stayed the course.

The implications of this mistake won’t be fully realized for some time. The simple mathematical truth is that most Americans didn’t vote for either Bush or Al Gore, and the second largest number voted for Gore. I don’t think Gore is Superman or our nation’s savior; I just think he won the damn election.

Also a fact is that Bushes – that is Jeb and G.W. – teamed up with the equally chilling Katherine Harris to tinker with the voter rolls to Bush’s advantage.

But despite clear evidence that Bush was not fairly elected and is more guilty of dragging our name through the mud than an army of scapegoats, Steinem gets called a radical and elicits shock.

Still, on Moore’s Web site, http://www.michaelmoore.com, he claims a small group started the booing, and a lot of the noise came from his supporters booing the booers. Much of Moore’s activism is grounded in the notion that most of the people in America support his views, evidenced by Stupid White Men’s tremendous sales (it sold more copies than any other nonfiction book in 2002).

I rose to my feet and cheered when Ani DiFranco declared, “He is not president of me,” at a concert last spring, and so did nearly everyone there.

The fact is these statements are not radical. They aren’t the stuff of crazy, tree-hugging, tofu-eating, commune-dwelling, dirty hippie liberals. More people agree with us than King Bush II would like to have you believe.

It’s time for the true majority of this country to say it all. Stand up to the people who are raping our Constitution..

Here, I’ll start. Bush, I invite you to sit on a tack, cram it with walnuts, piss up a rope and get the hell out of our White House. No one likes you; you’re a total moron, and you’re going to get us all killed.

OK, America. Your turn.