Jason Levin is a media lab technology teacher at the Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton, Oregon, and for all I know, a good one. Jason Levin is also a passionate political activist whose sense of fair politics is a little bit skewed: he has gained notoriety through his plan, detailed on his website http://www.crashtheteaparty.org, to discredit and undermine the political movement through a series of unethical tactics, such as infiltrating rallies and shouting racist and homophobic slogans, seeking out reporters and making wild claims posing as Tea Party advocates, holding mis-spelled signs, and dressing in Nazi uniforms.

Needless to say (I hope), Levin’s idea of political warfare is unethical in every way. Misleading the public and media about a party or group rather than contesting its positions on the merits is dishonest and a disgrace to the democratic system. His site. or what is left of it (it appears to be selling T-shirts now) is proclaiming these activities as protected First Amendment Speech, as if that settles the question of whether his plan is fair and ethical, and it is not. The First Amendment, as I seem to be writing a lot these days, is about what citizens have a right to do, not what is right to do. Is this really so hard to grasp? Yes, you have a Constitutional right to free speech that you can use for cruel, uncivil and destructive things: you can lie to lovers, insult neighbors, embarrass friends, be rude to your mother, spoil Christmas by telling children there’s no Santa Claus, spread hateful rumors, denigrate public officials, reveal your sister’s abortion on the web, persuade people to vote for the worst “American Idol” contestant so that a truly deserving young performer never gets the career she might have (It’s true: I detest this site), disrupt a grieving family’s attempts to give an Iraq war hero a dignified burial….oh, there’s lots you can do with that right that is absolutely despicable, harmful, and wrong. Just like Justin Levin’s plan to “destroy the Tea Party movement.”

There’s really no question about that. The question at hand, however, is this: do the activities and opinions expressed by Jason Levin, political activist, mean that Jason Levin is unqualified to teach ?

He is on paid administrative leave, now, but only while school officials investigate the narrow issue of whether he used school property to launch his website. Some, like the author of  this Augusta, GA. newspaper editorial, feel that Levin’s political tactics disqualify him to teach impressionable young minds:

“He is teaching his students that it’s OK not merely to express your own political views, but to try to stop others from expressing theirs. It is so against the tradition of free speech that it is nothing less than un-American.
It’s also quite unethical. Should we not demand ethics in the teaching profession?…Besides the legal, moral and ethical issues, there’s also the matter of simple courtesy. Levin is teaching his pliable young students’ minds that you don’t just express your own views, you also try to drown out opposing views. Nice lesson. Whether or not the Oregon school district finds the administrative wherewithal to fire Levin, such a person is not fit to be teaching.”

If Levin actually was teaching his students these things, I might agree. I might even consider agreeing if he taught civics, or, heaven forbid, ethics. But he’s a computer teacher. I can see nothing in his outside political activities that would make him less successful or effective at that. This is where the First Amendment really does come in. Americans should not be prevented from working at their chosen profession because of their political activities—even revolting ones such as the type Levin favors. He is not in a position that requires exemplary character or unusual levels of trust. There are probably great teachers who are, in their private hours, Devil worshippers. There are great teachers who enjoy pornography , gambling, liquor, fast women and Pauly Shore movies.  As long as Levin’s hatred of the Tea Parties and his undemocratic plans to undermine them don’t affect his ability to teach, he should be allowed to keep his job.