RUSH: I have a story here from the Washington Post, and it’s an editorial. “The students who edit the newspaper at Neshaminy High School think the nickname of their Pennsylvania schoolÂ’s sports teams is racist.”

I wonder why they think this. The name of their mascot about this Pennsylvania school is the Redskins. Yep, they’re the Redskins and the students who edit the newspaper at this high school have banned its use in the school paper. “A stance in keeping with that taken on the national scene by those (including us) who object to WashingtonÂ’s identically named football team.

“You would think young people engaging with an important social issue and standing up for something they believe in would be appreciated, even applauded. Instead, school officials suspended the newspaperÂ’s editor, sanctioned the teacher adviser and fined the organization.

Editors dropped “Redskins” from the paper and the administration suspended the editor, sanctioned the teacher advisor, and fined the paper. “A battle with school administrators ensued, coming to a head when officials told students they couldnÂ’t publish a letter with ‘R——-‘ but must use the complete word.” And the Washington Post doesn’t understand this. “Wait a minute, we would think these students would be applauded for doing the right thing and keeping racism out of the school paper.”

But the school hasn’t changed the name of the mascot, the name of the team. These are students and they don’t own the paper, the school does, and they have not been given permission to make an editorial judgment like this. So everybody’s fit to be tied. This is a great example of how respect for authority is taught. I’m sure a lot of people probably agree with the Washington Post. These kids, they’re doing the right thing here. Everybody knows that Redskins is racist now. Well, everybody is supposed to think that Redskins is racist, and so these kids are doing the right thing. They’re following their big brothers in the Drive-By Media by not using the word.

Except it’s not their paper. The school owns the paper and the school doesn’t think there’s anything wrong. It’s the name of the team mascot, for crying out loud, and the students don’t have the authority. But a lot of people think the students should be given credit here for maturity and forward thinking. But what it is, is a lesson in respect for authority and how to deal with things that don’t go your way. My dad was a lawyer and he used to always tell me about his interaction with judges.

My dad was a stickler for my brother and I learning respect for authority and how to deal with it when it didn’t go your way, ’cause it doesn’t all the time. He would always use personal experiences in his own life as teaching assistance. And he would tell me that in court, whatever the judge says, no matter how stupid, dumb, seemingly unintelligent it was, you had to live with it. And if you dared to argue with the judge, you could be found in contempt. It was just the way it was. And he said, “Son, the court system depends on it. There’s a singular authority in that courtroom and it’s the judge until the jury rules if it’s a jury trial. But the judge is it, and if the judge’s authority is undermined you got chaos in there. And a lot of times it goes against you.”

I’ve never forgotten that. Now, some people equate — and this is where it’s gone wrong, I think — some people equate respect for authority with conformity and cowardice. Some people think if you don’t stand up to authority, you’re gutless. If you don’t stand up to authority, you are spineless. If you don’t stand up to authority and challenge it, well, then you’re worthless, you can’t be depended on. If you respect authority, you’re a coward and so forth and so on. And that’s certainly not the case. It may be in certain instances, but try it in the military. There’s a singular authority there. No matter what you think of it, you’ve gotta do it or you’re out.

It’s a natural thing for young people to oppose authority and to reject it and to rebel against it. That’s what they do. But I think it’s a teachable moment here, and it’s not gonna be seen as that because there’s political correctness involved. A bunch of major Drive-Bys think these kids ought to be rewarded for their mature decision to stop using this racial term in the school newspaper. But the people that own the paper said, “We don’t have a problem with it right now. This is not the way. You don’t have the right to say what’s printed in this paper or not in terms of the name of the mascot.”

I don’t know if anything’s gonna come of this, but I think it’s a good lesson for these kids to learn. It may be a stupid call. The school may be doing the wrong thing here, but they are the ones that have the authority and there are ways you change things without using bombs and all this other kind of thing that the left made famous back in the 1960s. So we shall see.