Ted Nugent in the Wall Street Journal

Common sense is alive and well in America if you’re not stoned, drunk, greedy or just plain stupid. To think that anyone could even argue that Napster [or any other file sharing program] has the right to give away an artist’s product is ridiculous. Hey, I have a good idea! I’ll just stand outside the local grocery store and offer its food free to the public. It doesn’t matter if the owner took the risk, pays all the taxes and overhead, struggles with a bureaucratic land mine field of regulations and laws, invests his warrior work ethic in bucketsful of sweat day after day, and basically busts his butt to provide a quality service and jobs for the community. Hell, no. I’ll just make that decision for him, thank you, and give away his products and hard-earned money. Who does he think he is anyway? The same applies to recording artists. We invest sweat and blood and millions of dollars creating musical products. It takes years of insane sacrifice and grueling tour schedules and intense effort. To think a third party should be allowed to give away our product for zero compensation in brain-dead and un-American.

I think a pretty good point is made here. The term “Un-American,” though, is always a silly conclusion and in my opinion should be avoided at all costs.