For many parents, baseball has long been a source of teachable moments. Kids learn about winning and losing, about the need to accept bad calls as part of life, about the importance of running everything out, and so on and so forth.

Now Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols have given us another teachable moment. This one is about politics.

Many of us were unhappy to be hit in the face with this lesson. I suspect that more Americans believe in the separation of baseball and politics than believe in the separation of church and state. But La Russa and Pujols decided to mix the two, so let's make the best of it.

Let's start out with a simple truth. La Russa and Pujols had the right to appear at a rally organized by Glenn Beck and headlined by Sarah Palin. They had that right. Period.

For that matter, Beck had the right to have his Restoring Honor rally at the site of — and on the anniversary of — the rally at which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Beck had that right. Period.

Needless to say, some people were offended by the when and where of Beck's rally. That's because Beck has been one of the most vitriolic critics of Barack Obama, the country's first black president. Some of Beck's criticism has centered on race.

For instance, he has said that Obama has a "deep-seated hatred of white people."

He also attacks Obama's family. He has claimed — or at least repeated the claim — that Michelle Obama took 40 of her "best friends" to Spain at taxpayer expense. The White House quickly responded that only a few friends were with her and they paid their own way, but to Beck's millions of viewers, it is the accusation that resonated, not the response. Proof was not required.

To me, all of this, but especially the racial stuff, is vile, the lowest kind of political speech. But it is political speech and therefore it is protected by the Constitution. Period.

Let me make something else clear. This is not a defense of Obama. I am disappointed in his presidency. Admittedly, the car was in the ditch when he got behind the wheel, but he has been unable to get it out of the ditch, and at some point, he has to stop complaining that it was in the ditch when he got there. I'm also unhappy with the half-hearted surge in Afghanistan. Be all in or all out, and I'd go for all out.

In other words, I think there are a lot of valid criticisms to be made about Obama, but "deep-seated hatred of white people" is not one of them.

Of course, Beck's critics — like me — have the right to say that Beck seems to have a deep-seated hatred of black people. Or maybe he just uses race to stir up hate. Either way, I find it deplorable.

Just as I find it deplorable that La Russa would drag the Cardinals organization into this kind of muck.

It is not just black people who were offended by the rally. Some veterans believe that people like Beck use servicemen as props. In fact, Saturday's rally brought to many minds the quote most often attributed to H.L. Mencken: "When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross."

But Beck has the right to have his rally when and where he wants. Period. No matter who is offended.

I liken this to the debate about an Islamic center on private property two blocks from the site of the Twin Towers.

So many people said, "The Muslims have the right to build it, but ..."

But what? Some people would be offended because the site is too close to ground zero.

I hear that argument, and I think: We don't ask people to give up their rights because the exercise of those rights would offend somebody. In fact, the truth is closer to the opposite. We have put these rights into the Constitution precisely so they can be exercised even when some people would be offended. Even when the majority of people would be offended.

Besides, who is to judge what's offensive?

I believe that Beck is a demagogue. Given the history of some of the things he has said, I think his idea that we need to restore our honor after electing Obama reveals, as Beck would say, a deep-seated hatred of black people.

But you know who was one of the speakers? Alveda King, a niece of the slain civil rights leader.

Furthermore, there was a huge crowd, and many of them — most of them — are surely hard-working Americans who probably conduct their lives the way Abraham Lincoln would have wanted us to — with charity toward all and malice toward none.

They were exercising their right to assemble and to listen to the speakers exercise their right to speak freely. That's as American as cherry pie and baseball.