Social Narcoleptics ... It's time to WAKE UP!!!!
The Scenario:
A protest is planned on a specific day, one that means a lot to "the masses" ... but now authorities are concerned that "too many protestors" might show up. Authorities have decided to pull the permit for the protest.
The ACLU is bound to get involved and help out the protestors, right? After all, they're all about supporting the application of the First Amendment's guarantees to free speech and freedom of assembly, right?
Well, that might be true if it were a *LIBERAL* group doing the gathering and protesting. Not so if it's a less-than-liberal group ...
What's happening is that a Tea Party rally protesting the bailouts and excessive government involvement in our lives and giving of taxpayer dollars to poorly managed/mis-managed corporations deemed "too big to fail" has been scheduled for Tax Day (April 15) in Cape Coral, FL. The problem is that local officials are now concerned that too many people might show up for said protest.
Do I have any doubt that this would not be an issue if the protest were being held by Liberals *against* a Republican president??? Do I have any doubt that the ACLU would be jumping all over this if it were a protest being held by *Liberals* against a *Republican* president???
What this screams to me is that the local officials are afraid that the news media might actually be paying attention to so many Tea Party-style protests being scheduled around the country for the same day and might get their town some little-appreciated attention, and they don't want to help the less-than-liberals get any attention that might help wake up the rest of the country to what's really going on. Maybe they don't want to help Atlas wake up enough to Shrug.
Someone in Cape Coral needs to forget about trying to get the ACLU involved, 'cause they seem to only be concerned about the rights of Liberals. Someone needs to call the ACLJ (American Center for Law & Justice) and get them involved. They will actually support the rights of all people, even those they may disagree with, if the Constitution is being violated.
The Red State blog posted a great article by Warner Todd Houston about it here. I've posted the entire article here in case you don't feel like clicking the link, but consider going there to read the comments.
Sunday, March 29th at 4:38AM EDT
Remember this report from our nation’s history? CNN (Continental News Network) Boston, 1773: The city of Boston canceled a proposed protest over tea taxes today, citing the fear that too many people dressed as Indians would be gathered near the wharves. Organizers expressed sadness over the cancellation, but meekly returned to their homes fearful of upsetting the officers of the Crown. Taxmen breathed a sigh of relief as the tar and feathers were put away not to be used this day.
You don’t remember that pre-revolutionary history? I should say you shouldn’t, because it didn’t happen. But flash forward a few hundred years and you’ll find it is happening today in Cape Coral, Florida where city officials canceled a tax day tea party gathering because they “feel too many people could show-up.”
That’s right, folks, the God-given, long-held American right to assemble and protest the actions of our government has been canceled due to too much popularity of the protest.
And what does it come down to? Money. You see, the city officials want an insurance policy taken out so that organizers can cover any loss that might occur as a result of the rally. And those insurance policies cost hundreds of dollars.
The tea party organizers of Cape Coral, though, aren’t the only ones to find this restriction of their free speech and rights to assemble. Tea party organizers all across the country have begun to find out just how difficult, if not impossible, it is to be “allowed” to exercise their God-given right to speak their minds against government excess and criminality. City governments all across the country are charging fees for “permits,” forcing organizers to pay out huge sums for “insurance policies,” and binding tea party organizers in all sorts of government red tape.
In many instances, organizers are being told that they aren’t “allowed” to hold rallies on government property. Imagine that? We, the taxpayers of the city/state/federal government aren’t “allowed” to gather on property that our own taxes paid for.
And then there are the “permits” required to reserve the day, arrange the police protection, and clean up afterward. Often those “permits” can only be applied for at certain times a year, precluding any spontaneous assembly. Also, these “permits” can be denied with no reason stated quashing at birth any plan to exercise the right of assembly.
Here one might wonder how it is that we so often see those lefties appearing on our TV sets engaging in their many organized protests? Don’t the flotsam and jetsam of the far left seem to have large protests all the time? One might be drawn to imagine that the government is involved in some sort of grand conspiracy to allow those with anti-American sentiment, the moonbats of the left, to march with impunity. But, hold the tinfoil hats, won’t you? Because the wackjobs of anti-war ilk and the shrill, circus acts of the Code Pinkos are expected to cut through the same red tape the tea party organizers have been confronted with. The lefties are just better at it.
You see, contrary to popular conception, the far left has some deep-pocketed backers (your George Soros types, unions and even government funds) and a raft of organizations that do “protests” as a full time job. Their protest marches and rallies are far from spontaneously organized. These groups are thoroughly knowledgeable about the red tape and governmental hoops through which they must jump to carry off a successful protest assembly. After all, the hatemongers of the left are intimately intertwined with city governments all across the country. They understand what needs to be done because, by and large, city officials used to belong to, or belong still to the sorts of groups that plan lefty protests. Your new president is one of them. Being part of government, these leftie protest marchers help write the rules, being intimately associated with government they are quite well informed about what is required and how to get around or satisfy those rules.
But the obstacles are coming as a shock to the average citizens that love this country. For their whole lives peace-loving, work-a-day Americans have taken for granted that there exists the freedom to assemble completely unaware that those rights have been eliminated by stealth regulation by governments all across the land.
And now the folks in Cape Coral, Florida have learned their lesson.
Americans do not have the rights they always thought they did. There is no right to protest government. There is no right to assemble. The people have no rights at all to voice their displeasure. Shut up people. Go home. Nothing to see here. Go quietly back to your IPods and DVDs. Big daddy government will take care of you. The Obemmessiah will decide what’s best for you. Don’t worry your little heads. Oh, and thank you for your payments on April 15th.
Put away the tar and feathers, won’t you? There’s a nice fella.
I thought this was a particularly good point ....
Can't you just imagine that, should Conservatives come up with the bucks to pay the insurance on these gatherings, the Leftists within their communities (and without, too, no doubt) would take that as an invitation to disrupt, invade, infiltrate ... and cause as much destruction as possible, so's to make the Conservatives look bad? You know Conservatives would never do that, but with the Black Bloc, you know it would be pretty likely.
Yep, we spend our days being productive, working our jobs, making a living, paying our taxes. We don't have the time or the inclination to become "professional protestors and agitators" as so many Liberals are wont to do. Maybe it's time for the more wealthy among our ranks to start bankrolling conservative protests / protestors ... oh, but wait ... if Liberals got wind of that, it would suddenly be all over the news about how Conservatives with deep pockets were doing that, even though they would never publicize how Liberals do it.
Well, Liberals have been touting the "patriotism" in civil disobedience for decades, haven't they? Perhaps it's time for Conservatives to wise up and use the tactic to their own benefit for a change.
Tea Party gear can be found at www.shirts4freedom.com
Posted by: richard | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 01:28 AM
Actions like this really, really annoy me-no-that's wrong-they infuriate me. I found your blog as a result of the Ravelry bannings. I've almost cleaned out my account, and I'm leaving. I need the time I spent on the Internet to get politically active for the first time in my life. I spent many, many years on active duty in the Army (protecting the rights of EVERYONE to protest), and now that I am retired and can speak out, I will.
Thank you for your great posts.
Posted by: Trish | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 07:37 AM