I have strong doubts that this is actually true, but would it really be a good thing if it was?
“Police have just announced to the crowds inside the occupied State Capitol of Wisconsin: ‘We have been ordered by the legislature to kick you all out at 4:00 today. But we know what’s right from wrong. We will not be kicking anyone out, in fact, we will be sleeping here with you!’ Unreal.”
Yeah, because what could possibly go wrong with police officers ignoring the elected officials above them?
It seems that the truth around this one is also in doubt, but if it was true would it also really be a good thing?
The M******t [a restaurant] in Madison, WI confirms that on Friday night, ******* (one of the owners) politely asked Scott Walker to leave the establishment when other customers began booing him. A bartender at The M*****t said that ‘his presence was causing a disturbance to the other customers and management asked him to leave.’
Yeah, because all Americans want to see their elected political opponents harassed when they go out to eat or otherwise just try to do everyday stuff in public. Maybe if we harass them enough we can get them to the point where we can denounce them for being out of touch. Cool! (/sarcasm)
In the current Wisconsin situation, the protesters are being allowed to do many, many things that ordinarily no one does. It's hard to imagine how the state could operate in the future if other groups were given equal treatment and permitted to stay overnight for days on end, to post thousands of signs all over the historic marble walls and pillars, to prop and post signs on the monuments, to bang drums and use a bullhorn in the rotunda to give speeches and lead chants all day long for days on end. Tell me then, what will happen when the next protester comes along and the next and the next? Hasn't the state opened the Capitol as a free speech forum in which viewpoint discrimination will be forbidden under the First Amendment?
Protesters have continuously occupied large parts of the Wisconsin State Capitol for going on two weeks now. Given Madison's climate at this time of year, that's understandable. But is that the precedent we would really want to see for the long run? What do we say when some neo-nazi group shows up and wants to stake out a big chunk of the rotunda for two weeks? How about the KKK? Oh, and God forbid, what if a bunch of Tea Party types do that? Well, we're going to have to let them hang out I think. The precedent has been established.
I understand how passioniate people can get over the issues at play here, but it seems to me that there's an awful lot of principle getting thrown over the side to serve the cause. I don't think that will be a winning strategy with the general public and I don't think that any of the above are good for political discourse in the long run.
Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if I was wrong. Once upon a time I thought people would pay a severe political price for all of the crap that was thrown at President Bush for eight years.
Yeah, I know.
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