…peaceably to assemble"... And while you’re at it…there shall be no law “abridging the freedom of speech”. (The First Amendment)
You know, some of the Founding Fathers weren’t too keen on the idea of having a Bill of Rights. Why? Because they didn’t want to imply that it was a listing of all our rights, because that isn’t true at all. In our form of government, the PEOPLE hold all the rights EXCEPT the ones we sign over to the government by way of laws passed.
And we have relinquished all sorts of rights to the government over the years.
So, here’s what’s happening. One of my heroes, Sheriff Daniel Beck of Allen County Ohio, was scheduled to come to the Chicago area to speak about immigration enforcement. The sponsors, a Minuteman group, rented a conference room at the local Holiday Inn.
Well, the attorney for the Holiday Inn contacted them and cancelled the reservation four days before the event. The reason? The city police want $3,000 for security at the event because the pro-illegals plan to stage a protest during Beck’s talk.
So, this is the third event I am aware of that the threat of protests has interfered with my rights as a citizen.
1) When 2,500 of them showed up in Carpentersville and prevented me from making public comment at a town meeting, even though I showed up for it and signed in as requested.
2) When a follow-up meeting to #1 above was scrapped because no one wanted to risk holding the town meeting at their venue and President Sarto was unwilling to make the arrangements.
3) Now this withdrawal of a meeting location.
Well, to the credit of the Minuteman Project, they are begging for a new location anywhere so they don’t have to cancel the event. Let’s pray they get some brave owner and a police department who will stand up for what is right here.
What troubles me about all of this is that all it takes to cancel an event is the threat of protesters showing up. This would have been unheard of just a few short years ago. It seems so much like some third world country where such meetings could not take place.
I’m keeping an eye on the situation to see if the ACLU steps forward. It isn’t their kind of case, but they just might. They SHOULD.
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An update to the story. Judge Maureen McIntyre ruled that Holiday Inn did not have to allow the group to meet. We've had lots of rain lately so there's no chance of using a corn field.
ReplyDeleteSheriff Beck was on the radio this morning and said he was sorry the police was having trouble. Beck said if he had known he would have brought his own Security.
I LIKE that man!
What about hosting on private property? That way, anyone showing up to protest (aka, shout a bunch of insane nonsense about people's rights...even thought they're not citizens and really are not afforded such rights, but I digress...) can be arrested at the owner's request.
ReplyDeletePerfect time to start checking green cards too.
Great idea. The group limited ticket sales and even returned them to people who might be trouble. And in the past they checked IDs. Believe it or not, the Illinois Minuteman Project doesn't go looking for trouble.
ReplyDelete