By Robert Thibodeaux, Community Voices

At the start of the summer, in an effort to generate some positive political discussion, I posted a question on the Savage Pacer’s Web site about how candidates would “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I decided a discussion of the Constitution should probably start with the Amendments of the Bill of Rights, since these are more highly discussed during elections.While this discussion generated a few responses, three recent events have caused me to go back and re-examine the topic of the First Amendment.

The first event was the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. As many may know, I (and my little elephant Ella) had the privilege of attending the convention and the events surrounding it. It was during these events that I had a chance to see the First Amendment in action. I also saw how some people seemed to forget the entire First Amendment.

In Rice Park, across from one of the convention entrances, I saw a wide variety of folks carrying signs or wearing costumes in order to get their messages across. They were exercising the right to peacefully assembly and express their point of view and were treated with respect. A few delegates would stop to either listen or exchange ideas with a person, though I am not sure many people were taking the lady dressed in a pink pig costume too seriously.

What was disturbing was what I saw just a few blocks down from that park. Near a smashed-out window of the downtown Macy’s, I spoke to the driver for the delegation’s transportation. He talked about spending most of the morning replacing the slashed tires on his bus. A group of “liberal activists,” apparently encouraged by a St. Paul DFL city councilman, had decided that anything was allowed in the name of free speech. This included actions like: throwing urine at police officers, smashing store windows, slashing the tires of delegation buses, and blocking access to the convention. While screaming about how the police were violating their rights to free speech, they seemed to forget that others have rights, too.

While everyone remembers free speech as part of the First Amendment, they conveniently forget that the freedom to assemble to petition the government is also protected. Luckily for myself, and others, the professional law enforcement in Ramsey County understood their duty to protect the Constitution and helped protect the rights of everyone. 

This is not to say that some are not trying to use the government (or fear of the government) to stop speech.

The second event I noticed was what was happening in Missouri and Illinois. One of the presidential candidates has formed “truth squads” of sheriffs and prosecutors to target anyone who runs negative ads about the candidate. They have also threatened to investigate stations licenses for inviting guests opposed to their candidates. Things got so bad that this past Saturday, the Missouri governor issued a press release condemning the actions as an attempt to “frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate…”

I, for one, have faith in the American voter to take political ads and discussion with the critical eye necessary. If a candidate feels statements are misleading, they should point out the facts and refute them and let the people decide. To threaten to use the FCC, an agency with who is appointed by the president, to silence stations or to use the perceived threat of government investigation to intimidate people, is to kill free debate and goes to the very core of our First Amendment rights.  The final event is the childish election year ritual of sign stealing. While not at the level of the other two, it does demonstrate the same point. This previous weekend, the wife of a Third District congressional campaign staffer was caught on tape stealing the opponent’s signs. I doubt that any voter drives along thinking, “I’m not sure who I’ll vote for, but those ‘Thibodeaux for president’ signs have a cute elephant on them, so let’s vote for him.” But those signs are speech. And when someone steals a sign, they are stopping someone’s free speech. This is no different from the childish shouting down of speakers that happens all too frequently. The exchange of ideas is a core ideal of our nation, and to try to silence your opponent has more to say about the weakness of your argument, than anything about the speaker.

So from stealing signs, to slashing tires, to the threat of government force, all of these attack the rights of U.S. citizens and have no place in government or political campaigns. During the discussion about adopting our Constitution, it was said “free speech is essential to free government” for as with science, freedom of speech will help us discover the truth. Those words are as true today as they were over 200 years ago.

 (Robert Thibodeaux is one of 10 people in the Savage community who write for Community Voices. This column features a different writer each week and is one of several opinion and commentary pieces appearing regularly in this newspaper.)