I read a rather thought provoking article today.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/walker-charge-1st-amendment
And by thought provoking, I don’t mean I agreed with it. No, quite the opposite,
it almost made me spit my tea out.
The main point of the article, if you don’t want to read it (for which I can’t blame
you, I would rather watch the republican debates than read anything on that
site again) is that protesters in Wisconsin might have to foot the bill for cleanup,
police security, and repairs.
What do I think? Hell yeah those protesters -Surprisingly, they don’t appear to be
related to the OWS protesters- should have to foot the bill for cleaning up after
themselves. All protesters, including the OWS protesters should have to.
If you or I were to go make a mess on public property, we would be
ticketed for littering, but these people think that while they are -in the case of OWS-
illegally camping out on public property, illegally obstructing pedestrian traffic,
in some cases illegally making it possible for people to enjoy their public parks,
and vandalizing public property (yes taping up a sign to a building can be considered
vandalization if you do not have permission), they think that they should get to
break all these laws because they are protesting?
Fuck them.
Go out and protest (its your constitutional right), but clean up after yourself
and take your stanky ass home at night. Just because you are protesting
does not give you the right to camp in a park (ever) or stay there when the park
is closed (usually from 10pm to 6am). If a majority of the protesters were like the
group that was protesting here in Billings MT (are they still at it?) standing in a public place,
holding their signs, and doing their thing, and then going home when they are done,
there wouldn’t be a problem.
But if you cause a mess, require police presence, vandalize any property, cause damage to
any property, then you should have to foot the bill, be ticketed, and possibly be arrested.
Just because you are protesting something does not give you the right to break the law.
Just because you are standing up for what you believe in does not make you special. If you
want to feel special, go cry to your mommy. If you want to be taken seriously,
obey the damn law. You may not like it, but it is the law.
