Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 19, 2008

Shortly before the recent Republican Convention in St. Paul, the Republican Party paid the city a special $10 million insurance fee. This effectively indemnified the city against any lawsuits that could be filed by people abused by police or security personnel during convention week.

The convention itself was designated a ?National Special Security Event? by the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security. The local police force was militarized and put under federal control. The feds recruited additional police from as far as Milwaukee, as well as hundreds of private security contractors.

As a result, some parts of St. Paul during the Republican convention resembled Baghdad under military occupation. Heavily armed police were deployed in military formations, chanting cadences and treating civilians ? press, protesters, and pedestrians alike ? as an enemy to be subdued.

Nominating conventions are rarely memorable events. The St. Paul Convention should be remembered as the coming-out party for the new Homeland Security State.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.