Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 19, 2008

In preparation for the Beijing Olympics, the ruling Communist Party arranged for three designated protest areas. Those wishing to demonstrate were required to apply for a permit at least five days in advance for the privilege of using the so-called ?protest pens.?

Midway through the games, the Chinese government announced that it had received 77 applications from would-be protesters, and had denied all but three. This is why the so-called ?protest pens? remained empty.

China?s practice of protest management is severe, but not fundamentally different from that of our own government.

Witness the now-common practice of designating so-called ?free speech zones? for political protesters during presidential visits and political conventions. These American protest pens are always located well away from the action, and those who insist on exercising their protest rights elsewhere end up behind bars.

Our Constitution makes the entire country a free-speech zone. The government ruling us, like the one in Beijing, prefers to ration speech.

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