At Liberty With The Flag, At Odds With The Police

I have seen too many stories lately dealing with "authorities" pitted against people's "free speech". Today's head scratching tale comes from Wisconsin.

A man was flying the American flag upside down in protest of his village board's decision not to grant his restaurant a liquor license. He had been doing so since the middle of June. Hours before the village's July 4th parade, local police officers took down the flag under the advice of the District Attorney. They returned the flag the next day. (Read the full story here.)

I am reminded of a quote from the movie The American President. "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." Freedom of expression cannot simply be reduced to freedom of approved expression without damaging all of us. Freedom requires that we must also defend the rights of those whose speech we do not agree with.

In our Wisconsin story, the local authorities admitted that flying a flag in this manner was not illegal. They simply chose this one day to flagrantly censor a citizens right to free speech in protest of his local government. Whether you agree with the flag protest or not, consider how "free" you would feel if the government decided to forcefully silence YOUR criticism of the way they conducted their affairs.

This is a clear case of government overreach. They should be slapped with a hefty lawsuit to remind them of our constitutional boundaries. What do you think?

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"The test of democracy is freedom of criticism." ~David Ben-Gurion