Against my better judgment earlier today, I got caught up in
a “discussion” about the noon-time singers at the Capitol. One of the people with whom I was “discussing”
this insisted that rights are not compatible with permits.
The “discussion” devolved from there.
I use quotation marks around the word discussion because it
was typical of the discourse that surrounds controversial groups or events like
the so-called Solidarity Singers. In
other words, instead of listening, digesting, and replying, it’s more like
stating your opinion, and then when there’s a chance to speak again, stating
the same opinion more loudly.
Another person said singing in the capitol building is as
much a right as singing “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” during the 7th
inning stretch. (I’m pretty sure I read that “argument” somewhere else this
week.) Still another wondered why, with
all the really top-notch civil rights lawyers in Madison, they aren’t more
involved in filing suits against the Capitol Police or the Department of
Administration, or SOMEBODY, to stop the arrests.
I’ll tell you why I think our city’s many highly-talented
First Amendment lawyers aren’t filing suits: because they know it’s fruitless.
I’m guessing that it would put them in a position to argue in court that nobody
needs a permit for anything, as regards the First Amendment, and I’m further
guessing that the judge would, at that point, ask them to show evidence that
they possess a valid law license - something I don't have, so I'm just guessing here.
I mentioned in the “discussion” that the Wisconsin Constitution
– and the Constitution of the United States (as written by God and delivered to
the Continental Congress on smoking tablets by Jesus) – means what the courts
decide they mean. And the court has
spoken, and it has said a group of more than 20 needs a permit to hold the
noontime “concert” in the rotunda.
This assertion on my part engendered a response of “but what
the court says is only an opinion, and we’re talking about a natural right that
is our birthright and cannot be taken away by any court”.
Suffice it to say the person who gave that response is not
likely to be admitted to an accredited law school in the United States.
So I tried a bit of my well-worn “America” speech. One of the many great things about this
country is that we make up our own laws.
We don’t believe, as they do in many nations, that our laws were handed
down by Mohammed, or Moses, or Jesus, or whatever religious figure you care to
name. Our laws ARE subject to
interpretation (there’s that pesky “court opinion” idea again) and, if enough
people don’t like our laws, we change them.
When we think our laws are bad or wrong, we often break
them, sometimes noisily and sometimes quite publicly. Like the 18th
Amendment to the Constitution (prohibition). After a while, we said “this is
ridiculous” and then passed the 21st Amendment, which repealed the
18th. (Oh, and by the way, no real surprise – Wisconsin was the
second state to ratify the amendment repealing prohibition, just a couple weeks
after Michigan ratified it in April of 1933.)
Sometimes it takes a while for us to change laws we don’t
like, because we may have liked the law at first, and then later decided “not
so much”. Like the changes to laws
regarding who can get married. Or who
can use marijuana as a medicine. Or a
55-mile-an-hour national speed limit.
Who knows? Perhaps the paramilitary dragoons who now control
the Capitol Police will finally get on the nerves of enough ‘sconnies, and we’ll
say “WAIT A MINUTE!!!” and force the Governor to re-think things. It’s going to take a big noise, though,
because the governor is running for President, and when he makes it official,
he doesn’t want protesters in the rotunda when the national media come to town.
If they cuff and drag off more singing grandmas, change
might happen more quickly. But I’ll bet a nickel that the idea of getting a
permit to protest in “the people’s house” is one that’s going to continue to
sit well with the majority of ‘sconnies.
(The photo at the top of this post is Copyright Madison
Newspapers Inc.)
