If such behavior becomes the new normal, we’ll all be in trouble.
This last week, left-wing bullies shouted down senators in the hallways of the Capitol, stormed senatorial offices, and generally endeavored to “occupy” Congress as they once did Wall Street — all to force members of the Senate to reject Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Among the many disgraces of the two weeks since Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation of sexual assault was leaked to the press, the bad behavior of protesters on Capitol Hill may seem low on the list. But it is something that we should be deeply concerned about.
The right to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances is a cornerstone of the Anglo-American political tradition. It was enumerated in the English Bill of Rights after the Glorious Revolution, and during the period between the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, the colonists themselves made frequent use of it, writing letters to George III to protect their rights. When James Madison acquiesced to a bill of rights (for he was initially opposed to one), he made sure assembly and petition were included.
Put simply, the right to petition is the right to ask your government for things without fear that it will punish you merely for asking. Similarly, the right to assemble is the right to do so in a public forum, without fear that the government will harm you. These fit perfectly into the spectrum of rights protected by the First Amendment, which broadly establishes the unfettered formation of public opinion as the great bulwark of republican government.
But the First Amendment does not grant carte blanche to assemble and petition. In fact it is the only pair of rights listed therein that contains a limitation. We have to assemble and petition peaceably. We the people have a right to come together to voice our complaints to our elected officials, but we do not have the right to behave like a mob.
Read the rest from Jay Cost HERE.
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