Here at Bureaucrash HQ, we’re always on the lookout for opportunities to spread the message of freedom. So when we heard that there was a rally for single-payer healthcare (shouldn’t it be called three hundred million-payer healthcare?) scheduled the same weekend as Young Americans for Liberty’s national conference, we saw an awesome opportunity. Bureacrash has a history (“Sicko” crash, “Capitalism Heals” counterprotest ) of counterprotests on the healthcare issue, and we were psyched to get the ball rolling again. What’s Bureaucrash without the crashing?

So we gave the National Park Service a ring to make sure all our ducks were in a row. They were decidedly less than open to the idea. It turns out that not only does the government force you to stay inside a “free speech cage” if you want to exercise your natural rights as a human being, in DC everyone has to have their own separate free speech cage. Wouldn’t want folks with differing opinions to get too close to each other, they might do something obscene like argue in public.

Bureaucrash was told that should we show up and stage a counterprotest, we would be arrested. Of course, they only told us this after asking for Lee’s name and phone number. Natch.  After all, we all know what a loose cannon our Crasher-in-Chief can be.

There are, of course, pragmatic reasons for wanting to separate opposing protesters. Get a bunch of passionate folks together, tensions start running high, some drunkard throws a bottle…all of a sudden you have a brawl on your hands. You can send fewer law enforcement officials to keep order if you keep protesters in separate areas.

The problem with the above reasoning is that it assumes citizens are children who need a babysitter. It assumes protesters somehow forfeit their human rights when they happen to be in the same place as people who disagree with them.  The argument is bunk even on a legal level; it assumes that First Amendment rights can be rescinded without due process.

At the core of the madness is the Supreme Court, which has ruled in the past that “time, place and manner” restrictions on speech aren’t in conflict with the First Amendment.  If we want to pick a fight with the other side on socialized medicine in DC, we have to first pick a fight with the police and courts on free speech.

Well, I lied.  At the core of the madness is the notion of “public property,” but it seems to me as though that issue is beyond the scope of my post today.

What do you folks think?  Have you had similar experiences?  Should Bureaucrash look deeper into what can be done about the issue of counterprotests in DC?