It was only a matter of time before government officials, in this case the Capitol Police in Raleigh, under pressure from the state’s Democratic machine, moved against the tea partiers. Well, it’s happened:
Organizers of a tea party event planned for Thursday at the state Capitol are unhappy they can’t carry flags on poles because of state officials’ fears that they could be used as weapons.
The prohibition applies to the American flag, North Carolina’s state flag or anything else carried on a pole more than a foot in length. Scott Hunter, chief of the State Capitol Police, said that the group will be allowed to carry tiny flags of the kind handed out at parades and Fourth of July events.
“It’s sad our country has come to this,” said Laura Long, the Apex woman who applied for the permit on behalf of Triangle Conservatives Unite.
Hunter claims that he drafted the new rules, but who suggested it? The Democratic leadership in the legislature? I wouldn’t be surprised. It would be naive to think that Hunter was just sitting in his office one day dreaming of ways to protect protesters from the as-yet-to-occur-calamity of flagpoles used as weapons.
Democrats and liberals understand the powerful image of normal, workaday Americans carrying their clever homemade signs that skewer big government, pork-hungry incumbents and an out-of-control welfare state. The move was carefully calculated by eliminate those powerful images. No doubt this tactic will be used in other parts of the country.
Tea Party gatherings in North Carolina and all across the country have been peaceful, except for the instances when the SEIU or other leftists decided to do things like bite people’s fingers off or call people the N-word and beat them to within an inch of their lives.
This move by Hunter stinks to high heaven. Of course, the local media seem unconcerned with the genesis of this new rule. And, predictably, they treat this as a wholly reasonable action, supported by the comments of a liberal professor who defines the First Amendment to the left’s purposes.
Disgraceful.
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers. Thanks, Glenn.
