An article on NRO today discusses the difficulties of getting Ward Connerly’s civil rights initiative on the ballot in Oklahoma. The key reason is the prohibition against any petition circulator who doesn’t live in the state, even though those who oppose the petition can (and do) use out of state personnel.
This brings us back to the “Oklahoma Three” case, involving the criminal prosecution of three who gathered signatures for the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights initiative — which was kept off the ballot because of the illegal actions of non-resident signature gatherers. The Oklahoma Attorney General, Drew Edmondson, has defended his action by writing (to the Wall Street Journal) that he was just enforcing the law. It should be plain to civilized people that some laws should not be enforced because they’re too draconian or even fundamentally immoral.
We also read in today’s Wall Street Journal that Putin opponent Garry Kasparov has been tossed in jail for leading an “unauthorized demonstration.” That too is just a case of “enforcing the law.”
