So it starts, The criminalizing of the first and basic right of our citizenship. Our freedom of speech.
Our first act of rebellion against the royalist and corporate interest of England by throwing what would be worth today as much as a million dollars of tea into the harbor of Boston. And act of free speech and a “disruption of economic activity.”
State Senator Doug Ericksen of Ferndale Washington has proposed a bill for the next state legislative session to make such an act a felony. In effect making freedom of speech a crime. Civil discourse is a corner stone of our national DNA. We might not agree with what someone or a group might say or protest about instead we have always defended the right to protest.
If Mr. Ericksen feels that this will stop property damage, there are laws currently on the books for punishing people who damage property. But to punish anyone for their political speech or any discourse about the nature of the state is wrong. It appears that this is his intent to silence the public discourse.
There is a word for that. We all know it, we all oppose it.
This is harbinger of where the republicans want to take our country. We need to organize against just these actions. We are entering dark times in our liberty; we need to take it back now.