Editor:
“What about free speech? What about free speech?” The same cry we heard from Larry Flynt years ago is heard today. Then, it justified the spread of the plague known as pornography. What now? The elimination of private ownership, perhaps?
Shannon Harper talked about this in her Nov. 20 column “First Amendment applies on Main Street, Too.” If you want to talk about rights, let’s talk about those rights. What does it mean to own something? When a private citizen or organization buys something, doesn’t it cease to be public property? Do I have a say about what goes on in my own house or in my own yard?
If someone set up camp in my front yard and started swearing around my kids and protesting the way I eat my Corn Flakes, I would have every right to escort them off my land or call the police and have them do it for me.
Should they have to cross the street to “protest, smoke and swear?” Damn straight, if that’s what it takes to get them off my lawn. Across the street, they can set up a booth, hang neon lights, get go-go dancers, whatever they want. But, if you’re on MY property that I bought with MY money, then you’d better abide by MY rules. If you don’t want to, get off.
Don’t like that idea? Well, here’s another one: Why don’t we eliminate private ownership? Sure, let the government own everything. We wouldn’t have to worry about what those pesky business and land owners had to say because the government would have already dictated what can and can’t be done anywhere we went. Hmmm, that’s a novel idea. Or has it already been tried?
Brad Stevenson
Junior, Chemistry