John Nichols: Constitution will vindicate the singers

[hue]

http://host.madison.com/ct/opinion/column/john_nichols/


John Nichols: Constitution will vindicate the singers

The first great test of the American Constitution came in 1798, when President John Adams became so agitated with his critics that he disregarded the Bill of Rights and the rule of law and arranged for the arrest of dissenting elected officials and editors.

Adams was so lawless that his own vice president, Thomas Jefferson, organized the opposition. Two years later, Adams was the first American president to be removed from office. And rightly so.

James Madison, the essential drafter of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, referred to the Alien and Sedition Acts, which Adams and his associates used to justify their assault on the First Amendment, as “a monster that must forever disgrace its parents."

Unfortunately, the monster still breaks loose. And not just in Washington.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is no John Adams. But the prospective 2016 Republican presidential contender's delusions of imperial grandeur have led him to cobble together a set of rules that he is using to have dozens of dissenters arrested for gathering in the rotunda of the state Capitol and singing labor songs — as they have done peacefully, and without significant incident, for two years.

The arrests escalated Thursday. And, though Walker plays on a small stage, those familiar with the basic outlines of American constitutional history will note a certain historical irony in the drama the governor has scripted.

First, an elected official, Madison Ald. Mark Clear, the former president of the City Council, was arrested for joining in the singing of “This Land Is Your Land.”

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[Jackpine Radical]

1. Damn, I like Nichols.

We're really lucky to have people like him, Matt Rothschild & a few others around this state.

[Lifelong Protester]

2. I still like the guy with the iPad in the capitol

one of the days of protest I was there. He was showing a continous loop of a Star Wars segment, and chanting: "The Rebels will stop the Imperial Walker"....


I am not a Star Wars 'geek' by any means but I 'got' that....

[dembotoz]

3. sounds like a great t-shirt idea