We now know that Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student Tasered by campus police officers after peppering Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., with obnoxious questions, is an attention hound who may have staged his performance for the cameras.
But the other students in the auditorium couldn’t have known that as they impassively watched what appeared to be (and probably was) police brutality. Try to imagine that happening on a college campus in the 1960s.
In fairness, the Florida students had little time to react at the moment, and many of them have belatedly. Nonetheless, their nonresponse is worrisome because today’s college students are the first generation to mature in the post-9/11 world.
This year’s freshmen were 12-year-olds on Sept. 11, 2001, which means they have only a vague recollection of life in a free society. To them, it is normal to be stopped and searched before entering public facilities. They think nothing of police officers capriciously demanding that they produce identification. They have been trained not to question their government.
Since 2001, the United States has undergone a subtle, but tragic, transformation from a nation where citizens were free to do as they wished as long as they broke no laws to one where they are free to do only what their government expressly permits. And unfortunately, one of the things the government most discourages is dissent.
Consider that before staging a protest in the nation’s capital on land policed by the National Park Service (i.e., anywhere visible), citizens must apply for a Special Use Permit.
That requires asking the government about permissible dates on which to protest, diagramming areas to be occupied by protesters, estimating attendance, providing proof of liability insurance, agreeing to reimburse authorities for unbudgeted costs and naming a contact person whose background will be checked by officials.
After reviewing the application, if the Park Service so deigns, citizens may exercise their right to assemble — but they will be herded by an army of police officers, and their movements will be recorded by close-range surveillance cameras.
With breathtaking hubris, the Park Service says a permit is necessary before citizens in national parks may engage in “First Amendment activities,” “public assembly” or “distribution of printed materials.” Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are rolling over in their graves.
Certainly, some restrictions are reasonable — but reasonableness is not the governing standard of the president’s police forces. Recall that earlier this month, the Park Police arrested a handful of individuals who merely posted signs advertising an anti-war rally.
For a model, the Park Police could look at New York City, which does not require a permit if citizens merely want to distribute literature or have a demonstration on a public sidewalk.
If citizens want to use amplified sound on public property, have an event with more than 20 people in a city park or march in a public street, then a permit is required. Such regulations allow for the expression of free speech without unduly impeding the activities of others.
Perhaps today’s college students need a civics lesson in the danger of allowing their government to limit free speech too easily. Do they know that Birmingham Police Chief Bull Connor jailed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because the civil rights leader and his followers were demonstrating without a permit?
Do young Americans want to live in a country where such voices are so easily silenced? Most likely they don’t — but they may have been conditioned by an overweening government to believe they have no choice.
Andrew Meyer was out of line, but so were the campus police. The pathetic irony is that Meyer could be subjected to such treatment only because he’s an American citizen; Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not allow its officers to Taser illegal immigrants.
If his fellow students ever develop an understanding of the need to be wary of government, they might consider challenging that protest-worthy inequity.
Examiner columnist Melanie Scarborough lives in Alexandria.
