Unwarranted Infringement on Free Speech or Not

Phillip Howell, age 25, chose to climb the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial on President’s Day to recite the Gettysburg from the very spot where the Reverend Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream Street”. A Park Police officer on duty at that monument quickly stopped Mr. Howell. The officer explained that no speech could be given on the steps of the monument without a permit. The officer stated that he did not care what speech or what agenda Mr. Howell or anyone else may have for public speaking at that location; the law requires that one obtain a permit prior to all such events.

Mr. Howell then moved to the bottom of the stairs and delivered the rest of his speech to the cheering of a crowd. Afterward, a friend of his tossed a basket into the crowd to collect donations. That was error number two. It is and has been illegal to sell product or to solicit money in a federal park without a vendor’s license. The police seized the basket and money as evidence.

Mr. Howell will have to pay a $50.00 fine for delivering his speech without a permit. His friend will have to pay another $50.00 fine for illegally soliciting money in a federal park without a license. “I was just naïve”, stated Howell. U.S. Park Police Spokesman Bill Line said that being ignorant of the law is no excuse. I wonder how police would have responded has Mr. Howell simply stepped down from the monument and opted to follow the law as it was explained to him, instead of flouting his agenda in the face of law enforcement and compounding that insult with an attempt to collect tips.

Mr. Howell later said that he was hoping the publicity leads him to some real gigs where he can make some legal money. So, was this a noble attempt to honor a beloved President, or was it a naked attempt to profit from his physical resemblance to President Lincoln by pretending to be as talented, erudite, and honest as was “honest Abe”? You can watch the Washington, D.C. television Channel 9 News video here.

Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy seemed genuinely upset that Mr. Howell was not allowed to recite his speech, and that he was cited by Park Police for both holding a public event on a public monument without a permit. He tried to make it sound as if Mr. Howell and not his friend was cited for soliciting money without a vendors license, compounding the misery of a man performing a patriotic act. Both the license and vendor requirements have been mandatory for quite some time.

Fox and Friends, among others, have tried to make this event appear as one that involves suppression of free speech – mostly because they agree with the content and context of the speech. Imagine, however, their reaction were someone from Planned Parenthood simply walked up the steps of the monument and began a speech regarding the availability and access of birth control and abortion in the Washington, D.C. area. Imagine their reaction if someone from the American White People’s Party walked up those same steps to disparage Lincoln for his anti-slavery policies. Imagine an atheist taking the same stage to denigrate those who believe in God and blamed religion for the world’s ills.

There are reasons for requiring permits. Not the least among these reasons is to provide law enforcement time to review the nature of the event and to determine if security is needed or not, and if needed, to what extent. The Park itself is open to all people and all people have a right to know about events that may or may not be offensive to them ahead of time. People have a right to expect a peaceful day where their right to enjoy the park and all of its memorials without unwanted intrusion or interference by others.

Mr. Doocy and Gretchen Carlson of the Fox and Friends hosting team are fine with anything that promotes Christianity and the use of government force so long as they agree with the government’s position. They favor secularism in governing from the Middle East and North Africa, but go crazy whenever secular rules limit the influence of Christianity here at home. Each has a definite religious and political agenda that even a blindfolded, locked in the basement with earmuffs on Stevie Wonder can detect. Sometimes, their other co-host, Brian Kilmeade, jumps in to join with them. However, he seems to be more level headed than the twin pillars of limited virtue who share the couch with him.

Both need to re-read the United States Constitution in an objective and dispassionate manner to find the core principles upon which our government was built. There is nothing wrong with questioning one’s position from time to time. In fact, it is a very healthy thing to do, morally, as well as intellectually or spiritually. One thing I always keep in mind when trying to work through tough sections is the premise that the U.S. Constitution was written, specifically, with the purpose that the rule of law should always supersede the laws of men and that using faith to establish law that affirms the natural rights of man. This, by definition, prohibits the acceptance or favoring of one form of faith, as interpreted by men, over another or as something that can be used in any way to limit the natural rights of man and his natural state of freedom.