John, a
resident from Pinellas County Florida
thought that free speech and private
property were still protected in this
country. He thought that if he put up signs
on his fence supporting his preferred
presidential candidate, Ron Paul– that he
would simply be exercising his inalienable
constitutional rights. After all, not only
does the United States Constitution protect
free speech, but the Florida Constitution
explicitly protects written speech.
One day John’s
daughter informed him that the signs were
mysteriously gone. At first John thought
that the culprit was an angry individual
playing dirty politics. So he put the signs
back up. Two days later, John received a
notice from the county demanding that he
remove the signs immediately or face a $1000
per day fine.
One of the county officials
admitted that he had taken the signs down
previously – without ever speaking to John
regarding any violations or warning him
about the presence of the signs. Without any
regard for John’s private property rights,
the county’s enforcement officer simply
trespassed onto John’s land and stole the
signs – no questions asked. To avoid the
draconian fines, John had to acquiesce and
remove the signs. A YouTube video entitled,
“Ron Paul Signs not allowed in Florida,”
documents the story in depth.
Oddly enough,
John had placed other political signs on his
fence in the past
without
the county ever raising any
complaints. Over the last four years, he had
displayed his political preferences for the
local sheriff, the county commissioners, and
state representatives without any objection
from the county. When the county’s
Department of Environmental Management
presented John with a statement of the
actual violation in this instance, it was
clear that the charges were trumped up. The
ordinance that John was accused of violating
had nothing to do with political signs and
it explicitly mentioned signs that were not
of a political nature.
The county
later informed John that the signs were
removed because they were one foot from the
public right of way – and the county
requires them to be at least ten feet away.
Yet, if this were the case, why didn’t the
county officials mention John’s
prior
postings of other political signs
on the
same fence, the
same
distance from the public right of way?
There is a glaring inconsistency here – and
all evidence seems to suggest that the
county’s actions against John were guided by
political considerations. Someone among the
county officials simply did not like Ron
Paul and decided to use the county’s
political authority to remove signs in his
support – tossing aside John’s right of free
speech as if it did not matter at all.
Anyone who
still cherishes the founding principles and
inalienable liberties at the heart of this
country should be appalled at Pinellas
County’s exercise of arbitrary power.
Whether one believes Ron Paul to be a worthy
candidate for the Presidency is not the
issue here. If John had put up signs
supporting Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton,
or any
other candidate and the county
officials had removed them, their abuse of
power would have been identical. The right
of free speech implies that any individual
ought to have the liberty to use his own
property to communicate advocacy for any
political candidate he chooses. If Americans
are no longer free to express their
political preferences in such a basic
manner, then what is left of free speech but
a hollow, meaningless phrase?
It is
understandable for a county government to
place restrictions on private political
advocacy on
county
property – since this property is
funded by the tax contributions of those who
might not agree with a political message.
But to place
any
limits on how an individual might use
his own
private property to express his
political views is sheer tyranny. If a man
cannot put a sign on his own land, what is
there that he
is
allowed to say or do?
Only if
concerned citizens object to this violation
of a free man’s sacred liberties can future
travesties be averted. The following contact
information might assist those wishing to
express their concern to the county
officials.
Pinellas
County Eviscerates Free Speech