On Lexington's proposed banning of Confederate flags

Introduction

The article below was written in response to an attempt—which will be doubtless be successful—by the Mayor and City Council of Lexington, Virginia, to adopt a “banner and flag regulations ordinance.” This ordinance is said to respond to “a need” of that City to “regulate” the banners, flags and other such symbols displayed on City property during civic and historical celebrations. Despite its generic title, it is common knowledge that the ordinance is directed at the Confederate national flags displayed during memorial celebrations to Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson that take place every year in Lexington. A petition was allegedly received by the City government complaining of the offensive nature of these symbols. This legislative dictum is the result.

Efforts to reach a compromise by exchanging one of the national flags with a less recognizable symbol offered by the Sons of Confederate Veterans has been rejected out of hand by the Mayor and the Council—and why not? This ordinance will allow them to get rid of every such symbol despite the fact that a countering petition bearing far more signatures than the first has already been taken. Of course, the signatories of the second petition are by the very nature of their viewpoint, quite without influence upon the government of Lexington. They are (obviously), not part of the special interest assembly demanding the First Amendment rights of the majority be stricken from the Public Square. This blatant disregard for We the People—which has become standard fare from government and the bureaucracy—has resulted in a loss of our guaranteed constitutional rights and has in fact turned the public forum into

The Private Square

The late comedian George Carlin was heard to say that the power brokers in this country were a club—and We, the People, were not invited. Mr. Carlin was far more right than he knew. For not only are we not in “the club,” We the People have even been banned from what used to be called, “The Public Square.”

Drawing on images of ancient Athens, the Public Square was a place in which We the People were able to tell our stories, display our symbols and generally speak up and about various issues that concerned us. Oh, sometimes it is contentious as when speakers shout their messages in public demonstrations. And sometimes it is ennobling as those who came together with candles in the gathering gloom of September 11^th, 2001 to mourn the deaths of people that most did not even know. And sometimes it is inspiring with parades and bands and fireworks! And sometimes it is peaceful as neighbor greets neighbor after worship services. But whether contentious or ennobling or inspiring or anything else, the Public Square has always been for the public—for We the People to express ourselves rightly and sometimes even wrongly, because it is our right to do so in accordance with the Will of God and the Constitution.

But no more. Now, there is a hedge about the Public Square, a fence of political correctness created by the offended sensibilities of various special interest groups, erected by the courts and politicians who are either in agreement with or terrified of those same groups and maintained by the force of government even against the very dictates of that document which is supposed to be the Law of the Land, the Constitution. As a result, We the People find ourselves outside looking in. We find ourselves legislated and regulated out of it entirely or, in the alternative, allowed to participate only insofar as our “rulers” permit. We can do this, but we cannot do that. We can post this symbol, but not that. We can express this sentiment, but not that. We can advocate this policy or viewpoint, but not that. And who decides what we can—and, more importantly, cannot do? Why those same special interest groups who created the fence in the first place. They are permitted to do and say as they please because it is now their square. It is now a Private Square and We the People are no longer welcome save as supplicants asking for a few moments exposure to what was once ours in its entirety.

How did this happen, one may well ask. How can what was our God given right now be so thoroughly and absolutely denied us at the stroke of a pen by some bureaucratic bean-counter or political hack? How did we fall so low that now We the People find ourselves on the outside looking in, stripped of every right but that of obedience to the Will of the Government and its Special Interest myrmidons? How is it that those government agencies once sworn “to protect and serve” now consider a failure to exhibit what is deemed a proper amount of respect when a citizen questions being censored from using the Public Square as representing an attack upon their persons often resulting in assault and arrest? Why is it that a common city council of little importance and less competence can vote to simply forbid the majority of We the People from exercising our rights of freedom of speech, expression and association in order to protect the tender sensibilities of people who are a minority of the voices being raised in the issue?

There is an old saying in my family, “Who died and left you king?!”—and truly, that is what we are seeing! Government, large and small, simply taking such power not because they should but because they can! Indeed, we are seeing in this country, the fruition of a very old and very sinister maxim: The good old rule, the simple plan, That he may take who hath the power, and he may keep who can. We have lost the Public Square because we have lost control over government and those who have aligned themselves with it to assure that this new Private Square is theirs and theirs alone while We the People are told what we can do and what we can say and where we can go if we do not agree.

Valerie Protopapas

New York