One of the chief boasts that almost every American has made at one time or another is about this country’s reputation for freedom and how it is unsurpassed by any in the world. Granted, I’ve certainly fallen into this category before – less a boast than an observation, though I hasten to add I have yet to travel abroad. Still, I often wonder how much of this notion of our countrymen’s love of liberty is merely that of the processed – the Pledge of Allegiance variety – than of tolerating minorities.
For this column I wish to present three little vignettes of minority rights being trampled by either the majority or simply a louder few with better backing. Indulge me.
First, an issue near and dear - quite literally - to my heart comes from the city of Calabasas, Calif. California, the great “progressive” state now home to the town with the most stringent smoking ban in the United States. This is, of course, a great victory which all right-thinking Americans must endorse. After all, California is the logical end result of the war on tobacco – further government regulation, the destruction of free association and personal choice: liberty if you will. Smokers, henceforth referred to as “the damned,” are now required to stop smoking within 20 feet of any place where others congregate, including outdoor businesses, hotels, parks, sidewalks, restaurants, bars and swimming pools, according to the story from the local ABC affiliate.
So, where can the damned be found, if only to illustrate to the children the evils of smoking? Well, they can still technically smoke outside, though they are subject to fines if they violate the ordinance or someone complains about where they are smoking. Even private property is not safe, if one’s apartment, back yard or balcony backs up to a common area, according to the city’s Web site.
God bless America and majority rule.
Well, perhaps that’s just California. The good people of Fulton, Mo., show better sense, surely? After all, thanks to the activism of some members of Callaway Christian Church and, purportedly, the administrators at Fulton High School, drama teacher Wendy DeVore resigned after putting on some dirty plays.
Naturally, when one thinks dirty, and we all know what a sinful twisted lot those theater folks are, we assume she was making 14-year-olds read “The Vagina Monologues” or swear blue in “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Of course, this is America, which means she got in trouble for showcasing the veritable porno that is “Grease.” I know I graduated from high school all the way back during the second year of the Bush administration and all, but give me a break. The notion that any high schooler, even the most sheltered locker dweller, would be harmed by the play is nonsense. Nonetheless, due to the controversy, DeVore was told that her idea for a follow-up, “The Crucible,” was too much for the tender youth of Fulton High.
So, what was the sinful donnybrook, the fight over which led her to resign? Her attempt to put on William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” As we all know, Shakespeare loaded his play with innuendoes and all sorts of terrible things that no high school student should be forced to endure, let alone perform. Frankly, that such villains like DeVore exist, dirtying the minds of our young people, well, my God, how do we sleep at night?
But, we live here in Baton Rouge, capital city of Louisiana, where the good times roll and the rights of all remain unmolested, at least until the CCCC gets a bill banning drink specials passed. I wrote the Friday before last on the futility of punishing law-abiding citizens who simply want to save money when they go out. Of course, this proposed ordinance is being aimed almost directly at students, who far too many seem to think have barely learned to walk upright, let alone act like adults. While I deplore the actions taken in California and Missouri, the fact that this type of nonsense is happening in our city truly gets my goat. I don’t really care about the fact that it covers drinking – any assault on the rights of a minority ticks me off. That it won’t do anything but make a few busybodies happy and make our city look like a frightfully puritanical place is what matters to me.
Perhaps I’m not being fair, but then I’m not a judge. The truth is that while we do live in a relatively free country, we will never be truly free until we shed the need to control what others do in their personal lives. Censorship, unreasonable protections and all their ilk have no place in the modern era. I’m not holding my breath on that one.
To quote “America (The Book),” “and that is why pot is still illegal.”
 
Ryan is a history senior. Contact him
at [email protected]