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And in other news, the DMV still won't let me have my license plate because my political expression is too divisive, and they have a policy of not allowing any vanity plate that contains the letters "IH8xxxx" (among a great many other "offensive" combinations of letters and numbers which communicate ideas they find inappropriate). Apparently, expressions of "hate" are somehow "bad," even if expressing a generic political opinion.
Specifically, I wanted a license plate that read IH8BATF or IH8DEA, but regardless of whether my vanity plate was IH8JETS, IH8GIANTS,, IH8METS, IH8PEDOS, I H8NIGS, or whatever other expression I wish to communicate, I don't see why any public servant in a genuinely free country would feel the need to suppress that.
No doubt an IH8DEA or IH8BATF license plate is more divisive plate than one which criticizes a sports team (e.g. IH8JETS), but I don't see what vested interest the state has in suppressing such forms of expression. It's a given that government is not going to be inclined to have its own bureaucratic mechanisms be used as a forum to criticize itself, but I simply view that as an indicator of suppressive government which does not comport with public policy in an ostensibly free country.
If I were the person in charge of the DMV or the transit company in charge of making the advertising decisions, I'd let people express damn near any view they want (or even if I had limitations, the opinions I would allow would nonetheless be too controversial to some - oh wells)....... but I'm not in that position..... so.... whadda' you gonna' do? You could make an issue of these kinds of things, even take it to court and win, but even then that's really only a fairly narrow win... because ultimately they still get to control the content by virtue of their position.
Last edited by FreedomThroughAnarchism; 12-03-2011 at 05:21 PM..
Further; when your president, who is sending Hilary to all points of the globe to negotiate 'open market' policy, while at the same time pandering to his constituents with HIS Buy American speeches; I would suggest that being protectionistic as your country does not like the corner it's painted itself into with forcing free trade down the throats of others while losing jobs through corporate strategy designed to maximize shareholder returns.
A politician encouraging people to buy locally is not protectionist.
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow (according to proponents) "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.
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