Free speech isn’t free

There is a cost to free speech.   Just ask the City of Olympia.

Following a protest at the Port of Olympia, the city racked up more than $43,000 in costs to clear protesters from port property.  Now the city is looking at the port to help pay some of those costs.

It has been accepted as a fact of life in the United States that people are free to peaceably assemble.  To petition the  government for a redress of grievances,.  To make their views known to the people in power.

However, it was always assumed that such protest would not harm others.  One persons protest is another persons right.

I’ll leave the city and the port to work out that part.

The port was engaged in legal business.   The protesters were gathered to stop that legal business.  It was the port’s right to do business and it was the duty of the policing powers of the city to remove the protesters.

The City of Olympia had the police powers and the duty to keep legal business moving and operating.

Therefore it seems to me, that the cost of providing police service should be born by the taxpayers of Olympia.

The cost of free speech in this case is a little more than $43,000.