Protest Reform 2-15-25

The Constitutional Right to Protest needs to be defined to exclude protests that are violent and involve property damage and interfere with other citizens’ rights to privacy and the rights to conduct commerce and their daily activities. 

There needs to be a Federal Law to make Protests like BLM illegal. There are already laws on the books outlawing disruptive conduct, vandalism and arson that are not enforced. 

Protests need to be isolated to large conference centers paid for by sponsors and not allowed to be held on the streets, highways, commercial districts and residential areas where they have routinely caused property damage, fires and disruption.  The Fake News can continue to film and televise these “Rallies”.  BLM should be held accountable for the $2 billion in damages done in several cities in 2020 and should be sued for damages payable to the property owners.

Colleges and Universities need to divest student groups that sponsor campus protests. Trump will cut their Federal Grants if they don’t.  Foreign students should be free to gather together, but Colleges and Universities should not fund foreign student groups or accept any donations from foreign entities.

In the days before mass media, protests were allowed, but those days are gone. Our technology can now allow for “free speech” without disrupting citizens’ and commerce from having the freedom to go about their business. The same law should end all on-campus protests. All protest sponsors should be required to rent their own space and not allow protests to spread to streets, highways, commercial districts and residential areas.

Cities should be allowed to hold traditional parades for Christmas, Rose Bowl, etc. on main streets if they refuse to allow floats that are “not normal” and allow “normal floats” that conform to the traditions of their parades.

This Federal Law should re-set the rules for “Free Speech” in the US. The Founders intended to protect Free Political Speech that in the late 1700 was achieved by printing fliers and documents. Citizens would make signs and stand on stumps in parks to speak to passers-by, who could ignore them or stand and listen. Today we have TV news, scheduled rallies and the internet as common  platforms and its time to restrict protests from parks and streets without canceling “political speech”.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader