Shortly before the 1992 parade the professor encouraged us to participate in the protest at the Columbus Day Parade. We were told that protestors were going to block the path of the parade participants. "Block the path of the parade? Isn't that dangerous not to mention illegal," I thought to myself?
Well dangerous - yes, but not illegal because after all Columbus was a really bad dude the professor insisted. He also claimed it was a peaceful protest because, we the protestors, wouldn't "start" anything we would just "finish" it - if the Italians started something. We were supposed to block their path and refuse to move until the Italians tried to pass by or forcefully move us at which point we would fight back. How this was supposed to be "peaceful" failed to penetrate my little brain. Haven't countries gone to war over someone drawing a line in the sand like this? "What would Martin Luther King, Jr. have to say about this," I wondered?
The professor warned us not to wear loose clothing because it was too easy for the police to grab when "we" the protestors decided to run. If we normally wore contacts we should leave them at home in case we were tear gassed. (Not an easy feat when you have 20/1000 vision such as myself - I wouldn't have been able to tell the protestors from the Italians.) We should wear tennis shoes so we could run quickly when being chased by those party pooper cops. (Oddly enough no lecture about wearing tennis shoes made by three year olds in some third world country.)
Students nodded their heads and chattered excitedly about the prospect of a good old-fashioned protest and getting into a row with the police or those scum sucking Italians. I imagine the professor was remembering his glory days from the 1960s where he actually had something semi-legitimate to protest.
My then bleeding-heart-liberal/quasi-Socialist ways couldn't withstand that nagging thought in my head - Congress shall make no law I realized I could no longer tolerate the (oft touted liberal and yes, conservative) idea that Congress shall make no law except in the case of pornography or gay stuff or if I'm offended by what is being said, played, written, etc. The classical liberal idea of Congress shall make no law period - no ifs ands or buts allowed, became enormously appealing to me. I read P.J. O'Rourke's Parliament of Whores and some of Camille Paglia's writings and that was it. My life and way of thinking about political and economic issues changed forever.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Beth Skinner's Marketplace Economics topic, please visit the Discussions page.