Speaking of Democracy

A young University of Florida student was tasered yesterday by campus police when attempting to ask a question of John Kerry. Kerry was speaking at a free forum at the University’s O’Connell Center (Home of the two-time defending NCAA Basketball champions, the Florida Gators). The Gator championships, 2006 and 2007 in basketball and the 2006 championship in football are high points for Florida. The tasering of the undergrad student, yesterday, is one of the University’s and consequently, Florida’s lowest points. It was a strike against the freedom of speech.

At least five police officers had the young fellow subdued but yet one officer choose to zap the kid with a taser. The student had a right to speak. He was obnoxious, but that should not have caused the police to drag him away from the microphone, down to the floor and then bodily carried to the back of the auditorium where officers tasered him. The action itself was completely uncalled for. It is a blemish on the students, the faculty and administrators of the University. Further it is a blemish on Florida that continues the suspicion of many that Florida is a political wild west environment. Beyond Florida, the incident brings to the surface the ugly prospects of a further reduction in the rights of United States citizens.

Since 9/11, the Bush administration has had an unrelenting assault on our rights…. all in the name of protecting our freedoms. It is time that we and our fellow countrymen rise-up and demand restoration of our Constitutional rights. If we choose to ignore incidents, such as that which happened yesterday in Gainesville, one morning in the not too distant future we will come awake in a country that is no better than that of the hanged, Saddam Hussein. It is time to wake-up America.