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An Editorial

Signs of authoritarian thinking popping up

State Court Solicitor-General Steve Harris may have been wrong about many issues, but he was dead-right on one:

The county commission’s limit on political signs to just one per property more than likely is unconstitutional.

Harris has refused to prosecute several property owners who were cited by county marshals for having more than one candidate’s signs on their private property.

Whether Harris is right not to prosecute is not at argument here.

Rather, we question the wisdom of the county commission in supporting such a blatant violation of every citizen’s rights to display support for political candidates, as many as a private individual may choose.

Some state court citations were issued to offending property owners, and their cases have yet to be adjudicated.

Earlier this year, the Fayetteville city government got into serious trouble with the public for demanding that a furniture store owner trash his large “God bless America” banner, hung out after Sept. 11, 2001, in support of our country and, later, our troops in Iraq.

He was issued a city court citation.

A compromise that extended the take-down deadline to the end of this summer might have been a P.R. win for the Fayetteville city fathers, but it leaves unanswered the constitutional question: Should a government at any level tell you cannot put more than one small political sign on your own property?

We come down on the side of free speech: More political signs are a better and constitutionally safer approach than a draconian limit of one sign per yard.

Our city council members and county commission have become the Clean and Beautiful police, at the expense of constitutional rights.

Their definition of beauty is one or no signs, even political signs, historically in this country the highest and most protected form of speech.

We think their political speech restrictions are a mistake, and we expect that the federal courts will eventually teach them a costly (to the taxpayers) lesson in First Amendment values.

We wonder why they can’t see that coming.

A more important question to be asked is this: Why are our local governments becoming so meddlesome in so many of our very basic individual freedoms? And these are Republicans, so-called? — CNB.