Tim Kearns gets it wrong again when he accuses Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty of trying to oppress “liberal” free speech (April 7 column, “Liberals are loud, as they need to be”).

First, Mr. Kearns misunderstands the nature of Gov. Pawlenty’s proposal. Because protesters take much needed security and law enforcement officials away from public security issues (such as the war against terrorism) they ought to reimburse that time spent.

Economically, law enforcement is a “public good,” which is paid for by all of society in order to combat certain external problems that exists within a society. In some cases, like when a company pollutes, those who cause the damage pay a fine to cover the cost to society. Seeing as how protesters are taking away from security issues, they ought to pay for that lack of security.

Moreover, Kearns mentions, though never explains, that this trumps First Amendment rights. However, once again only those arrested pay the fine. If there are peaceful, lawful protests then no fines will occur, only those clogging up the court system.

Finally, Mr. Kearns makes a ridiculous assumption about conservatives in general, but more specifically conservatives in Minnesota. Being one myself, I can promise you all that we are not silent. There are gigantic rallies at the Minnesota state capital each year concerning topics ranging from taxes (one of the biggest) to abortion. Whether Mr. Kearns’ avoidance of a liberal media bias is present or not, it impossible to ignore hundreds of conservatives marching on the capitol steps of Minnesota. Perhaps Mr. Kearns ought not to make assumptions about conservatives, especially those in Minnesota, but I guess I can’t blame him; the liberal media has been awfully blind to these protests year after year.

Neal Johnson

Sophomore

Economics and Political Science