Hello. My name is Matt, and I am a Republican.

I went to the John Norris rally where Al Gore was speaking. Why, as a Republican, was I there? Put simply, I’m interested in politics, and was eager to see the former Vice President. Hell, I’d have gone to see Walter Mondale had he been on campus.

Anyway, when I got there, some of my Republican cronies were handing out Tom Latham T-shirts, so I took one and offered to hand out a few inside. As I went to enter the Great Hall, there are two signs I noticed: “No Bags” and “No signs.” No bags, I can understand as we’re in a state of heightened security and this is, after all, the former VP. But no signs? Could THAT have anything to do with security? I think not. Besides, not allowing signs impedes on our freedom expression. I didn’t have any signs on me, so I didn’t complain; however, I did see a woman with a pro-Iraq-war sign being turned away.

But, despite the fact that there were no signs saying we couldn’t distribute T-shirts, I couldn’t distribute my T-shirts.

“Why?”

“Well, you can’t bring them in here.”

“Why?”

“Because this is our rally, and not yours!”

How wrong this man was. This was a public rally held in a public place.

It was not “our rally,” it was everyone’s rally. And as such, anyone should be able to express themselves in whatever visual way they choose, so long as they promise not to cause any problems.

So will someone please try to explain to me what the problem is with bringing signs and T-shirts into a rally is?

Of course, despite the ban on signs and T-shirts, there were somehow dozens upon dozens of John Norris signs, T-shirts, stickers, flyers, etc being distributed and held up, as if the man on stage was about to forget his own name.

To the members of the ISU Democrats: there are other parties out there, be it Green, be it Libertarian, or even — God forbid — be it Republican. When you hold a public rally, you need to expect that opposing parties will show up and want to express themselves. And as you claim to be the party that gives a voice to the people, you need to remember that everyone should have a voice, even if that voice disagrees with you.

Matthew McArthur

Senior

History