For the Record: Catherine Bleish (Part 2)

Is Speech Really Free? Part Two
by Catherine Bleish

Last month I told you the story of my unlawful kidnapping by a rouge “Officer of the Law” in Maplewood, Missouri for simply speaking. This was the catalyst that sparked my quest to understand the consequences of a government that restricts rather than protects our God-given and Constitutionally protected rights. Political profiling is a growing phenomenon in our country that seems to be emanating from the Federal Government and is seeping into the behavior of our local law enforcement.

The Missouri Informational Analysis Center (MIAC) had relatively little name recognition before the scandal surrounding the since retracted "Strategic Report on the Modern Militia Movement" that was leaked in March of last year. The report was disseminated to law enforcement personnel and listed many conservative/libertarian viewpoints as indicators of a “potential threat” to law enforcement officials. The MIAC is a federally designated Department of Homeland Security “Fusion Center”.

After two more reports were leaked within weeks, I realized a systematic problem of political profiling was emerging from within the ranks of our government. The Department of Homeland Security was the source of the next scandal; Their document titled, “ DHS Report on Right Wing Extremism” stated that right wing and potentially violent extremists could be defined as those who put ‘local authority above federal authority’, which would essentially define our Constitution as a piece of terrorist propaganda! This report has not been retracted.

The fusion center in Virginia issued a similar but much more broad report that listed militias, among many other traditionally peaceful groups, as those who might be committing acts of violence against the State. They failed to mention that most militias are peaceful and designed to protect free people against State initiated violence, not to act as an aggressor in any way. In fact, our Constitution actually calls for a militia in every state! It is my belief that our Founders knew the potential for tyranny and in their attempts to secure freedom for their posterity they included this knowledge through the words found in the Bill of Rights.

The consequence the State’s strides toward alienating various groups of people based on their political actions, ideology, or beliefs has historically resulted in violence against those alienated. Before the tyrannical governments we read about in history began committing great acts of violence against entire groups of people, they first alienated them in the eyes of the public so the violence seemed justified and the remaining people in society would remain silent.

I refuse to sit by silently this time around. Our government is profiling people based on their political belief systems and acts of violence have already been committed against such people as I depicted in my story last month and as I will depict later in this series when I describe the plethora of “Free Speech Zone” and Independent Journalist arrests taking place. Is Speech Really Free? Or does it come at a price? Are you willing to pay that price?