Sometimes I’m ashamed and embarrassed at my roots. See, I graduated from the same Catholic grade school as St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. I shouldn’t be embarrassed, I know. But how else do I react to stories like this one from George Will.
It seems that Mayor Slay’s administration is busy trampling all over the rights of a citizen, Jim Roos.
Roos painted a sign on a building he owns that days “End Eminent Domain Abuse.” Since that message runs counter to Slay’s policy of abusing eminent domain—and the First Amendment—the city ordered Roos to paint over the sign after denying him a permit.
The City prevailed in a federal court. In his ruling, the US District Judge Henry Autrey ruled, effectively, that political speech is unprotected if it contains a phone number for more information.
Will nails the problem with Slay, many judges, and government itself:
St. Louis is not the problem; government is. Many people go into it because they enjoy bossing people around.
That’s the reason for the Tea Party in a nutshell. People go into government solely to boss other people around.
Let’s end eminent domain abuse. Let’s also end the Democrat’s multi-generational stranglehold on liberty in St. Louis City.
People of St. Louis’s 10th Aldermanic Ward can begin this correction by electing Jesse Irwin on Tuesday, April 5.