Free Speech Free Zone

Ithaca: Where the 1960s Never Ended.

Ithaca, New York, home to my noble alma mater, has long been considered a place where the 1960s never ended. Now, via William Jacobson in The American Thinker we find that the Ithaca Common Council has voted to make Ithaca a “sanctuary city” for anti-war protesters–who, frankly, don’t need sanctuary anyway. But the Common Council hasn’t seen it fit to apply the same standard to those who might support the Iraq war. When a member of the Council challenged the idea that “minority”–pro-war–opinion might also need protection, it was voted down. The proposed amendment read as follows:

RESOLVED, That this Resolution be a reaffirmation of our commitment to the First Amendment, which ensures the rights of the people to freedom of expression and to peaceably assemble; that we are especially cognizant of the importance of protecting this right for the minority opinion, which may or may not be in agreement with sentiments expressed in this Resolution.

I covered the Ithaca Common Council myself as a reporter and, well, let’s just say that I routinely called it the “People’s Soviet.” Even though I still consider myself a fan of the self-described socialist who served as mayor of Ithaca for much of my time there, I think that this action surely gives the place a Soviet flavor.