It's the Mindset, Stupid!

There's been a tiny ripple in The Force regarding today's "Rally to Restore Sanity."  The Washington Bureau Chief of Pajamas Media was told by the events organizers, "Please note, taping for television or any other filming is strictly prohibited between 3rd and 7th Street without a media credential." See "'Rally to Restore Sanity' pledges to “strictly prohibit filming” at National Mall."

No such restriction is going to be enforced, of course. We doubt very seriously that anyone at Comedy Central ever actually thought they could do such a thing. So chill.

But that's not the point. The important thing to consider is the state of mind -- the values, expectations, and so on -- of a person who is capable of forming the thought, "We're having a public event on the National Mall, and we get to decide who can and who cannot take pictures." The assumption underlying that thought is, "Citizens may be prohibited from taking photographs on the National Mall."

We have not the slightest doubt that if les flics want to stop you from filming at the Arc de Triomphe that doing so would be tres Gallic.

The United States is not Europe. The United States is exceptional. The United States is unique. In the United States, Suits from big corporations or the Government don't get to tell us what we can and what we cannot do. We will put up with a very great deal in the interest of getting along with the other guy, but some notions are simply not American, and this is one of them.

Is it any wonder that the Suits at the networks and the cable pundits and columnists for the New York Times are mystified by the Tea Party? What they don't understand when they decry an apparent lack of a coherent political plan is that it's not about changes to federal tax policy, or relations with Hamid Karzai.

It's the mindset, stupid.