by Francis Harris

Created on: July 12, 2010   Last Updated: July 13, 2010

Public squares are just that - public. This roughly means "of or pertaining to the people". There might be 100 different people and 100 different religions and 100 different cultures but unless that space is designated "private" all those people, religions and cultures need access to that which is "public".

There is absolutely no way that a government can prevent access to a public space or uses it is put to - or decorations made of it - and not be violating the very definition of what that space is: "of or pertaining to the people". It belongs to the people -  each and everyone of those 100 (or whatever) individuals - not the government.

When it comes to decoration of that space we clearly we need some "regulation" of that "public" space - of what we can erect and when and why and how and where and by whom. Just as it would be chaos if we permitted road traffic to do what they wanted in a public square, so it would be chaos if we permitted individuals to decorate as they what they want without regulation. We most certainly need regulation, but not prohibition.

Be very clear - regulation is not prohibition. We regulate children in a playground and make sure that they stay within safe boundaries, do appropriate things, and so on. We do not prohibit children from using the playground. Regulation and prohibition are different things. The government needs to regulate use of public space, not prohibit.

If we are to suggest that a government should prohibit the public from decorating a public space then we are not only making a mockery of what it is to be a public space, but we transform the "government" into a most horrific entity. It takes on a draconian life of its own - a life that does not just "administer" and serve each and everyone of us as a useful "organizational" tool - but it takes on a life of its own which starts to serve its own purposes.

A government that has taken on a life of its own - that is "prohibiting" rather than "regulating"  that which is "public" -  has ceased to be an administrative body serving the people. It has become something else; operating by principles beyond "administering" which slowly but surely transform what it is to be "government".

The more normalized that individuals become to the idea that government "prohibits" rather than "regulates" in public realms, the easier it will be for that government to be a tool of suppression and control by those who do not have the principles of "freedom", "democracy" or anything else "American". Or - if government is not blatantly hi-jacked - the beast that emerges will most certainly have long since stopped serving anyone's interests but its own.

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