Civility policy is threat to free speech

The Cheney School District is proposing to adopt a Policy named “Civility” in its next meeting on March 24. To read it you will need to ask them for a copy of New Policy 2195.

This policy is a threat to free speech and liberty even though it says it isn’t. Proponents of these kind of policies and laws always claim it is not a threat. It is full of undefined, procedures and rules on what is “uncivil conduct.”

I have two examples of what has happened with these kind of policies:

1. As a Veteran of the Viet Nam war, I worked with soldiers of the Republic of Viet Nam. When the communists took over these soldiers ended up in “re-education camps” for uncivil conduct.

2. I was walking in Worms, Germany. Embedded in the sidewalk were small brass plaques in front of several dwellings. They were so small I had to kneel down to read them. They read “arrested” and a name and date. The dates were in 1938 close to what is called Kristalnacht (night of broken glass). The uncivil conduct was not attributed to the glass breakers.

It is impossible to define reasonable limits on what uncivil conduct is in just one and a half pages.

Bill Johns

Cheney