Live Free or Die
To the editor:
Florida has a new law, HB 1471, dealing with terrorist organizations. It raises some serious concerns.
FYI, I am a card-carrying member of the Libertarian Party of Florida (LPF), which believes generally that government should get off our backs and out of our pockets; We urge people to “Live Free or Die” (and to do so peacefully and without violence, thank you very much).
The Lee affiliate of the LPF holds regular meetings at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Bell Tower in Fort Myers. We send emails to each other and to others. We make phone calls. We write letters to the editor (q.v.). In other words, we engage in a shameless and ongoing effort to convince others to join our conspiracy.
Under this new Florida law, should I be concerned about my organization being designated a “terrorist organization” by some ambitious prosecutor or some time-serving bureaucrat? Should I anticipate being arrested? For that matter, should I prepare a “Go Bag” for when they come for me?
The real point of this letter is to voice concern about the scope of this law, which enables prosecutors or bureaucrats to come up with fever-driven definitions of what constitutes “terrorism.” I mean, some of the letter-writing members of my Party are more ferocious than Patrick Henry himself (He’s the one who said “Give me liberty or give me death”) and their ferocity could really get things going here.
Our precious First Amendment freedom of expression is at risk here. See y’all at the Barricades.
Larry Gillis, Cape Coral
Director 2, Libertarian Party of Florida