The Bush administration’s efforts to limit the appearance of dissent at its political functions is a serious threat to our democratic processes. During the campaign of 2000, the Bush campaign carefully screened non Republicans from their rallies. This is perfectly legal and has a precedent in Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign, but it is hardly democratic. It represents an effort to convey the impression that few if any strongly disagree with George W. Bush. Perhaps it represents effective media management, but strikes a blow against the basic concept that democracy requires an open public forum.

The Bush administration’s use of police , its own security people, and secret service to keep protesters away from the traveling chief executive is a clear effort to impinge upon free expression. The free speech rights of peaceful protesters have clearly been violated when they have been taken blocks away from a parade route or even herded into pens. Outrage over the outcome of the disputed 2000 election in Florida led placard-carrying protesters to show up at Bush appearances in his first year as president. Claiming these citizens threatened the president’s security, these people were kept out of sight. The real reason may have been a desire to keep them out of the range of television cameras.

When George W. Bush appeared at a carpenters rally on Labor Day, 2002 in western Pennsylvania, Bill Neel, 65, of Butler, Pa. showed up with a sign that read “The Bushes must truly love the poor—they’ve made so many of us.” Neel refused to stay in the protest pen and was arrested for disorderly conduct. Neel argued that “the whole country is a free speech zone.” In Oregon, Peter Buckley, 45, complained in the Oregonian that he and other protesters were rounded up and placed in a dirt compound that was surrounded by a six-foot high cyclone fence. Buckley ran for Congress in 2002. People in Tampa, Florida, including two grandmothers, were arrested in 2001 at a Bush rally because they held up signs outside a remote protest zone. Bush spokesmen claimed these people must be kept far away for security reasons, but people carrying pro-Bush signs were permitted along parade routes and very close to him at rallies. In the past, courts have invalidated protest pens, but the practice has become routine for the president. The point is to make protesters invisible to television cameras and journalists When Vice President Cheney appeared at a fundraiser at a Estero Florida resort in late 2003, security people forced protestors to move some distance from the resort entrance so they would not disturb Cheney.

When Bush flew into Green Bay to address friendly unionists in Kaukauna on labor day, protesters were kept off the tarmac and away from the parade route. When President Bush visited Greensboro, NC on July 25, placard carrying peace demonstrators were kept more than a mile away from him. They had tried unsuccessfully to get permission to stand along his parade route with their signs. In time, the Secret Service developing a policy of creating Free Speech or Demonstration Zones far away from parade routes and places where Bush would speak. By late 2003, the Free Speech Zones were sometimes half a mile away from where Bush would appear. During the 2004 campaign, various efforts were employed to keep protesters at a distance and to keep opponents of the president out of his rallies. Two West Virginians were arrested for refusing to remove anti-Bush tee shirts. The brought the matter to federal court, where the Justice Department has moved that their case be dismissed.

After winning reelection in 2004, Bush barnstormed the nation speaking for his so-called Social Security reforms but it was reported in at least one location that his advance people provided a non-admit list for Fargo, North Dakota rallies so that known Democratic activists would be excluded from the rally at a local high school. At other rallies, people were required to sign pledges to support the Bush privatization plan before being admitted to rallies. It has been reported that the Bush operatives also required people to sign such loyalty pledges during the 2004 campaign. In Denver, a Republican operative posing as a Secret Service agent, ejected three people from a rally. The White House has refused to identify the fake agent.

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