A Note on Mob Rule

Last hour on MSNBC's Morning Meeting, I heard Contessa Brewer state that "loud, angry mobs" were present at the conventions in which our founders declared independence and wrote the Constitution. (The implication being, I suppose, that, hey, shouting down your Democratic congressperson is just business as usual in America! The mobs did it in 1776, and that turned out fine, so no biggie.)

As a former history teacher, I have to cry foul! The founders were terrified of mob rule; that’s why they held secret, exclusive conventions in 1776 and 1789. Who attended? Not the general populace, but a select few representatives from each colony. To keep word from leaking out, they kept the doors, windows, and shutters closed, even in the brutal heat of Philadelphia summers.

These meetings were far from "mob rule;” they were organized to prevent yahoos with signs from disrupting and derailing the deliberations.

I wonder: if the founders HAD endured disruptions like the ones we see today, would they have ever taken the radical and (at the time) rather UNpopular steps of declaring independence from England, or of giving up some local colonial power to a centralized federal government?

Having your say is a deeply American value. Not allowing people with a different opinion to speak at a town meeting? Not polite... not helpful... and not a American value.

UPDATE: Check out the Democratic response. And yes, call the RNC and leave a message telling them enough is enough. (Phone number is 202-863-8500. Press 2 on the automated line, not 1, or you'll never get through.)