Joseph Sabino Mistick: William Barr's sedition threat chilling

Something predictable happens when there is too much power in the hands of the wrong people. There is never enough for them. They always overreach. They can’t help themselves.

In the summer of 1892, a great battle occurred on the banks of the Monongahela River at the Homestead Steel Works just upstream from Pittsburgh. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick had decided to save money and drive wages down. With the cost of living going up, the immigrant workers went on strike.

Frick called in the Pinkertons, a private police force that by then served wealthy corporations. Armed with Winchester rifles, the hired guns approached the mill site by boat in the middle of the night. They were surprised by the workers and their families, armed with sticks and stones and whatever guns and rifles they could scrounge.

When the battle ended, seven workers and three Pinkertons were dead, the National Guard had restored order and the labor union movement had been dealt a heavy blow. The Pinkertons were not charged, but many strikers were charged. They went to trial and were acquitted

And that should have been the end of it, but the robber barons wanted more. They wanted to send a message. So, in October of 1892, they arranged with their powerful government friends to have the strike committee members at the Homestead Steel Works charged with treason.

That’s right. Treason. It was ludicrous. The charges didn’t stick, but if anything would have a chilling effect on troublesome workers for decades to come and keep them from exercising their rights, that would do the trick. Can this tactic work again?

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Attorney General William Barr told a group of federal prosecutors that some protesters should be charged federally for the violent crimes they committed. But Barr wants to up the ante, so he has proposed that prosecutors also charge them with sedition.

That’s right. Sedition. There are books full of state and federal crimes that can be charged when bad actors use peaceful demonstrations as an opportunity to commit violent crimes. Those charges will get the job done, but none of them will have the chilling effect of sedition, which can involve conspiracies and plots to use force to overthrow the government.

The problem is that the possibility of sedition charges will chill legitimate behavior, too. Many Americans with deeply held complaints about government policies or actions may think twice before taking their concerns to the streets to make their voices heard in peaceful protest. And we can’t afford that.

Freedom of speech is at the core of the protests that have Barr and his boss so rattled. Some of that speech may be anti-government, but anti-government speech is exactly what the First Amendment is designed to protect. And we can be anti-government without being anti-America.

Any election year can lead to tough talk and tough action, and this presidential year is especially volatile. Many people feel that anything can happen. It’s a tall order, but we need our leaders to stay calm and keep us safe and protect our rights.