New Confederate Monuments Are Quietly Going Up Across the U.S.

New Confederate Monuments Are Quietly Going Up Across the U.S.

People pretty much have the right to build a statue of their choice on their own land with their own money, because the constitutional right to free speech doesn't hinge on having popular beliefs or even rational ones. You can't use public money or public squares to honor Jesus, for example, but churches have always been free to build statues of Jesus and Mary and the saints, as long as they do so with their own money on their own land. Taking it a step further, the Constitution prevents government from forbidding you to build and exhibit a statue honoring John Wilkes Booth, Hitler, Stalin, bin Laden, Ted Bundy or Roman Polanski. There's no controversy if they are hidden from public view and you don't use public money or property.

You'd be an asshole to do such a thing, but the First Amendment pretty much guarantees your right to be an asshole without legal retribution.

There are three conditions under which people might object:

1) if you use public money

2) if you use public property

3) if you build something on private property that is visible from common areas and offends the community's sense of decency. It would be tricky to employ this one to tear down a statue or memorial, but I suppose it could be done in rare cases.

Based on the article, the ones I might object to would fall under condition #2. Some of the monuments cited are privately funded, which is fine, but the article doesn't specify whether they are on public land, which is not fine. Property has value, therefore a governmental entity donating space is the same to me as one donating the actual money needed to build the monument.