Where Property Rights and Politics Collide

Matt Welch | September 3, 2008

At my morning coffee joint here in St. Paul, there is no love lost for the "anarchists" who are protesting and getting arrested (and being accused of fantastical plots) all over town. Why? Because on Monday a handful of them came in and tore the sink out of the wall inside the coffeehouse's same-sex bathroom. This vandalism, coupled with the same sharp decline in customers I'm hearing reported in every convention-adjacent business I patronize, has led to the baristas getting as close to surly as Minnesotans are able (i.e., not much at all).

Still, the owner said, he might find some forgiveness in his heart. "They could tear out one of my sinks every day this week," he said, "if that means the Democrats win in November, and we get universal health care."