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Brickbats

Brickbat: A Civics Lesson

Charles Oliver | 7.28.2017 4:00 AM

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Lansing, Michigan, City Council President Patricia Spitzley refused to allow Charli Collison, 9, to speak during public comments on construction in a local park, later telling the media children shouldn't be allowed to speak. Following public outcry, Spitzley apologized.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

BrickbatsLocal GovernmentCensorshipMichigan
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  1. Telcontar the Wanderer   8 years ago

    Hey, give credit where it’s due: at least the person she treated like a child actually WAS a child this time. Most government officials don’t seem to bother checking first.

    1. Adans smith   8 years ago

      And this women should have been at home cooking dinner.

  2. The Hyperbole   8 years ago

    Meh, Dollars to doughnuts the kid was put up to this by her folks, If they got a beef they should speak up for themselves. Sending your kid as a proxy is political showman horseshit and shouldn’t by tolerated at public hearings.

    1. loveconstitution1789   8 years ago

      They have kids do things at city council meetings more than you would think. Boy scout whatever, girl scout whatever, miss town whatever, high school achievement whatever, etc.

      I do agree with you that any regular complaint should be addressed by the homeowner adult during public bitch session.

    2. Charles Easterly   8 years ago

      Meh, Dollars to doughnuts the kid was put up to this by her folks…
      I recommend that you watch the video. Around the 3:32 mark the child’s comments are read at the meeting by her mother, although I suppose one might assume that the parent(s) had previously written the comments in the voice of a nine year old to dupe the council members

  3. Fist of Etiquette   8 years ago

    You know who did encourage youth to participate in the process?

    1. Adans smith   8 years ago

      Captain Planet?

    2. Microaggressor   8 years ago

      Pol Pot?

    3. Jerryskids   8 years ago

      The Catholic Church?

    4. Charles Easterly   8 years ago

      Soccer moms?

    5. Radioactive   8 years ago

      Alfred E. Newman?

    6. Mendelism   8 years ago

      Michael Jackson?

    7. Telcontar the Wanderer   8 years ago

      The Jedi Order?

  4. Longtobefree   8 years ago

    Typical liberal politics. If you don’t get your way, cry until you do.
    The kid can’t vote, why should a politician pay any attention?
    More important is why the council had not gotten their bribes before the construction got started, and were blindsided.

  5. Jerryskids   8 years ago

    Yeah, I’m gonna try to be outraged by the government stepping on somebody’s right to petition the government for redress of grievances but it’s going to be difficult to get outraged by a group of adults telling a kid to shut up and sit down because no rational adult should give a shit what a goddamn kid thinks. In fact, any kid that thinks what he has to say is just as entitled to respect for his opinions as an adult should be smacked upside the head and his parents need smacked upside the head for raising an entitled snowflake with an over-inflated sense of intelligence who seriously believes that kind of shit. You’re a kid, you don’t know a thing worth paying any attention to. Go get a job, start paying taxes, become an adult that actually knows something about how the world works, then we can talk.

    1. Radioactive   8 years ago

      whole lotta smackin goin on!!!

    2. Telcontar the Wanderer   8 years ago

      Riiiiiight… Because we all know humans get progressively smarter/wiser/better as they get older…

      …as can be told by the fact that the elderly all voted for Trump… *in the primaries*. Back even before they had the excuse of Herself on the other ticket.

      “From the mouths of babes”, how does it work?

      1. Radioactive   8 years ago

        unless they’re dems, then its dumber & dumber

  6. Dillinger   8 years ago

    >>>Spitzley apologized

    from her kitchen. barefoot.

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