During WWI, the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety began by shutting down liquor establishments in the vicinity of Minneapolis' Bridge Square to protect the milling district from terrorists. Liquor was also banned from the Ft. Snelling area to limit access by soldiers stationed at the fort.
The Commission went on to recruit and train county sheriffs across the state to target so-called dissenters: the IWW and Nonpartisan League, as well as German-Americans, were major targets. The legacy of this Commission is one of unconstitutional loyalty oaths and anti-trade unionism. In Watchdog of loyalty: the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety during World War I, author Carl H. Chrislock wrote: "Given the premise that women and men truly learn from history, one may be entitled to hope that this wholly negative image of the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety militates against resort to commission precedents in future crises. Unfortunately, there are no ironclad guarantees. Many Minnesotans, along with a multitude of other Americans, lack a strong sense of history. Moreover, contemporary society is in the grip of cataclysmic change, a milieu extremely vulnerable to the kind of excess that subjects the democratic process to severe strain. Within the political arena, a tendency for slogans and "sound bites" to overwhelm rational discourse inhibits the ability of a democratic system to respond creatively to the enormous challenges of the day. Nevertheless, coming to terms with the less ennobling chapters in our history may provide our cherished democratic may provide our cherished democratic values with a margin of safety that sole preoccupation with the "glories" of the past fails to bring. There is, asserted President Vaclav Havel of the newly named Czeck and Slovak Federal Republic in 1990, "no full freedom freedom where full truth is not given free passage." A book for our time - heartily recommended. Shawne FitzGerald Powderhorn _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
