This is a long article (but worth a read) about covert NYPD infiltration of a wide range of mostly left-leaning peace-seeking groups leading up to the 2004 GOP convention in NY, with some rather nasty consequences (unjustified arrests, among other things).
I doubt the same efforts would have been made in the service of a Democratic convention, but who knows, maybe the whole notion of civil liberties is so eclipsed by the present culture of pre-emptive fear in the name of national security that any major event can now be used to justify suspending citizen rights.
It now seems that peaceful dissent risks being conflated with terrorism, as lawmakers flirt dangerously with the idea of "guilty until proven innocent," a short cut that provides them with an easy fix to potentially embarrassing opposition from the people they govern. Why answer your critics when you can simply lock them up?
"Land of the free..." Is it still possible to sing that anthem in our time and keep a straight face?
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