Nashville Council Rejecting Morgan Wallen's Bar Sign Over His Behavior Is Petty Tyranny

I'm not a huge fan of country music, so I confess I had to look up exactly who Morgan Wallen is. He's a country music artist who's had a few run-ins with the law.

He was also caught on video using a racial slur in 2021.

Now, everyone has their bad moments -- times when we behave in a way that's not reflective of who we are. We are human and make mistakes.

Most of the time, and in Wallen's case, those mistakes are ones that are forgivable and ones that we can move past.

But to the Left, those mistakes -- if you don't comport with Leftist ideology -- are sins from which there is no absolution, and sins that they'll use as a cudgel against you in every walk of life.

Nashville councilmembers have rejected plans for a glowing sign to be erected at Morgan Wallen’s new bar along the city’s neon-lit strip of honky tonks, citing his use of a racial slur that caused controversy in 2021 and recent criminal charges accusing the country star of throwing a chair off a rooftop near two police officers.
The Nashville Metro Council voted 30-3 Tuesday evening against the proposed sign at Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen, which is set to open this weekend. The sign would have hung over a public sidewalk, similar to those at many neighboring bars. Such a sign requires local government approval and usually isn’t a controversial process.

I took a quick look at the Nashville.gov sign permit webpage, and on there I see several rules and regulations for signs.

What I do not see are rules concerning the conduct of the person(s) applying for said signs.

So the Nashville city council decided that they are going to add extra rules, apply them to Wallen (and only to Wallen), and make an example out of him.

Government can't change the rules because of words, this is a plain first amendment violation and he'll get his sign and be awarded damages paid by the taxpayers who also pay the salaries of tyrants. pic.twitter.com/SE9IyFFugI
— Robert L. Peters (not the real fake Joe Biden) (@BillySullivan7) May 23, 2024

This is petty tyranny.

And let’s really emphasize something here, mentioned in the above tweet: the Nashville city council is punishing Wallen for something he said, three years ago, and elsewhere.

The First Amendment is still a thing, and it applies to speech you don’t like. In fact, the First Amendment is intended for speech you don’t like, to protect it from punishment such as this.

The Nashville city council violated Wallen’s First Amendment rights. Plain and simple.

There is a lot of talk of tyranny these days. Donald Trump is the reincarnation of Hitler, a fascist, etc. etc.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden's administration is targeting parents, Catholics, and his political opponents while hiding behind the mantel of defending democracy. Things Trump -- for all the flaws of his first term -- decidedly did not do, and things he won't do if reelected in November.

We all see it, we all know it. We desperately need to beat it back.

There's a saying -- 'All politics is local' -- and this is never more true than it is today.

We tend to focus on the big elections: President, Congress, governors.

What we should focus on are the local elections. School board. City council. Mayor.

It is in those elections where the kind of tyranny we see on a national scale take root. And it is in those elections where we will remove the petty tyrants from office.

The Nashville council has no authority to determine whether or not one's conduct qualifies him for a sign for his business. Those are not the rules. If the sign at Wallen's bar meets the requirements for a permit, the permit should be granted. Regardless of his conduct.

While we don't pretend to know the politics or personal lives of everyone who owns a bar or business in Nashville, odd are -- at some point in time -- they've said something untoward or had run-ins with the law. They may hold political, social, or religious views to which members of the Nashville council would object.

Does that mean the council gets to pick the winners and losers, and award permits for signs (or alcohol, or food service) based on the personal beliefs of the owner(s) of a business?

No.

And we don't want it to go down that road.

They don't get to make an example of Wallen because he's a celebrity. Because they'll do it to average people like you and me.

Unless we fight against the petty tyrants.

Vote them out.