My friend Chuck endorses a truly terrible idea in Minnesota to force protesters to pay the extra costs associated with their actions — police enforcement, redirecting traffic, etc.

While the libertarian impulse behind such a position is understandable — protesters should have to pay for the costs they impose on others — the problem is that they already have in the form of taxes. Just because they choose to exercise their free-speech rights does not mean they should be liable to pay more on top of that.

By that logic, those who don’t protest or demonstrate in any way should receive a tax discount of some kind. If someone obstructs traffic or does anything unlawful, he should be arrested. That is the punishment. Forcing people to pay for the right to protest would have the express purpose of discouraging speech.