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Government Shutdown Ruins KKK Rally Plans

Maybe dysfunction is getting a bad rap

by
Adam Chandler
October 01, 2013
(AP/Getty)
(AP/Getty)

Last week, a Maryland chapter of the Ku Klux Klan stirred some controversy after it secured a permit to hold a rally at Gettysburg National Military Park. The park, of course, sits on the hallowed grounds upon which President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

Seven-and-a-half score later, the government is still frustrating the designs of hateful rednecks. This time the Klan, founded by six Confederate soldiers, is being forced to cancel its event because of…wait for it…the closure of the federal government.

“Because of the federal government shutdown, Gettysburg National Military Park has rescinded all permits for special events, including the October 5 First Amendment demonstration,” the park said in a statement.



Park officials had previously defended the decision to allow the KKK event, saying the group was entitled to the free speech protections afforded by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Lincoln’s last line at Gettysburg was meant to inspire the hope that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” But in this case, maybe it’s not such a bad thing if the government perishes for a little while, nu?

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.