The First Amendment is not a suggestion. It’s one of the foundational protections upon which the United States was built and its survival depends upon our willingness to defend it without compromise.
Recently, I noticed that many campaign signs have been removed for some candidates while others are left untouched. On Friday, August 7, 2026, I was driving down Gasparilla Road, and as I’m about to turn on Ingraham Road at about 11:05 AM, I saw a man from code enforcement removing several signs from the Stephen R. Deutsch and the John Fleming campaigns. He threw the signs in the back of his government truck and closed it up very quickly.
Few forms of expression are more central to our democracy than political speech. Campaign signs, political messages, public demonstrations, and the ability to advocate for candidates are all part of the marketplace of ideas that allow citizens to make informed choices at the ballot box.
That is why the removal of political campaign signs by local code enforcement officers should concern every American, especially when enforcement appears to be selective.
Reasonable, content-neutral regulations concerning the placement, size, timing, or safety of signs can exist but in very limited extent. But government cannot and must not use the enforcement of local ordinances as a weapon to silence certain political viewpoints or disadvantage particular candidates.
When similar signs are treated differently depending upon whose name appears on them, the issue becomes far greater than a simple code-enforcement matter. It raises a fundamental question about equal treatment, government power, and freedom of political expression.
A local ordinance, mandate, resolution, policy, or other governmental rule does not exist above the United States Constitution. Local government derives its authority from law and that authority is constrained by the Constitution. Local government does not have unlimited nor boundless authority.
The First Amendment protects the people’s right to speak, assemble, petition government, and express political opinions. Those protections become especially important during elections, when citizens are actively participating in the democratic process.
If one candidate’s signs are removed while another candidate’s signs are left untouched, citizens have every right to demand answers: Was the ordinance applied consistently? Were all candidates treated equally? Who made the decision? And what standards were used? No matter what reasons and excuses the government pull out of their hat.
We should never accept the idea that constitutional rights disappear at the city or county line. Government exists to serve the people, not to determine which political voices may be heard. The government works for the people and must answer to the people. Additionally, the government is obliged to protect our fundamental constitutional rights, not bend them any which way they want when it fits into the agenda they want to push.
The defense of the First Amendment is not a partisan issue. It is an American issue. If we allow government to selectively silence political expression, we weaken one of the very freedoms that makes self-government possible. And once that freedom is compromised, every American is at risk. If or when our constitutional rights are thrown out the window, this country dies and becomes just another Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, etc.
By Karina Schmitt, Senior Blog Contributor
Like, Subscribe and Share our Podcast Shows and videos from the We the People Club meetings.
Recent shows:
Ep 12 with Cathy Bateman on what really goes on behind the scenes
Ep 11 with Samuel Terpinger on exploitation of students
Ep 10 with Candidate for Commissioner John Fleming on his position on Flock cameras in Charlotte County