As we approach the Independence Day weekend our thoughts naturally turn to the Founding Fathers who fought to free this nation and present it with two of the greatest documents ever written, The Declaration of Independence and The Consitution.
The cradle of liberty is of course the city of Philadelphia and millions of tourists visit there every year to soak up some history. In doing so they often take advantage of local tour guides to show them the sites. But that may be changing in the coming weeks.
The City Council has become concerned that some of the guides have been giving out inaccurate information. The proposed solution is to offer official licensing to people who pass a test on local history. Now on the surface this is not a bad idea, it would be quite helpful for tourists to have a way of knowing that the guide is well trained.
But the council has gone a step further, making the licensing mandatory to everyone who wants to discuss city history with tourists. According to the new rules, a guide can point to the Liberty Bell and identify it as such, but if they then want to tell you it was cast in the 1740’s you would be subject to punishment.
As noted in the linked article, a lawsuit has been filed to block this as a violation of free speech rights and I applaud those who have taken this stand.