Conservative Club's Crass Carnival Clash

Club takes an opportunity to discuss free speech issues and screws it up

Earlier this week, the Frederick County Conservative Club clashed with a local volunteer fire department regarding a game at the local carnival, says the Frederick News-Post:

A carnival game set up by the Frederick County Conservative Club on Monday night caused a rift between the group and the volunteers hosting the carnival.

Next to its booth at the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Company’s annual carnival, the conservative club had placed large cardboard printouts of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The leaders’ mouths were cut out, and visitors were invited to toss socks filled with dried beans through the resulting hole.

The game was basically cornhole. But apparently, some people were offended by the existence of the game:

But some visitors found the signs to be sexually suggestive and inappropriate for an event aimed at families with young children.

The volunteer fire department told the club to remove the signs or leave the carnival

That, bluntly, is an overreaction. The game is cornhole. This is what it looks like.

The only thing offensive about this picture is the guy wearing a Steelers shirt.

This would be a perfect opportunity to talk about free speech and to score political points. There is nothing offensive about these images, or this game, and it would be a good time for a competent political group to make salient points about political discourse.

But nobody has ever confused the Frederick County Conservative Club with a competent political group. Because these are the people who think harassing elected officials at home and hanging out with Birchers is good politics, they have already pissed away any goodwill they may have possibly received from this fiasco:

Propheter took down the game but said he’s now considering legal action.

The game drew visitors to his club’s tent, Propheter said, and the club might lose revenue now that it’s gone. Propheter contends the decision was politically motivated, making it a violation of the First Amendment.

Nobody is surprised that the Conservative Club’s head snowflake Fred Propheter is considering legal action. Nor is anybody surprised that Prohpeter thinks the decision is a violation of the First Amendment, which bars Congress from abridging the freedom of speech and the press.

Volunteer fire companies, are private, non-profit entities and are not part of any government apparatus. Propheter wants to sue a private entity for asking him to not engage in an activity on private property.

Was the reaction to this silly carnival game an overreaction? Absolutely, nobody should be offended by this game or its images. If the Walkersville Fire Department didn’t want political statements as part of their carnival, they should not have allowed political groups to participate in the carnival. The game isn’t crass; but the Club’s reaction afterward is. The reaction, including Propheter’s threat of legal action, shows that the Frederick County Conservative Club continues to possess a political immaturity that restrains them from accomplishing much of anything in the political sphere.

Maybe it’s time for them to try something new.