Grass Roots political organizer Paul Jacobs, the Senior Advisor at the Sam Adams Foundation, has been indicted on charges related to his work leading a petition drive in Oklahoma. Jacobs is charged with a felony of conspiring against the State of Oklahoma in collecting signatures in favor of a Taxpayer Bill of Rights by an out of state resident. After 300,000 signatures were gathered by Jacobs and others, signatures removed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court keeping the petition from making it to a ballot.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has handed down the indictment to Jacobs and two other political organizers stating “Oklahoma law requires anyone who circulates a petition be a qualified elector, that means a U.S. citizen over the age of 18 and a resident of Oklahoma.” Edmondson charged that the petitioners “came into the state with the intent to leave the state once the TABOR drive was complete.” Jacobs faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $25,000.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment is pretty clear on the right to petition government. From the sounds of it, petitioning is a good thing, and a civic duty, the sort of thing every high-school kid is told is part of being a good citizen. So, the Attorney General of Oklahoma turned back the clock around 230 years in one of the most chilling civil rights indictments in memory by charging Paul Jacob, the Senior Advisor of the Sam Adams Foundation with illegally petitioning the Oklahoma Government. Jacob and other petition carriers had the nerve to collect 300,000 signatures asking for a ballot question concerning taxes. For this, he faces 10 years in jail.

It seems sort of like arresting mom for making apple pie, but it is indicative of the current low-brow nature of politics in the United States. Rather than facing an opponent on the issues, rather than campaigning on facts, rather than organizing support for a cause, there is a grand group of autocrats that would rather imprison their political foes than wage a legitimate campaign against them. It is also quite telling that outside of a few Libertarian blogs (and of course the Chicago Daily Observer), the media has completely ignored this story from any angle except day to day uninspired coverage of court issues in Oklahoma.

Per Paul Jacob, this indictment is meant to send a message to political organizers to stay out of Oklahoma. So how about warming it up a bit? Time Magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal are you interested in protecting the 1st Ammendment? Could you take a deep breath from your calculations of how much money our presidential candidates are raising to notice that politicians are indicting people based on political opposition rather than crime? Rudy Giulianni, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Ron Paul, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, (heck Alan Keyes and Dennis Kuchinich) why not make the Constitution an issue this election? Do we really want a country where our citizens are thrown in chains for petitioning the government?