To follow up Donna’s post, it seemed at first that community had reached a mutually acceptable compromise. It appeared that the Weaver Street Market owners had gotten protesters to acknowledge their rights as private property owners, and they also had worked to retain a unique use of that property that apparently brought happiness to the community — i.e., the dancing “reformed felon.”

But I fear that the resolution here wasn’t a mutually satisfactory compromise brought about by two parties who learned to respect each other’s rights and desires. No, unfortunately it was that of Patchouli Mob Rule. Not only did the town authorities sit by and do nothing while protesters stomped around on the private property in question in what they termed “civil dance disobedience,” but apparently — to judge by comments in both OrangePolitics.org (sympathetic with the “social anarchists”) and SqueezethePulp.com (sympathetic with individual rights) — they also allowed the threat of eminent domain to influence events.