Screengrabs from video shot by The Daily Caller's Richie McGinness

Yesterday, in Washington, D.C., a guerilla organizer with a smile and a megaphone stood at the foot of a tribute to the end of slavery in America featuring Abraham Lincoln and an emancipated slave. To great hooting and applause, he made the following announcement.  "On Thursday, at 7pm, we're tearing this motherf----- down."  

How dare you?

You can't do that ...

That's against the law ...

You're under arrest ...

Such natural responses no longer occur to government officials -- with the possible exception of the President of the United States, whose precarious position and uncertain powers seem like something out of one of Rome's frequent periods of struggle and unrest more than the American republic.

If a statue fell in the nation's capital and no one was there to defend it, would it make a sound? A silent scream, maybe, but not enough to stop mobs unopposed by law enforcement and civil government. 

Here is the Associated Press report of a very different gathering at this same, exact spot: the statue's unveiling on April 14, 1876.