Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and his lieutenants didn’t like the message coming from the Occupy Wall Street crowd camped in 2012 near the state Capitol. So, in a style best left for tyrants and despots, they booted them. We’re willing to bet a National Rifle Association rally wouldn’t have gotten the same treatment. Predictably, a state Supreme Court judge ruled Wednesday that the state walked all over the protesters’ constitutional rights.

Idaho’s ruling class, apparently, prefers to pick and choose who has access to the First Amendment and who should just sit down and shut up. It’s government for the few, at the expense of everyone else. Anyone who truly believes in liberty will defend the rights of those with whom they disagree. That’s the definition of freedom. Muzzling dissent is something much uglier.

Think we’re unfairly characterizing the state’s crusade against those “stinky hippies” protesting against income inequality? Let Judge Lynn Winmill say it for us. He specifically notes Idaho’s “history of targeting Occupy,” in Wednesday’s ruling against Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and his executive agencies.

We can just imagine the various sneering “get a job” quips coming from the disgusted regulators, who decided to adopt the playbook of jack-booted thugs.

The eviction was nothing but an egregious case of unequal enforcement against a movement that runs counter to the politics of most state officials. It’s an expression of the dogmatic marriage to exclusivity that pervades Idaho government.

Some of Otter’s department heads wouldn’t let it go in the 2014 legislative session, either. They wanted to push the issue on appeal and rewrite regulations in a blatant attempt to circumvent a previous decision against the ugly assault on people’s most basic civil rights. The state Legislature, however, stepped up and canned the pitch.

Lawmakers showed some principle, here. But they’re not immune to quelling inconvenient rabble, either. The Senate wouldn’t let cops and college administrators testify last spring against the guns on campus law, after all. It’s a disturbing trend that should cease and cease now.

Quite frankly, the state’s behavior in 2012 was and always will be unacceptable, as was the push within the executive branch to continue fighting for the wrong side. Because the state defended the initial lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, more cash was spent in a useless court battle that could be better used elsewhere. It’s just another example of Idaho dumping cash into the defense of doomed, offensive regulations aimed at pandering to their base by bludgeoning anyone who thinks differently.

Idaho’s ruling class loves to talk about freedom. But, as is the case with all unbending idealogues, they showed they actually believe something quite the opposite — that the concept of liberty only extends to those with whom they agree.