Friday, March 29, 2024

Protests, protests everywhere

Posted

The nightly news is all about the latest unrest somewhere in the country. From the streets of Seattle and Portland to Louisville and Florida our country is under attack by those who claim their Constitutional right to protest excuses them for pillaging and looting in the process.

The protests are made in the name of justice, but unfortunately it is rarely justice they seek but revenge. The American concept of justice requires that the alleged perpetrators of injustice be given a day in court where they can calmly and logically confront their accusers and tell their side of the story.

Street justice on the other hand demands that the perpetrator be hung from the nearest tree. In the old west a horse thief was put on a horse with a noose around his neck and the horse was spanked to ride away leaving the thief to spin in the wind. There was no opportunity for the thief to explain how he had  rented the horse from the local livery stable.

There has certainly been people who were wrongly accused and convicted despite the best efforts of attorneys and prosecutors to prevent that from happening. But given a trial by a passionate mob versus a dispassionate presentation of the case I would opt for the latter.

But to the point about the growing frustration in the country over the issues of our time. The question about why the growing crowds of unhappy citizens marching for causes is increasing needs to be examined. They are not all violent, but there is an increasing trend in protests.

Generally, people protest because they do not believe their voices are being heard or they see what they believe is an injustice. That’s fair and our Constitution guarantees citizens the right to “peaceably assemble for a redress of their grievances.” It also guarantees that we all have the right to disagree with the protestors.

The first problem is if you disagree with the protestors you are accused of being anti-social, racist, or just a lackey of some hated group. There is little or no meaningful discussion.

The second problem is the protestors believe they have the right to destroy property, steal from their neighbors or local businesses because society has not been fair. It doesn’t matter that the person they stole from was in no way responsible for their mistreatment.

I have no problem with peaceful protests. But those who are challenging us to be better human beings are simply dishonest when they refuse to discuss the issues. Or even worse, attempt to discredit our criticism of their positions with shallow arguments about our questionable loyalty to their most hated organizations or industries.

It is time to get real here. Black Lives Matter is not an organization that truly cares about the quality of black lives. The organization is simply using the unfortunate events of our recent past to push their radical agenda. The leaders of this organization are trying to draw in gullible people of all colors to support their revolution. Misguided and guilt-ridden individuals are still joining the revolution. Their demands grow increasingly unreasonable and illogical, while their violence continues to escalate. Defund the police? If they care about black lives why are they killing black cops?

Friday afternoon we had another peaceful protest in Leavenworth. A group of environmentalists marched for Climate change. They carried signs like, “The Earth in on Fire.” Well, it’s true that the west coast has endured tremendous fire damage this year. The question we need to ask is why are the fires worse than they have been historically? Politicians and environmentalists want to blame it on global warming. Problem is the climate is actually cooling. In my mind the fires have become worse because we have totally neglected good forest management. The forests are now overloaded with dead and diseased trees that once ignited make the fires worse.

It is time we all learned to respect that protests are important but it is more important that we learn to listen to each other and work to resolve problems with enlightened policies and programs that truly make a difference.

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