"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 the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." - Amendment I, U.S. Constitution
This past weekend marks a sad day in American history. People all over the country got together to "petition the government for a redress of grievances." Primarily, they were protesting the death of George Floyd, who died when in the custody of the Minneapolis police. However, many of those protests shifted from "peaceably" to violent; including destruction of property and looting.
These types of protests need to stop.
Here are a few considerations:
Every person needs to register prior to attending any protest.
Every person needs to publicly display their name on their clothing during the protest.
No wearing of black clothing and NO hoodies allowed.
Every person will go through a checkpoint prior to attending the protest.
If you fail to comply with the above you will be arrested and removed from the assembly.
Now, let me address the whys:
Many of the reports I read and videos I saw were concerning hooded individuals initiating the violence, destruction of property, and looting (what does the looting of a Target have to do with #BlackLivesMatter I have no idea). In Cleveland, over 60 people were arrested for aggravated rioting, vandalism, disorderly conduct and curfew violations. Some of those individuals were not from Cleveland. If every person is registered, publicly wearing their name, and are not hidden behind dark clothing and hoods, the chances of someone starting a riot are greatly diminished. And the checkpoints will guarantee no one is carrying a weapon or clothing they can use to disguise their identities (you have to go through checkpoints to get into Cleveland Indians games after all).
"But J.P., don't you know that we have a right to protest? It's in the 1st Amendment that you posted at the top of this article."
Read it again. It says you have the right to PEACEABLY assemble. Not riot. Not destroy property. Not bludgeon people with two-by-fours (yes, I saw that video too). PEACEABLY assemble.
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." - Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
As the preamble above shows, the concept of the Constitution, and the Amendments contained therein, are based on the intention of a CIVILIZED SOCIETY. IF you choose to behave uncivilized, you LOSE that right.
Don't agree? Go commit a felony, go to jail, serve your time, and try to vote. Why can't a felon vote? Because the act of the felony (an uncivilized act) DISQUALIFIES the person from the rights of a citizen in a civilized society. You know, part of the "domestic Tranquility".
When the violence and destruction become the news, the meaning of your protest is no longer the news. So, if you therefore have no desire for your message to be heard, you don't protest.
If you can't act like adults, you should be treated as the unruly children you are.
©Emittravel 2020
These are adults and should be dealt with as adults. Looters should be shot on sight. Violence should be immediately met with overwhelming force.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get to the root of the problem, which has nothing to do with police brutality, racism or any of the other bloody rags we keep getting waved in our faces.
In the mid 1970's the US developed a type of nuclear warhead called the Enhanced Radiation Warhead, or ERW, commonly referred to as the Neutron Bomb. The idea was to knock out Soviet tanks in case of attack. Warsaw Pact tanks far outnumbered NATO tanks. The principle of operation is very interesting and easy to understand.
The ERW scared the crap out of the Soviets since their advantage in tanks would be mooted overnight if we deployed the ERW in Western Europe.
Well, wouldn't you know it, Europeans (mainly West Germans as I recall) turned out in droves to protest the Neutron Bomb. I remember one line of agitprop: 'The Neutron Bomb will kill everyone in a city without destroying it so the greedy rich Americans will be able to move in and take everyone's stuff.'
I knew at the time that and other similar lines of reasoning were rubbish but what I didn't know until years later was that the whole protest movement was not a 'grassroots' movement at all. The Soviets were behind the entire protest movement.
And it worked.
I don't know who's behind our current 'unrest'. The Chinese, the Russians, George Soros...but this isn't just another spontaneous uprising, not when you have the BBC interviewing British protesters, all with similarly smelling verbal flatulence.
The vast majority of the protesters don't even realize they're being used as cannon fodder in the culture war and our incurious press is more than happy to go along with anything could even possibly make President Trump look bad.
I hope the plan backfires right in their SJW faces.