The watchwords of the past few weeks have been ‘mostly peaceful protests.’ While this is ‘mostly a lie,’ protest is sacrosanct in this country, regardless of whether they are logical, thoughtful or even showcasing mere moderate decency. The protests immediately after George Floyd’s death excluded, the protests afterwards have been in large part based on lies, half-truths and a mishmash of fanciful or dangerous advocacy. However, these too must be protected, because so long as they remain lawful, government and individual whims cannot play favorites.
Obviously, nobody is saying to end the protests from on high, again, so long as they are lawful. This does not and should not leave the protests above scrutiny and condemnation, with these protests needing stern review now more than ever. Leaving aside the riots, acts of arson, assault and other crimes (which the protests either provide cover for, witting or unwittingly), the protests are no longer about justice for George Floyd (not for quite some time in many cases), general cries for justice, or sensible calls for modest reform.
Instead, the protests have devolved into the mob. A mob which doesn’t answer to rule, order or laws. A mob which doesn’t put their grievances forth in a methodical and reasonable way. The mob isn’t looking to compromise or create an environment for that faux term ‘national conversation’ to begin. The protests aren’t to make the country better, the protests are now against the country, a country deemed to be too evil at her core, too evil in her humble beginnings to be reformed, let alone redeemed.
Otherwise, why destroy statues, particularly those of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant, abolitionists, or Confederates who displayed decency after the Civil War such as General Lee? Why destroy and loot property, or even more damnably, excuse it, leaving innocent people broken spiritually and financially? Why call for the defunding of police (as an aside, when Republicans called for defunding Planned Parenthood, there was no confusion over the term ‘defunding,’ it was meant to take away all federal funds from the abortion organization), when they are one of the only lines between individuals and the edge of civilization?
You don’t destroy something you adore, you don’t hamstring your fellow citizen if you care about him, you don’t continually denigrate institutions if you hope to see them improve and maintain their influence over society. When a person enjoys something, believes in that something, they don’t need lies to convince themselves to commit acts of destruction, menacing and violence against that object of respect. Passion will not overwhelm intellect and common sense, instead, reason will not only subdue the barbarous passions, reason will stand courageously against passion, no matter the cost. Again, individuals will use reason and discernment to keep emotions at bay, if they care that is. That would be actual protesting.
Protest is necessary to redress actual grievances, not to bring up phantoms of today, nor castigate the defeated ghosts of the pasts. Protest is in place to give the people the right to express themselves, not to give them license to take away the rights of their fellow citizens. Today though, protest is no longer what society deemed it appropriately to be. What started as protests against an actual injustice by law enforcement, have grown into a monster that hopes to overwhelm the host that is United States as she is in existence today.
When the lies of ‘hands up don’t shoot’ (a thought carefully seconded by Obama’s liberal Justice Department), saying America is a systemically racist country (see affirmative action, preferential treatment, hate crime legislation, etc.), to the half-truths of American history about race (whites weren’t the only slaveholders in America), and the outrageous and confusing advocacy regarding: defunding police, no cash bail, saying black lives matter when in reality police commit only a tiny fraction of the killings of black men, redistributing wealth, universal healthcare, segregated racial judicial systems, etc., it is hard to keep up and take the protesters seriously. They want everything, and yet nothing at all, wanting utopia, but not willing to keep the fabric of society together to have any chance of making paradise possible.
Well, it is time to take these fools, liars and subversives seriously, even if their aims are insulting to the intellect (not to mention the sense of smell) as well as to the desires for order and decorum. They are either actively destroying our history and our institutions at this very moment, all while the protesting useful idiots are either providing a smoke screen or gladly using themselves as proverbial cannon fodder, spouting empty slogans or holding meaningless signs. The protests need a protest to stand against them. Not a counter protest, but a protest against protests that advocate destruction, destitution and a dystopic future.
Only then, can life maybe, just maybe, begin to return to normal. For without a firm hand from the people, people of decency and courage standing against the pitiless tormentors which hope to upend all which our forefathers strove so hard to create, the only other way to stop a mob is by subjecting oneself to tyranny. And America has already said no to that option. So now, the options are the mob, or a response of strength. Let us all pray the country makes the right choice before more is lost, and inevitably consumed by the flames of unreason.
Sincerely, your humble servant,
Winston Publius
The Classical (Trumpian) Liberal 