It seems we, the citizens of this democracy, have lost yet another right guaranteed under the Constitution. I see that many of the lawful protesters in Washington, D.C., were arrested, including our own brave people from Arkansas. The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Of course, the neo-fascists always blame the protesters’ behavior, no matter how orderly, quiet and peacefully they behave. Yes, some folks get riled up and act assertively, as they should, but it doesn’t really matter what you do – you might be maced, beaten with a baton, water-hosed, then arrested. The press always mentions if a police person gets injured, but seldom do the beaten protesters get mentioned.
People who damn the protesters should ask themselves, what do you prefer? Voters who are bold enough to pay to go to Washington or Little Rock, risk being beaten, humiliated and arrested, or a fascist government that erodes our rights, then severely and illegally controls us?
The system does not give a whit about the Constitution or the Bill of Rights or the peoples’ right to protest the killing of Obamacare or cutting Medicare or destroying MedicAid or defunding the EPA or allowing drilling in the Arctic or removing protected status from endangered wildlife or allowing pollution in our water and air or removing women’s right to choose or doing away with protections for LGBTQ folk.
Thank you, our Arkansas protesters.
T.A. Laughlin