Please let me, friends, thank you in advance for reading todays column. Your indulgence is not unappreciated.
You see, Ive written this, and versions of it, many, many times in my head. Even if I should get it right, I know there will be those who dont agree, who perhaps take issue with my assertions.
To them I would say, I respect your right to disagree. And I really do.
One of the glories of the form of government that was bequeathed us by our founders was the marvelous notion that we are allowed, even encouraged, to not only disagree, but to freely express such sentiments without fear of a government intervention, or worse. There are those who dont acknowledge this.
The First Amendment. To think there are, have always been, millions of human beings who are not now, have never, been permitted freedom of speech. Think of that, my fellow Americans, the next time someone, or some group, exercises their First Amendment rights by speech and or assembly with a viewpoint you oppose.
For those, however, who elect to use such protest as an excuse for vandalism, destruction of property, looting, please know that I abhor their actions, and believe they should be subject to those laws that prohibit such conduct. They are a minority, but do an injustice to those whose protests should be heard.
Back to my original intent regarding todays column. Here goes:
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, there were those in our land (two countries) at the time, who rejoiced.
You know who they were, and if you had to apply one of the now two much-used, over-used, political labels of our time, you know which would apply.
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt died, there were those in our land who were not saddened. You know who.
Eleanor Roosevelt was greatly admired throughout much of the world (this is not hyberpole) during her lifetime. There were those in our land, however, who despised her. You know who.
When John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated, there were those in our land who were pleased. You know who.
When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, there were those in our land who thought he got what was coming to him. You know who.
When Robert (Bobby) Francis Kennedy was assassinated, there were those in our land who were not displeased. You know who.
Referencing those two political labels further, consider the following:
Who opposed the abolition of slavery? You know who.
Who opposed setting aside portions of our wilderness lands so as to preserve them in perpetuity? You know who.
Who opposed splitting up the monopolistic enterprises of the Robber Barons? You know who.
Who opposed establishing child labor laws? You know who.
Who opposed setting minimum wage requirements? You know who.
Who opposed limits on workers hours? You know who.
Who opposed Womens Suffrage? You know who.
Who opposed unions? You know who.
Who opposed programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid? You know who.
Who opposed desegregation of our military? You know who.
Who opposes environmental/conservation safeguards? You know who.
Who opposed the Civil Rights Act? You know who.
Who opposed the Voting Rights Act? You know who.
Who opposed racial integration? You know who.
Who opposed/opposes making it easier to vote? You know who.
Who opposed/opposes strengthening gun safety requirements? You know who.
And who have the opposers consistently blamed at one time or another for all these things they have found so objectionable? The media the government the intellectuals the liberals the blacks (there was a time when another word was commonly used) the Jews
Why, there was another country that once had those who used such despicable tactics to come to power in Europe in the 1930s. We know how that came out, dont we?
Perhaps most recent, who opposes mandatory wearing of masks during this pandemic? You know who.
Now, in closing (bet youre glad to read that) let me assert that there are those who fall into the opposers column, who dont buy into all of such a negative, anti-progressive philosophy.
And, conversely, there are some who are on the other side who do not espouse and fully support some of their agenda as well.
If you made it here to the end, thanks for sticking with me. Perhaps more important, as I wrote near the beginning of this much too lengthy expository exercise, if you disagree in full or in part with anything Ive written, I respect your right to do so.
If you agree in full or in part with anything Ive written, well, then you know your history.
Should you choose to meet me here again next week, Ill look forward to it.
Peace.
See the rest here:
Write Again ... And you know who - Washington Daily News - thewashingtondailynews.com
- You're Wrong About the 1st Amendment - The Independent | News Events Opinion More - The Independent | SUindependent.com [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- Montco commissioner accused of violating the First Amendment by blocking opposing users on social media - KYW Newsradio 1060 [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- Trump attacks core US values at Rushmore. Disagree with him, you're an enemy of the state. - USA TODAY [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- The Indy Explains: Your First Amendment rights as a protester - The Nevada Independent [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- Trump's political NDAs are an abomination to the First Amendment. - Slate [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- First Amendment on the street | Opinion | dailyitem.com - Sunbury Daily Item [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- Readers on the 1st amendment, blackface and 'Law & Order' - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2020]
- Strictly Legal: Partial Victory for the First Amendment in Trump Book Dispute - The Cincinnati Enquirer [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- Movie Theaters Sue New Jersey Claiming First Amendment Right to Reopen - Variety [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- The First Amendment and alternative proteins - Beef Magazine [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- Where Two or More Are Gathered, the First Amendment Should Protect Them - ChristianityToday.com [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- The Class of Special Rights Called the First Amendment - National Review [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- First Amendment Bright Line in the Digital Age - Courthouse News Service [Last Updated On: July 9th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 9th, 2020]
- RCFP, NPPA, CPJ to train journalists covering 2020 political conventions - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- The Right Call On The Invocation - Editorial | Editorials - CapeNews.net [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- wraps up 5-year FOIA battle with Justice Department - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Napolitano: A brief history of the freedom of speech in America - Daily Herald [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Watch | Can states ban the display of the Confederate flag? in 'Legally Speaking' - WKYC.com [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Editorial A flushtrated community: Potsdam trampling on First Amendment rights of toilet artist - NNY360 [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Second Circuit Wrecks All Sorts Of First Amendment Protections To Keep Lawsuit Against Joy Reid Alive - Techdirt [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- John Bolton Gambles That Constitution Will Save Profits on Book That Was Embarrassing to the President - Law & Crime [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Ex-Baltimore mayor fires back at Hogan criticism of her response to 2015 riots: 'Easy to point the finger' - Fox News [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- COVID-19: Our Failures and the Path to Correction - northernexpress.com [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Opinion: Blake Fontenay: Buts on the road to censorship - The Daily Camera [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Two Judges and the Williamsburg Ghost - Courthouse News Service [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- First 5: Fighting over the meaning of First Amendment freedoms - Salina Post [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Is satire in political cartoons fully protected? Ask the lawyer - The Daily Breeze [Last Updated On: July 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 18th, 2020]
- Trump wants to have a 'big rally' in Michigan, says he isn't allowed - The Detroit News [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- US Army eSports team accused of violating First Amendment Act: Report - Republic World - Republic World [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- Gene Policinski: Our rights to speak, assembly and seek change have limits - The Mercury [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- AG Rosenblum: Feds operating with no transparency - KOIN.com [Last Updated On: July 19th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 19th, 2020]
- Protesters Gather Near Mayor's Home Following Clash With Police in Grant Park - WTTW News [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- More conferences cancel fall sports and other COVID-19 news - Inside Higher Ed [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- First Thing: American scientists wade into politics with a Trump rebuke - The Guardian [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- How the Portland Secret Police Happened - The Bulwark [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- By The Numbers - thepaper24-7.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- FIRST FIVE: Fighting over the meaning of First Amendment freedoms - hays Post [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- This Week in Technology + Press Freedom: July 19, 2020 - Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Outside the Outbreak: Iran executes man convicted of spying for US, nuclear weapons hot topic 75 years after test - Universe.byu.edu [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Portland Protesters Gassed After Setting Fire at Courthouse - gvwire.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Providence City Councilmans property vandalized, This was not a political statement adherent to the spirit of our first amendment - The Providence... [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Philly rebuffs Trump threat to send in feds over protests - Billy Penn [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Churchill: Troy preacher has the right to offend - Beaumont Enterprise [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- My View: In Provincetown, strange views of the First Amendment - Wicked Local Provincetown [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Army esports team denies accusations of violating First Amendment, offering fake giveaways - ArmyTimes.com [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Churchill: Troy preacher has the right to offend - Times Union [Last Updated On: July 20th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 20th, 2020]
- Legacy Acquisition Corp. Terminates its Amended and Restated Share Exchange Agreement with Blue Valor Limited and Seeks a New Target - Business Wire [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Trumps Legal Justification for the Abduction of Portland Protesters Is Absurd - Slate [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Our View: We should demand that they stop - Daily Astorian [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Staff column: the Wide World of Politics, in Brighton - Brighton Standard-Blade [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- First Amendment | Contents & Supreme Court Interpretations ... [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- The Protean Progressive Free Speech Clause - Forbes [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- New Developments in COVID-19 Litigation for New York City Landlords: Saving Grace or Hail Mary? - JD Supra [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Reclaim Idaho: Court delays would leave K-12 initiative 'dead in the water' - Idaho EdNews [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- VERIFY: The Fourth Amendment has nothing to do with wearing masks at a grocery store - WUSA9.com [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Why Reforms to Section 230 Could Radically Change How You Use the Internet - NBC New York [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- VERIFY: The Fourth Amendment has nothing to do with wearing masks at a grocery store - WBIR.com [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- LMPD Blues: Civil disobedience and abuse of authority - Louisville Eccentric Observer [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Access to Public Health Information in the Age of COVID-19 - Columbia University [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- How The First Amendment Can Fight BLM Messages - ValueWalk [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Why Reforms to Section 230 Could Radically Change How You Use the Internet - NBC Connecticut [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Government Denies Cohen Was Imprisoned to Stop Trump Book - The New York Times [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Lawyers Demand the Army Stop Violating First Amendment on Twitch - VICE [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Kevin Kiermaier will stand for anthem, supports Rays teammates who wont - Tampa Bay Times [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- What You Need To Know About The Unreleased Dallas Police Report After Protests - KERA News [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Why Reforms to Section 230 Could Radically Change How You Use the Internet - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2020]
- Constitution doesn't have a problem with mask mandates - Sumter Item [Last Updated On: July 23rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 23rd, 2020]
- First Amendment Zone: How to protest (or not) at the RNC in Jacksonville - The Florida Times-Union [Last Updated On: July 23rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 23rd, 2020]
- Army Pauses Twitch Game Streaming After First Amendment Claim - The New York Times [Last Updated On: July 23rd, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 23rd, 2020]
- New Hanover Sheriff's Office investigating death of UNCW Professor Mike Adams - Port City Daily [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Louisville police plan for militia group protest this weekend - ABC 36 News - WTVQ [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- The Constitution doesn't have a problem with mask mandates - The Conversation US [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Judge Orders Michael Cohen To Be Released From Prison, Saying His First Amendment Rights Were Violated - Forbes [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Irvine Mayor Sued Over Facebook Blocking And Deleting Of Comments - Voice of OC [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- The lawlessness of Trump's 'law and order' - The Week [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- EXPANDED: County adopts resolution affirming Second Amendment | National News - KPVI News 6 [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- LETTER Understand the gravity of free speech - Trumbull Times [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- The Constitution doesn't have a problem with mask mandates - Huron Daily Tribune [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- A Newspaper's Dilemma on the First Amendment Debate - Newport This Week [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]
- Trump to Throw Out First Amendment at Yankee Stadium - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: July 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 24th, 2020]