This is America. We have a constitutional democracy. Well, a republic, if you want to be technical about it. Semantic technicalities notwithstanding, we still have guaranteed freedoms and rights.
Two of those most basic rights are the freedom of speech, and to peaceably assemble. For any purpose. In this country, we have the right to disagree with our government, or anything else, including but not limited to giant corporations and financial institutions.
When enough people get fed up with the status-quo, they are allowed, by virtue of that constitution and its Bill of Rights, to gather, march, protest, call out slogans, chant, or have a simple "sit-in." As long as it remains peaceful, it is legal. A group is not even required; a single person is allowed to protest by whatever peaceful means they choose.
What has happened? We have the police cracking down on peaceful protesters, beating people with batons, assaulting them with pepper spray, ripping up their signs and temporary shelters, and in general, behaving exactly like underworld thugs and punks.
All of a sudden the protesters, the "occupiers," are being treated as if they are the punks, and all they are doing is sitting, walking, talking, perhaps shouting chants and slogans. They are exercising their legal right to protest, object, and in general say, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
The actions of the police (at the direction of city mayors, I might add), is what is illegal. Both are acting as if we have moved to someplace like Red China or Stalinist Russia. We still have our freedoms, and we need to stand up and protect them; yes, fight for them if necessary.
Should any of the protesters, either alone or in unity with others, jump up and attempt to turn the tables, or resist their treatment at the hands of the police, they are charged with anything from ‘resisting arrest’ to ‘assault.’ Excuse me, but it is the cops who are doing the assaulting! They deserve a taste of their own medicine!
After the signing of the constitution, Benjamin Franklin was asked, “What do we have?” His reply? “A republic—if you can keep it.” Well, folks, our republic is under attack, and not from external terrorists, but from inside our own government! It is time to wake up, rise up, and fight to retain our rights!!
The most egregious example is the excuse used for this wave of squelching the rights and freedoms of the individual. It is called “The Patriot Act.” It was enacted soon after the 9-11 attacks, and was nothing more than a smoke-and-mirrors falsehood to keep the populace quiet, and try to make them feel safe.
Well, bullshit! There is no polite way to put it. It stripped many of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, and jeopardizes others. It is the motivation behind the current behavior by police, city mayors, and now, even, apparently college chancellors! College!! Of all places, where the right to protest and the lessons about our freedoms should be in the forefront of the curriculum, is now a stage being used to show off the force and might of the bullies in uniforms. FOR SHAME!
Here’s another surprise: That so-called “patriot act?” It is, in and of itself, illegal, unconstitutional, and therefore worthy of being ignored and not enforced. It is the worst oxymoron, and most un-patriotic edict ever enacted! What needs to happen is for everyone to demand its repeal, and assert themselves even more. Do not be bullied and cowed by The Powers That Be (TPTB), or you and your children and your grandchildren for generations forward, will pay the price of having watched this once great nation slide into the darkness of dictatorship, just like the ones we are claiming to battle around the world.
For what business do we have messing about in other countries’ affairs, preaching about “human rights violations,” when our own government is not practicing what it preaches?! We need to tend to the constitutionally guaranteed rights of our own citizens, and tell TPTB to MYOB and stop harassing their own citizens, and violating our human rights, in the name of some nebulous, imaginary threat.
NOW, GO FORTH AND OCCUPY!
