Let’s defend each other’s rights to speak out
Local political protests have been able to draw a lot of people this year. We are happy with the fact they have been completely peaceful.
There are those who support these protests and those who can’t stand seeing them, but there should be consensus and understanding that these are all-American activities guaranteed under the First Amendment of our Constitution.
The Constitution guarantees citizens’ rights to free speech and to peaceable assembly.
There was the rally that drew some 600 people to protest outside Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s office in March, asking him to support his constituents after he voted for a bill that called for $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
More than 400 citizens marched around Veterans Memorial Park in Ocean City in April, protesting Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashing programs and federal workers.
In June, Indivisble OCNJ led a No Kings protest along the Rt. 52 causeway that drew even more people upset by President Trump trying to consolidate more power.
This Thursday, there is a “Good Trouble” protest in the spirit of late congressman and Civil Rights activist John Lewis, planned for noon to 1:30 p.m. at Gazebo Park at the Ocean City base of the Route 52 causeway, followed by a march on the walkway to the Welcome Center and back.
What has marked these past protests and what we expect from the one coming up this week is the fact they are peaceful. We can’t reiterate that enough.
The infamous Jan. 6, 2021 rally started this way, but took an un-American turn.
That protest in the nation’s capital was for President Trump, protesting the fact he lost the 2020 election to Joseph Biden.
It started peacefully and met the hallmarks of what was guaranteed under the Constitution. There was a lot of angry rhetoric, but that fell under speakers’ and protesters’ free speech rights.
It became criminal when the protesters changed from expressing their views to laying seige of the Capitol and violently attacking police officers to stop the peaceful transfer of power as Congress worked to certify the election.
Part of what fuels the outrage of protesters now is not just the actions of the current administration, but the revisionism of the history of the Jan. 6 assault and the president’s pardon of some 1,600 of those convicted, including those convicted of sedition and assaulting police.
The re-characterization of those protesters as true patriots is as appalling as the hypocrisy of so many federal elected officials who fled from the protesters and denounced the attack, but have since joined the effort to downplay it.
Few would accept as permissible if any of these local protests turned violent, nor should they.
These local protests may have little on what is taking place in Washington, but they are not futile because they let people stand up and publicly assert their views.
While their views may be polar opposites, they are doing the same thing as the citizens who exercise their constitutional rights to expression by flying Trump flags in support of the president. It is the same as attending Trump rallies – including right here in Cape May County – during which the now president uses his right to free speech to lambaste democrats and pretty much everything they did, are doing, and stand for.
It should go without saying we all should defend the right of others, including those with whom we vehemently disagree, to be able to peacefully express our views.
