Democrats and Republicans will hold national conventions this summer in Chicago and Milwaukee, respectively.
I advise you avoid traffic snarls at these mutual admiration society meetings. Prices are apt to inflate then and there as well.
Protesters are sure to turn out for both conventions. Free speech matters when, rightly or wrongly, we object to something. It is the hallmark of a free country.
In Russia, Putin isn’t fond of protesters to a point where those who do have a habit of falling out windows of tall buildings. Firing squads, poisonings, hangings … We don’t do that here.
New York state’s corn farmers protested the dime-a-gallon federal whiskey tax during founding father George Washington’s term as president.
The Whiskey Rebellion ended quickly but was just a start. National elections can be won or lost hinging on how presidents handle protests.
When the Mississippi River flooded in 1927, then President Calvin Coolidge declined to do anything. Until 1932, dealing with disasters was up to each state individually.
Herbert Hoover, then a minor member of the Coolidge administration, was the only high-ranking federal official who visited flood sites, talked with victims and showed he cared. He was elected president the next year.
When the Great Depression began, Hoover’s lack of action in spite of public demands and protests laid grounds for Franklin Roosevelt to beat him for president in 1932.
There is a fine line between protests and trampling over other people’s rights. Few want to return to when companies hired thugs to break up rallies and harm or kill protestors. That happened often in the past — the Haymarket Riots in Chicago, Pullman riots and at Ford Motor works in Detroit, or even the Milk Wars in Minnesota when farmers dumped milk rather than be forced to sell it at a loss to the creameries. Hopefully we are better than that today.
The U.S. has lately seen protests for and against Israel’s policy toward Hamas in Gaza. In Chicago, police saw it as a chance to hone their skills at removing dissidents prior to the Democratic convention.
Chants such as “Death to the U.S.” and “Death to Jews” show anger has moved from opposing policy to opposing the existence of governments and people. “Dem’s fightin’ words,” as my mother used to say.
When World War II came to the U.S. in December 1941, my father and his brothers enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Dad was trained as a medical technician helping save the lives of injured airmen.
Mother, a math professor in Oklahoma, taught pilots, navigators and bombardiers algebra and trigonometry so they could return the favor to the Axis powers. She fought back tears looking at her students knowing many of them would not return.
Later in life, when they saw protestors burn or trample on the American flag, they were hurt more than angered. They’d had personal friends who had died fighting for that flag.
Dad often recited a 1915 poem made into a hit song later by Gene Autry:
If you don’t like your Uncle Sammy
Then go back to your home o’er the sea
To the land from where you came, whatever be its name,
But don’t be ungrateful to me!
If you don’t like the stars in Old Glory
If you don’t like the Red, White, and Blue,
Then don’t be like the cur in the story,
And don’t bite the hand that is feeding you.
Those home civics lessons augmented what I leaned what I learned at school and in Cub Scouts. Stand and take your hat off when the color guard marches past with our country’s flag. Stand straight, hand over heart, and sing the National Anthem. Be respectful to others, especially veterans, and learn about this great country.
It is one thing to march, sing, chant and protest; but shouting angry slogans of “Death to America” or to anyone crosses that red line.
It would not bother me if foreign students or nationals who do that are told to pack their suitcases and go home. When migrants illegally come here and are deported, they are told they may not return for a decade. That would be a good idea with these miscreants. It would give them time to think about how damaging their words can be.
Columbia University announced April 23 that the disorderly conduct and bad behavior by protesters had grown so threatening the school was closing down for the rest of the academic year. Students can study remotely via Zoom. Too bad for students and faculty who chose Columbia for an education, not as a battleground.
As for homegrown protesters shouting “Death to America,” that is treason. In the past traitors were executed or imprisoned. We don’t do that so much anymore, but I suspect violent protesters will have little luck finding future jobs.
Dumb choices made in college will yield pain and punishment for years — a gift from people who love this country that will keep on giving.
Hateful words do harm and have consequences. Perhaps this time they will learn.
