As I see protests over the election of our new President, the dissonance of our citizenry over policing, race, and religion, that devolves into violence, injury and the destruction of property I shutter and I worry for our country.
Do not get me wrong. I love a good protest, I love a good march. As long as it is done without violence, destruction of property and as long as the people involved in it and who are opposed to it, do not sink into the abyss of physical attacks, naming calling, intolerance, and the like.
Has this devolution of respect for the lives and property of others been caused by an ever growing lack of confidence in the law, its process and its transparency?
We are a great nation for sure. Are we losing our way? Or is this just another example of how we, as a country, exhaust every alternative solution to a problem before finding the right one?
We need more, not less, access to courts and juries to solve those disputes that cannot be solved between us privately. We need more forums for dissident voices, not less. We need not be afraid. We are strong, as long as we stand together as one nation of many different people, with many different opinions, ideas, religions and philosophies.
If our ideas and ideals are all that great, shouldn’t they stand up to whatever criticism may be hurled at them or against them?
JEF