{"id":26105,"date":"2017-10-09T10:53:17","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T14:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=26105"},"modified":"2017-10-09T10:53:19","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T14:53:19","slug":"i-always-stand-for-the-u-s-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=26105","title":{"rendered":"I always stand….for the U.S. Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The other night, as I have done countless hundreds of times, I stood with my hand over my heart during the playing of the National Anthem on the sideline of a local high school football game.<\/span><\/p>\n

None of the players on either team chose to kneel \u2014 but honestly, I wouldn\u2019t have had a big issue with it if they had. Last time, I checked, this is America, a country literally built on peaceful (and not always peaceful) demonstrations. I grant that it is a bit more touchy for high school kids \u2014 and think a team vote on the matter is probably the best way to go, as it is so crucial for these kids to stay on the same page.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I fail to understand when a peaceful, even respectful \u2014 one takes a knee to listen to a coach, or when a fellow player is injured \u2014 statement of protest somehow became an insult to the flag, the military or the nation. Folks are, with some justification, protesting what they see as unfair treatment of minority groups by police and the justice system. Whether you agree or disagree, it seems pretty hard to argue that folks have a right to protest \u2014 but that is exactly what some folks are trying to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

I am at a loss to understand exactly what is more American than engaging in peaceful protest. Protest is literally in the DNA of this country:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Preamble, The Declaration of Independence.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So what we are talking about here is two groups: one is protesting the treatment of a racial minority, literally seeking a \u201credress of their grievances\u201d with the government; another group is deliberately misrepresenting that and challenging the first group\u2019s exercise of their rights as citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now of course, freedom of speech does mean the right to express one’s opinion \u2014 myself included \u2014 but this issue isn\u2019t about love of country. I would suggest those protesting and seeking a better America do so out of love and respect for their country while most of those making a stink about it are doing so for cynical political reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have to do better. A fair debate on the merits of the complaints behind the protests is what is really in order \u2014 not the flag-draped demagoguery we\u2019ve seen in recent weeks. Are you really a great American if you wrap yourself in the flag and spit on the Constitution? <\/span><\/p>\n

Not in my book.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will stand up seven days a week and twice on Sunday for the principles of the U.S. Constitution, from free speech to equal protection \u2014 many of which are under attack, covered by a veil of faux-patriotism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stunts such as that of Vice President Mike Pence this past weekend \u2014 at the behest of President Donald Trump \u2014 don\u2019t illuminate or elevate, they denigrate the national conversation and further divide our people into \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If we give into that, then maybe we all ought to kneel. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not in protest, but in shame that we\u2019ve forgotten our founding principles \u2014 such E Pluribus Unum (Our actual national motto \u2014 Latin for \u201cOut of many, one\u201d not as falsely claimed \u201cIn God We Trust) \u2014 that we no longer know or care about the fundamental meaning of being an American citizen.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we allow that to happen, we will have made ourselves a lot less great.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times The other night, as I have done countless hundreds of times, I stood with my hand over my heart during the playing of the National Anthem on the sideline of a local high school football game. None of the players on either team chose to kneel \u2014 but honestly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9554,6518,9555,9551,9553,4993,6637,9552],"class_list":["post-26105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-american","tag-featured","tag-first-amendment","tag-national-anthem","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-protests","tag-u-s-constitution","tag-vice-president-mike-pence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26106,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26105\/revisions\/26106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}