This is Viewpoints for Sunday, October 1, 2017

Blessed are the protests

I love this country, but hate that certain NFL players see fit to kneel during our national anthem. That said, I rejoice in their ability to do so. I disagree with them, but I wholeheartedly endorse their right to protest. That is what this country is all about — freedom of expression. As Justice Robert Jackson said in West Virginia Board. of Education v. Barnett (1943): “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

Or as the fictional President Andrew Shepherd stated in The American President (1995). “America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that. Then you can stand up and sing about the ‘land of the free.”

So when you see a player kneel during the anthem, thank your blessings that, while you fervently disagree with him, he has the right to kneel, just as you have the absolute right to advocate positions he may find equally offensive.

Déjà vu: Love it or leave it

The recent flap between Donald Trump and the NFL players is eerily reminiscent of similar rifts from the ‘60s when Vietnam protestors at Berkeley were told by the Nixon administration to “love it or leave it.”

Fifty years later, most people today agree the protestors were correct to oppose the war but, at the time, many people clouded their patriotism with a war that was finally deemed a losing battle and unnecessary.

I also recall from the ‘60s when Muhammad Ali in 1967 and sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games also demonstrated against the Vietnam war and racism only to experience the wrath of the establishment. Ali was stripped of his crown and Smith and Carlos were banned from the Olympics. Today, all are regarded as brave men who were ahead of their time in their stance for human rights.

Today we hear similar rants by Trump to curb free speech of private citizens by encouraging NFL owners to “fire or suspend” players who demonstrate during the national anthem. Trump simply doesn’t understand the right of freedom of speech by those who peacefully protest racial inequality and police brutality.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired!’”

No one is disrespecting the flag; instead they are applying their First Amendment rights symbolized by our flag and protected by the Constitution to express their opinions in a peaceful manner.

Since Trump is a reportedly a Vietnam War draft dodger and allegedly an IRS tax evader, it takes a lot of gall for him to openly attack anyone who demonstrates peacefully. Hopefully people realize the courage of these past and present athletes who are willing to take a stand on principle, even when our “fake” president disagrees.

Grow up

When I was in the fifth-grade, some 60 years ago, our civics teacher, Mr. Clacy, declared “Anyone can grow up to be president.” Now, after a weekend of tragic reporting from Puerto Rico, Mexico and continuing bad news from Florida and Texas earned not a tweeted peep from the nimble fingers of Donald J., though there were 20-plus rants on sports, players and teams, I now believe that Mr. Clacy was wrong: You don’t have to “grow up” to be president.

Priorities

The president, inexplicably, is picking divisive fights about people playing a game peacefully expressing their First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, in the very real world, over 3 million Americans are suffering without enough food and water, dwindling fuel and no electricity, desperately waiting for aid from this president who claims he will always put “America first!” Please Mr. President, get your priorities straight.

So offended

I’m so offended by the new name for the Macon ball team. Bacon? I an half Jewish, I am so offended. Why not Macon Matzo? I am also offended being called a racist by racists. I am so offended that football players make more money than me. I am offended because I have to go to work everyday.

I am offended that I had to work to go to high school and college. I am offended by county commissioners who are offended by statues that have been there long before they were born. I am offended that one has already backed off and is now working to avert violence in Macon. But that is what people have been calling for, guess he is running for re-election.

I am offended that restaurant window servers want $15 an hour to mess up my order and give me the wrong change. Oh, my the list goes on. I do hope you get my drift.

Road madness

Is there anyone in office in Macon who can put an end to the nonsense that’s taking place at the Riverside, Bass and Arkwright crossing. The people determined to build a roundabout here are planning to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on a needless roundabout and then make it bigger costing more money. The new stop signs have backed up traffic on Riverside Drive for blocks while the traffic from Arkwright and Bass is very small.

I live on Bass Road and use this intersection from time to time and have no problem with it. All the intersection needs is a road sensor traffic light. That’s a lot cheaper than a roundabout and will not back up Riverside traffic like the stop signs are doing. Please someone stop this madness now.

This story was originally published September 30, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, October 1, 2017."