BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
There was a time when people who were on opposite sides of the political spectrum could coexist peacefully and discuss the issues without getting violent. That has gone away as people who are radical have taken over the messaging. This has gotten so bad that now even families whose members have differing political views are not being invited to the usual annual celebrations like Thanksgiving and Christmas and even general get togethers.
I will tell you that I have differing political views from many of my family. This has not stopped us from getting together to celebrate birthdays, holidays or just getting together for a simple barbeque. We try to avoid talking politics, but when we do it is a civil CONVERSATION. No one is yelling, calling names or denying someone the right to speak.
Many of these people have an attitude that you can believe anything you want to as long as you agree with us. If you don’t, you are the enemy and need to be taken out. If you are not with them you are against them and they will react violently, even if it is only verbally with threats of physical violence. The biggest problem is the ones who get physically violent and interfere with the LAWFUL enforcement of our immigration laws as they are doing in Minneapolis.
I am a stern believer in the rights listed in the First Amendment, although I am not a First Amendment absolutist. As I taught my students, there are restrictions and exceptions on every right we have in the Bill of Rights. One thing that is not an exception is getting violent at a protest. Remember the amendment says:
Congress 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.
The protesters against ICE and President Trump have forgotten about the peaceably to assemble part of this amendment. They feel because they think they are fighting against a tyrant, calling him and his staff Nazis and the ICE agents Gestapo, that they have the right to ignore that part of the First Amendment with no consequences.
When Barack Obama was elected, I don’t remember any riots or violence against law enforcement and ICE agents as they were deporting over 3 million illegals, by those on the right, or the need for safe rooms with hot chocolate and coloring books because there weren’t because they didn’t need them. They accepted the results of the election as we all should. I spoke to a lot of people who were on the right and were upset about Obama’s election. They said that they were worried about what he was going to do to the country, but they were going to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get ready for the next election. No rioting. No burning down city blocks destroying local businesses and ruining the lives of innocent merchants. No screaming in the streets as Obama was inaugurated. No stars saying, “I have dreamed of burning down the White House.” Or others asking, “When was the last time actor assassinated a president?”
This is not the way our founding fathers planned for this Constitutional Republic to function. They set it up with the idea of PEACEFUL transition of power from one person to another. George Washington was against having political parties because he said they would divide public opinion. He was right. The biggest political divide in this country’s 250 years of existence was in February of 1861 when seven southern states, led by democrats, seceded from the union over the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency and the subsequent firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor at 4:30 in the morning of April 12, 1861. The funny thing about it is that the democrats handed that election to Lincoln. They had two candidates running against him. They split their vote giving Lincoln the electoral votes he needed to win, even with him not being on the ballots in the Southern states. As was stated earlier, their response was violence. This attitude and action resulted in the deaths of over 600,000 Americans and millions of dollars (billions in today’s numbers) of destruction caused by the war.
Fast forward to today… I don’t understand people who are anti MAGA. There is a thing called nationalism. This is when you want YOUR country to be the best. This is not a bad thing. This is what MAGA is all about. Make America Great Again. That is all President Trump is trying to do. His policies and actions are designed to make sure that ALL of the American people, regardless of their political alignment, are prosperous and safe. He is making sure that the other countries of the world are not taking advantage of us. He’s making sure the AMERICAN industries and farmers are flourishing and their products and crops are able to be sold in Europe and the rest of the world.
People have blasted Trump for the tariffs, claiming that the consumers will have to foot the bill for this as companies raise prices to make up for the taxes they will have to pay. One thing that they don’t know, and if they do know this, they are ignoring it, like they do with anything that goes against their narrative, that prior to 1913 when the Income Tax Amendment was passed, the Federal government operated strictly by money earned from TARIFFS!!! As we have seen, prices have NOT gone up due to them. You see, President Trump’s offered companies a choice, subject your self to tariffs on goods exported to the USA or make them here and not have to worry about tariffs. There is a domino effect in play here. The first domino is that this gives jobs to AMERICAN workers. This falls into the second domino is that this increases the amount of tax dollars going to the federal government through income tax deductions from paychecks, which falls into the third domino that is it also increases tax revenue for local governments as well through people having more money to spend in their local stores and paying sales taxes on the goods they buy. The next domino is that people can now go away on vacations which helps the hospitality and tourist industries in the country.
All of this is increasing the quality of life in the USA, not hindering or decreasing it.
The violence against people aligned with MAGA or even Republican or Conservative values has gotten so out of hand that now even MEDICAL “professionals” are getting into the fray. The PRIMARY job of a medical professional is to DO NO HARM. This is the oath they take when they become doctors, nurses and other health professionals. Well, you have those who are openly calling for the poisoning of ICE agents. A Virginia nurse was the one who said this. She said she would put a substance in their drinks or ex-lax. Get some Poison Ivy Oak water and I am going to put it in a water gun and aim for faces. All the medical providers use syringes with needles on the end. Have them full of saline. She is under investigation for this. Another “nurse” was fired for wishing that Karoline Leavitt, who is pregnant, “As a labor and delivery nurse, it gives me great joy to wish Karoline Leavitt a 4th degree tear. I hope you rip from bow to stern. The remainder of her comment was overshadowed by the bleep of her cursing. A Florida anesthesiologist said he would not provide anesthesia for any surgeries or procedures for MAGA which he wrote in a now deleted Facebook post.
This is NOT the way we are supposed to handle political differences. What are they going to do, ask your political alignment before treating you? This can only lead to medical malpractice suits and people dying.
Summing all of this up… If we want this country to survive and the people to maintain their rights we need to stop this violent rhetoric and start having CIVIL conversation. There is no reason for violence simply because they disagree with someone else’s political views.