Wednesday, September 27, 2017

The Slippery Slope of Dictating Rights



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.

Police brutality is rare, and even more so if you choose to live within the law. The best way to stop police from having to shoot an individual is for parents to start raising their children and stop making excuses for bad behavior. This applies to all races. Whites are shot/killed one and a half times more often than blacks. To assume that is due to one race having a larger population than the other is foolish. You’re saying that all of the people in both races commit crimes. That is not the case. 

 For the point of protest, there have been those searching out NFL rules. Good, it shows that for a change you are attempting to back your arguments with facts. However, who should enforce those rules? The owner of the team, or John Q. Public? 

There are many people attempting to adjust the 1st amendment to their way of thinking. Not that we have seen this happen before, i.e. Biblical theology, Supreme Court social justice, etc. Simply put, the 1st amendment does not say a thing about football games or for that matter, where a protest (peaceful assembly) may take place. 

Then there are those who insist, “We pay their salaries so it is up to us.” Only to an extent is this true. You pay for tickets, cable, dish, or other forms, in order to watch the games, but owners pay their salaries and businesses (where the large salaries originate) pay to use commercial time.

If you choose to protest police officers, then do not ask for their help. If you choose to protest the flag, then you should not expect the military to come to your aid in times of war. Rights are a two-way street. That also applies the other way around. If you feel you have the power to choose what a person can and cannot do, then you have given them equally footing.

In this nation, you are not supposed to be forced to do anything. The government does not have the right to stop you from speaking. They do not have the right to stop you from peacefully protesting—although they did set into works a bill meant to do just that. They cannot make you stand for the flag or attend a football game. They also cannot force you to make a purchase—i.e. Healthcare insurance. Some of these issues are coming to a head because our government has forgotten that our rights are God-given and not government-granted. The best way to rectify those things is to vote out the men and women, who no longer represent us according to the Constitution that governs us all.

Those attempting to convince you that the 1st amendment does not allow football players to protest, will soon decide that other things are not allowed and once you start down that road, you’ve lost the Republic. The reason for so many opinions on what the 1st amendment says, is because the left has worked diligently to remove our rights for a number of years. Sadly, the right has joined them in their pursuit to control the people. We are the government. Those in D.C. are our representatives. Their job is to speak in our interest and that is not now and has not been occurring for many years.

Donald Trump is not the answer. He took an issue that was dying and gave it CPR. Why would he do that? He’s reveling in the anger that he has generated even when there are far-more important issues in need of his attention. He is meddling in the private sector. There are rules governing what a president can and cannot do. He has over-stepped that boundary. His problems are mounting and he is casting shadows, throwing out baubles to keep our attention on matters best left to the NFL to sort out.

For some of us, there is no question but that we will stand and cover our hearts when the flag is raised and the anthem played. If we wish to continue to do so, we need to stop attempting to take away the rights of others. 

Obama’s meddling in a situation involving the police and a black man (the White House Beer Summit), started the rage against our police forces. Now, Trump chooses to use kneeling to win points, avoid facing his own problems, and stir up more division. Enough already, we are either the United States of America, or we’re a remnant society determined to doom ourselves to the scrap heap of history. We cannot have things, both ways. It is one or the other, but not both.