I try not to get very political in my blogs. Taking a side has a tendency to alienate those who do not hold your same views. If your view is unpopular then you run the risk as being seen as a fringe element or a crazy.
I was not overly fond of any of the candidates of the last presidential election. I had a hard time deciding on who to vote for or even if I would vote. Ultimately I chose a candidate that aligned the most with my views even though he only aligned with some of me views. The candidates I didn't vote for didn't align with my values at all.
That being said a president was elected and sworn into office. At every turn he has had the voice of opposition instead of the support of the American people.
I was greatly disturbed by the events that happened in my State last weekend. Even more so I was disturbed by the aftermath. There were two groups of people with extremely opposing views that were involved in violent altercations and in the end there was some deaths and some injuries.
There are some that wish to place blame on one side because of their views. There are some who wish to place blame on the other group because they incited the violence of the other side and then there are those who place blame on all parties involved.
The unpopular view is the one that places equal responsibility on all of the parties. In fact there is a movement to denounce our President for taking that view.
There are those that are trying to censor any view that is deemed politically incorrect.
Here is the thing. We have a document call the U.S. Constitution. It has a bunch of amendments, but the very 1st one talks about the right to free speech. Our right to assemble and share our opinions is guaranteed by that document.
There seems to be some confusion about what free speech is. I am going to use a fictitious group of people but you can insert any race, religion, lifestyle or political party in its place.
Voicing a viewpoint is free speech. That means that if you gather together and have speeches that talk about how purple people don't belong in our country and shouldn't have rights, that is guaranteed by the constitution. Even if you don't agree with it.
Now in that same assembly a speaker goes on to say that they need to go after the purple people through violence then that is not protected. It is considered inciting violence or a riot.
If a group of people or an individual decide to use violence in any manner against those purple people then there is a law against each type of act. Examples would be assault or murder. With people who hold animosity against one particular group of people there can be additional penalties added by labeling the crime a hate crime.
The very act of inciting violence against people who are considered part of hate groups could be labeled as a hate crime.
You see the laws either apply to everyone or they apply to no one. You can't say that violence against one group is okay because what they believe is unacceptable and then think that violence against you is not ok simply because your views are widely held. Violence is not ok, no matter who is doing the violence or who the violence is against.
This may be an unpopular view. It may bring me in alignment with the president. It may even cause people to not use my business, but I hold fast to the Declaration of Independence that states "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equally"
I may not agree with someone's viewpoint or opinions, but I will defend their right to hold them until the day that I die. I have generations of family members that have fought to protect those very rights. I will not turn my back on them.
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