{"id":1221,"date":"2020-05-06T08:58:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T15:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2020-05-06T08:58:45","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T15:58:45","slug":"response-to-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1221","title":{"rendered":"Response to Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ohio- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TRE9vMBBe10?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>&#8220;Ohio&#8221; CSN&amp;Y<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There were pictures of armed protesters in the Michigan\nstate capitol last week. They came to publicly disagree with governor-ordered\nrestrictions on activity in response to the ongoing viral pandemic. No shots\nwere fired, but the internet flamed with outrage. I remember a day when\nprotests were a bit more dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please don\u2019t dismiss this old man\u2019s reflections, but\nprotestors got shot in my day. Unarmed protestors on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/04\/opinion\/kent-state-shooting-protest.html?campaign_id=39&amp;emc=edit_ty_20200504&amp;instance_id=18205&amp;nl=opinion-today&amp;regi_id=28969011&amp;segment_id=26562&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=748041035d9bd8df19a238bf5966ca67&amp;fbclid=IwAR35uEyq_8akZ7V2kGYQ7KJB_M1gf6_p4KNHc4KrR5LAG0NCl2fb0OUDrLo\">college\ncampuses<\/a> were fired upon and killed by the state-run \u201cwell ordered\nmilitia\u201d: The National Guard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s been quite a while since a public protest has been met\nwith such sanctioned violence. I don\u2019t pine for the good old days. But when I\nlooked at the images of the Michigan protesters with their long guns and side\narms, I wonder if any would have had a smidgen of recognition if I\u2019d whispered\nto them \u201cKent State\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the armed protesters wander through the halls of the\nIdaho Capitol, declaring through public brandishing of a semiauto their\n\u201cinalienable\u201d Second Amendment rights, I wonder, do they really expect to be\nfired upon? Maybe they do. Martyrdom can be powerful. It is less so when\nsought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, the <a href=\"https:\/\/idahofreedom.org\/breaking-meridian-mom-arrested-for-playdate-protest\/\">Idaho Freedom Foundation<\/a> organized a protest at a closed Meridian playground. They publicized their intent to protest and filmed it. Unfortunately, the woman who got arrested had to beg for the cuffs for a half hour. She only got them when she refused to leave after being politely asked to do so a dozen times. Her attempt at martyrdom was a sham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I suspect the Freedom Foundation hoped to inspire widespread\ncivil disobedience in response to Governor Little\u2019s stay at home orders. People\nare frustrated and anxious. But a sham doesn\u2019t inspire. Maybe they were hoping\nfor shots fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe Ammon Bundy was also hoping so when he and some followers, also egged on by the Freedom Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/ammon-bundy-protest-idaho-anti-vaxxer_n_5ea0b7d5c5b69150246cfbfc?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANN3sytQzjL3HHPnUcJcMUkYTRJ19a1pMyIY8YR-ZhvVmjHSnkNn72dxJGGY3n5eC6FBawO2owbQmX2HJ03ScHT7x1P_QYmNXz5qsvL8wEFSGMR0_wst3NlJ_ebfjaspykl7yQPZF7stGx31g6CsQtmFc645WkBWz5lutNOvf7yZ\">showed up at the home<\/a> of the arresting officer that night to protest and deliver a \u201ccitizens summons\u201d. They were asked to leave and they did, no casualties, though I\u2019ll bet showing up at the Ammon ranch near Emmett with a citizen\u2019s summons might get you a warning round or two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No, sanctioned civil violence against our citizens these days isn\u2019t about protests for a cause. You won\u2019t get shot demonstrating against abortion or marching about global warming. The sanctioned violence that occurs today happens at a traffic stop or a response to a domestic violence call, or even when you are called to dispatch your injured bull on the highway, as <a href=\"https:\/\/libertarianinstitute.org\/everything-will\/no-justice-for-jack-yantis-the-smoking-gun-is-a-bloody-bullet\/\">Jack Yantis experienced in Council, Idaho a few years ago<\/a>. Police kill us, though not as often as we kill each other. We are an armed, restless populace. And staying at home can make us grumpy, unsociable, maybe even stupid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unarmed students that got shot by Ohio State militia at\nKent State fifty years ago were protesting what they considered an illegal war,\nraging in South East Asia. Our government was drafting their colleagues,\nsending them to kill and die without following the Constitutional requirement\nthat a war can only be declared by an act of congress. Nixon had just expanded\nthe war to invade Cambodia. The students were outraged. They were protesting.\nAnd they were fired upon, nine wounded, four killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I remember my mother\u2019s reaction to the deaths. I was a\njunior in high school, wondering about my draft status and the right and wrong\nof that war across the Pacific. \u201cThey deserved it!\u201d she said. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t\nhave been protesting!\u201d I still get fundraising mailers to her from the Republican\nParty, though she\u2019s been dead 14 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can\u2019t say I ever protested, though I don\u2019t always like\nwhat our government is doing. I did run for political office and served. It was\nthe best I could do to fight for justice. Public service isn\u2019t as inspiring as\nmartyrdom, but neither is it a sham; though it can sure feel like it at times.\nIt shouldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There were pictures of armed protesters in the Michigan state capitol last week. They came to publicly disagree with governor-ordered restrictions on activity in response to the ongoing viral pandemic. No shots were fired, but the internet flamed with outrage. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1221\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}