We, as a people, are inherently good and just. Yet injustice has been the lot of man for all time. The more advanced all of us become, however, the more acutely aware we become of injustice, and we seek to make it right somehow.
So, why then, is America on fire over the death of George Floyd? There are platitudes and clichés enough for a lifetime out there. What I want to address is how do we go forward from blind mistrust, and even blind hatred into a future that can be better?
When an injustice occurs, such as the one in this case, but in all cases actually–and when the injustice is so obvious and loathsome as to turn everyone’s stomach–Americans exercise their 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble, and we march in protest The operative phrase there is “peaceably assemble.” Not riot, burn, beat, and terrorize.
The Constitution is a simple and beautiful document. It allows for us to recognize a wrong, and come in great numbers to draw attention to the issue. But, for justice to occur, one has to insist on hitting the right target–not just any target that one bears a grudge against for whatever reason.
It appears that between 1 and 5 officers were responsible for the death of this man. It was a needless death, and a shameful one. Someone should be punished. Who? Though we might want to ball all injustice up into one tidy package and right everything at once, that is not life, my friends. You, as good people, address each situation as you meet it–insisting on justice for the harmed in that situation, and against the transgressor in that situation. It is the foundation of the Rule of Law.
Slow, as it might be, it is the only fair thing to do. Find the right target, and hit it with the right force, to change the behavior of that target. Then, if need be, move to another target.
What the anarchist does, however, is to prey upon emotion, fear, and past injustices to incite one to do things they otherwise would not do–to commit crimes themselves. And, in every case, they usually miss the right target in their rage to hit any target. They, in fact, create a worse crime because instead of attacking one innocent person as happened with Floyd, they attack thousands of innocent people.
Throughout this country, as I write this, innocent business owners serving the very neighborhoods that are on fire, have lost their businesses, their faith, their safety, and some, their lives. Certainly they are examples of hitting the “wrong target.” Why? To avenge the death of one man?
No, if you want justice for George Floyd, see to it that peaceful protests occur until the right charges are brought against the right man or men, and that an honest trial occurs. Whatever punishment may ensue then follows the rule of law.
Antifa, however, is an anarchist group. They do not have politics like you my Democrat friends and my Republican friends. That is a delusion. I met this group under a different name 50 years ago. Frankly, they could care less. Their game is hatred and destruction, and they take joy in getting you to hate along with them in the name of “justice.” Mass wrongs to avenge one wrong–in the name of all wrongs from all of our past history. That, my friends, is insanity, and criminality at a very high level.
It removes you automatically from present time rationality and use of your Constitution legally, and deposits you in the cesspool of mob irrationality and criminality.
We all despise lynch mobs. We also all despise men cloaked in white or black sheets, or masks, to hide their identity, and malevolence.
The anarchist wants you hating your neighbor, even though you had no quarrel before. The anarchist wants you to resort mindlessly to bats, rocks, torches, knives, guns, and bombs for one purpose–that you in your mindless fear will bring about fear in others. And, the society deteriorates into chaos.
Anarchy ends in totalitarianism. I wrote to you about this two years ago. (See The Rule of Law blog) The remedy you ask? Not just to anarchistic and other domestic terror groups, but to Injustice itself? Know your Constitution, and insist legally that justice–even though blind–can “see” well enough to hit the right target. Beautifully, once the right individual or group has been identified and handled, not with a torch or hanging rope, but by the rule of law, a calm comes over us. Even though there may be more work to do and more injustice to fight, hatred is dying and its toxicity is washing away from us–one “just” action at a time.
The injustice was created in a society one unjust action at a time, and the route out is to reverse it, one just action at a time, from here forward.
The anarchist is gambling that you will not have the wit, the strength, the patience, or the character to stay the course. The anarchist is gambling that they can inflame you into mass destruction and the setback of all. They wait for a true injustice to occur, and then attach to it and move to overwhelm your logic with generalities that the one bad actor represents all of his kind.
It can be about race. It can be about religion. It can be about anything. Look around the world, and you will see ample evidence of “injustice.” The question is, are we hitting the “right target” or just “any target”?
And, once they have you dripping with blood–innocent blood–that is so repulsive, the “totalitarian” steps in to control us all. Slow down, friends. See that the police in this case who caused the death of this man receive the justice they deserve.
And then, move on to the next true injustice and hit the right target there. Eventually behavior changes, and honest men and women everywhere have rights.