Stand up or leave...

reply to post by Hadrian


I would like to see that statement also, he may have meant for this memorial, hard to believe he said ever, doesn't sound right to me.

OP do you have a link to the governors statement regarding this?

Firstly, i will say that writing a letter to a politician (gov, senator, rep, president, city councilman, whatever it be) is a fairly good way to inform your elected (well, you didnt elect him since you cant vote) official of your stance on an issue. It's a good thing to do.

However, that's hardly standing up for your rights. What if all 300,000,000 of us in the states wrote a letter? what would that do? Besides serving as a quasi DoS attack on the mail system... it would do nothing.

I suppose after we all write our letters we should post about it on the internet too?

To really stand up for your rights you can vote (well, not YOU, haha, but most of us), run for office and make your own change, protest, or straight up revolt.

I'd also have to agree with what a few others said: there is a time and a place for things, and when the president comes to console your town after an accident, that is certainly not the time nor the place to voice your disgust with him.

All that being said, i think ultimately your values are in the right place. You are right. Stand up for your rights and what you believe in. Action is greater than inaction. Every citizen ought to hold dear their rights, it's a hell of a lot easier to hold onto your rights than it is to get them back.

Chasen i understand exactly what you are trying to say and the point your trying to make. Freedoms are being stripped away from us daily but not in such a obvious way. Too many constitutional rights are being tossed away by our own american people that we dont need any help from outsiders to take our freedoms from us.
Do i think protesting a funeral is in bad taste. You bet i do. Do i think protesting a politician during a time of crisis is wrong. Depends on the crisis i guess and just what your protest is about. Protestors can be protesting 100 miles away from where obama is but making their voice heard. It is not the right of anyone to say you or anyone else as an american cannot peaceably gather and have your voice heard at ANY time. Regardless of circumstance. A person or group would stand a much better chance of being heard and their message positively recieved if the said protest and assembly was done in good taste and at a time that would gain them the most instead of having a negative impact on their cause. However it is not anyones right to take away that right we all share. You draw more bees with honey than vinegar for sure and timing is everything when engaged in politics. So while i do agree with the words of many here who state that this would be a bad idea and wrong to protest any political official during a time of crisis when they are coming to offer comfort and support, it is still a constitutional right we all share.
Keep in mind the sword cuts both ways. Freedom of speech is a slippery slope and while we enjoy the right to freely speak so do others with messages of hate and bigotry. Knowing where one persons rights start and anothers end is tricky. Allowing one person to have rights that seemingly may violate mine is a hard thing to discern.
Your right to stand up and speak your mind. Your right to write your governor and DO NOT let anyone on here dissuade you from future actions like this, because your too young. Those are narrow minded individuals who are so convinced of their superiority over you because they are older and have rights you dont have yet because age has granted this to them. How many of those who would criticize you have had to pay for those freedoms or rights they have that you dont just because of your age. They speak with forked tongues.

You ARE our future. What you may not have now you will have soon and i am proud you are my american brother. Oh and writting a letter from every american in this country would do something. It would prove to the president that the people are speaking and it would make him have to pay attention before those letters turned into bodies standing and screaming outside the white house. The reason people think that this type of action would have no effect is because those people have no faith in a united country making a difference. Defeatists will drag you down if you listen to their rhetoric.
So my advice is to keep on keeping on and remember that "Freedom lies in being bold"--Robert Frost

Here I believe is one of the great moral quandaries of free nations. You have the right to protest, that is true, and the right to be complete and utter idiots of yourselves.

In my humble opinion, your governor was in the wrong to say that you cannot protest, however anyone that would protest or make a political circus out of such a time is horrid and wrong as well.

As for the tragedy itself, my heart goes out to you and the people of your community. It's an awful thing and I do hope that the president's words did help to console you in this time of pain.