Dissent Protects Democracy
A response to those complaining about people protesting Donald Trump’s election
“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.” — Teddy Roosevelt, 1918
I’m seeing quite a few posts on social media complaining about the protests against Trump’s election to the Presidency. Some of them are kind and decent people I have a lot of affection for. The most common argument is that they were fearful of an Obama presidency and yet never protested at the time. The problem is the situations aren’t remotely the same. Not in our minds. Let’s consider why.
These protestors are not protesting because a Republican won the Presidency. They’re protesting because of what Donald Trump has promised and what he represents. Whatever you think of him, Barack Obama never ran on a raft of promises to enact human rights violations and breeches to the U.S. Constitution. Trump promised to forcefully deportation of 11 million people (which would mean illegal search and seizure and separating families). He ran on promises to prevent 1 billion Muslims from entering the country. He thrilled audiences with promises of murdering the innocent wives and children of terrorists. And let’s not forget his treatment of woman and the evidence that he bragged about sexual assault. This, it bears pointing out, is only a partial listing.
Now, you may have voted for Trump without fear for your friends and family, but that doesn’t mean that many, many others aren’t losing sleep at night. So these visible protests are way for many to tell Trump that those of us who disagreed with those repellant policies are still here and we aren’t going away. For me, attending and photographing yesterday’s protests in New York City gave me hope. Not that Trump won’t do some damage, but that if he does there are so many of us out there who will not stand idly by. People who protest often do so because they otherwise feel they can do nothing. Instead, they’re doing something. Something that feels like action.
That dissent you’re seeing is a form of patriotism and that dissent helps protect our democracy. Attempting to shame people out of protesting is not an argument. On the contrary, it can be perceived as an attempt to suppress dissent and free speech. If you find these protests alarming, can I suggest you take some time to ask why this particular event drove so many out to protest at this unprecedented rate in the first place?
In the meantime, calling people “sore losers” who have deep and valid concerns over human rights is not an argument.
And as one sign in the crowd at yesterday’s protest said, “Informed dissent is more patriotic than blind obedience.”
