There had been anti-war protests for years previously however. Were these people Right Wing operatives or were they doing the bidding of RW forces? They objected to actions of the Government. Many of those same people marched before, and after, for Civil Rights. In the 1970's they marched for Civil Rights and anti-nuke protests. In the mid 1980's, they started marching to raise awareness of AIDS.
People protested the actions of the Government across a broad spectrum of administrations. Democratic and Republican administrations have been forced to see that some of their people expect more from their administrations. Liberals have a long history of peaceful protests against injustice, and Government lies. So those of us who now object to NSA Spying, wiretapping Reporters, and IRS targeting are not merely fools who are falling for RW talking points. We are continuing a long tradition of speaking out when injustice rears its head.
We are in some cases, the same people who worked to get African American's registered to vote. We protested Separate but Equal, and we marched for Women's Rights. Others like myself are descendants of those protestors. We marched in the 1980's against Nuclear War, and got the world talking about limiting such horrific weapons. We are the ones who brought enough pressure on Ronald Reagan to get AIDS named, before it was just some wasting disease that killed gay men called The Grip.
Hating what your Government does is not the same thing as hating your Government. That simplistic attitude is what has led to the loyalty test ideals of my Country, and my Party, right or wrong. If my country, or my party is doing something wrong, I am supposed to speak out. I am supposed to speak out and raise awareness and work, peacefully, to change the things that are wrong, to improve my nation, and our society for the better. Modern writers may use many words, and phrases, but the first such writing was from the Catholic Church, St. Augustine. The principle stated simply is an unjust law is no law.
Because I and others object to actions my Government has taken means I must speak out. If I do not, I have enabled the immoral and illegal actions of my Government. We helped end the Viet-Nam war, not by standing stoically along the sidelines and refusing to say anything negative about our nation in a time a war. But by pointing out the lies, and telling the world that not everyone was a war mongering idiot.
My country has done a number of things I am ashamed of. Loyalty to my nation means I admit, and work to make sure that those kinds of things never happen again. We never again subject our people to become lab animals like at the Tuskegee experiments. We never again allow our Government to expose Soldiers, and Sailors to radiation to see how many die and how long it takes as we did after World War II. We never again stand silently while this happens, because our Government is supposed to answer to us, and for them to answer, we must question. We owe it to ourselves, our families, out friends, our countrymen, and most importantly to the future.
Because I do not want some child raising her head in class looking confused and asking the teacher the questions I used to ask. "Why did the do this?" Or alternately. "Did they really do that?" Because we have history of it happening, and we should not let it happen again. Government excesses require only one thing to continue. They require the people of that nation to be silent when they happen. They require the people to be complacent when they happen. We all are shamed by the Nuclear Experiments of the 1940's, and 1950's. We are all stained by the Tuskegee Experiments. We are all to blame for the Vietnam War, Grenada, Lebanon, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, and every other time we went and destroyed in the name of peace. I want the future to be blameless, and have less to regret than we do. I want them free to think that peace, and the freedom to discuss ideals like equal rights is a right of all individuals.
What do you want from the future? Because by not questioning your Government, you help condemn the future to one of blind obedience, and that has never ended well in History.
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