It shouldn't matter that he's a veteran any more than it should were he a waiter. But, to many people being a vet demonstrates that he is an upright citizen who has served his country and society, not some hoodlum trouble maker. While I don't buy into that narrative, I do understand that it matters to a lot of people.
Depends on interpetation of the right to assembly as put forth in the Bill of Rights..for example, "Like speech rights, the right of assembly is not absolute. It is even somewhat weaker. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not giveas much protection to assembly as it does to "pure speech," a distinction observed in cases such as Cox v. Louisiana (1965). Lawmakers thus have regulated assembly in numerous ways, from requiring the issuance of permits todeclaring when, where and for how long public demonstrations may occur. The Court has often recognized the importance of these reasonable regulations. InCox v. New Hampshire (1941), it upheld a state law whose permit requirement for parades was intended to keep sidewalks and streets open for traffic. Government limits on assembling in particular public sites have been upheld, too, as witnessed in the decision Adderley v. Florida (1966), whichallowed a state to ban demonstrations on jail premises. By the 1980s, courtsrequired that such regulations must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, not control the content of the proposed assembly, andleave open alternative means for public expression." So, IMO, how the Bill of Rights gets interpeted may be what separates American (if we believe those who think we are exeptional) police action from say, Syrian troops mowing down 'Arab Spring' protesters. Certainly from an historical perspective, US gov't has been heavy handed with strikers (1887 railroad, 1902 miners), Bonus Army 1932 and of course the Kent State affair.. there are usually conflicting interests bearing on such and often these affairs escalate: sometimes by pushback and martyr creation, sometimes by simple frustration.
5 comments:
It shouldn't matter that he's a veteran any more than it should were he a waiter. But, to many people being a vet demonstrates that he is an upright citizen who has served his country and society, not some hoodlum trouble maker. While I don't buy into that narrative, I do understand that it matters to a lot of people.
Depends on interpetation of the right to assembly as put forth in the Bill of Rights..for example,
"Like speech rights, the right of assembly is not absolute. It is even somewhat weaker. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not giveas much protection to assembly as it does to "pure speech," a distinction observed in cases such as Cox v. Louisiana (1965). Lawmakers thus have regulated assembly in numerous ways, from requiring the issuance of permits todeclaring when, where and for how long public demonstrations may occur. The Court has often recognized the importance of these reasonable regulations. InCox v. New Hampshire (1941), it upheld a state law whose permit requirement for parades was intended to keep sidewalks and streets open for traffic. Government limits on assembling in particular public sites have been upheld, too, as witnessed in the decision Adderley v. Florida (1966), whichallowed a state to ban demonstrations on jail premises. By the 1980s, courtsrequired that such regulations must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, not control the content of the proposed assembly, andleave open alternative means for public expression."
So, IMO, how the Bill of Rights
gets interpeted may be what separates American (if we believe those who think we are exeptional)
police action from say, Syrian troops mowing down 'Arab Spring'
protesters. Certainly from an historical perspective, US gov't
has been heavy handed with strikers (1887 railroad, 1902 miners), Bonus Army 1932 and of
course the Kent State affair..
there are usually conflicting
interests bearing on such and
often these affairs escalate: sometimes by pushback and martyr
creation, sometimes by simple frustration.
Having been to other parts of the world I never bought into that whole "American Exceptionalism" thing.
There are exceptional individuals all over the world.
To infer that a country is exceptional gets into a Nationalist sort of behavior that I'm not comfortable with.
I don't wear a flag pin either...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=0alXuGVVlhY&NR=1
when I first saw this, I thought of you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=0alXuGVVlhY&NR=1
You can post it on your blog if you like, I won't tell anyone that I gave it to you.
Have fun with it.
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