When I heard of Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal on all counts against him, I thought of the rallies and protests surrounding ex-'s inauguration in January, 2017. You remember--the one with the pink knit hats pushing back against his claims that he could grab women by the, uh, you know.
Hundreds of thousands of 'woke' folks hit the streets back then. I was an active participant in Madison as a staffer with AFSCME.
Of course we did it. We exercised our sacred First Amendment rights against an awful decision the country had made--to elect a completely amoral person as president. He was as bad as we imagined he would be, and he nearly got another four years to boot.
Expect much less of that from now on. We now know that the automatic weapon was not brought in from a neighboring state. I'm not sure, outside of filing more charges, what difference that made in the end. It was still utilized under the auspices of 'protecting the realm' and used it after others responded, one with a weapon of his own.
Next time, what's to prevent the guy with the pistol, who paid with his life, from firing it first? Would you wait? What's to prevent a showdown and a shootout in the street right then and there?
Next time, what's to prevent a whole bunch of other people--whether police arrive on time or not may not matter--with automatic weapons from gathering together, rushing protestors and scattering them like ants, even though they otherwise would have a perfect right to be there? What's to prevent the people with weapons from dressing similarly, identifying them as supporters of someone, each other, or both--even getting uniforms?
That's what the Nazis did in the early 1930s. They created a 'people's army'--the S.A., or the Brown Shirts--and rode around in open-backed trucks, yelling at anyone they didn't like. Yell back, and they stop the truck, pile out, and pile on the protestor. The police, similarly politicized under the facade of 'law and order,' would look the other way. They practiced active racism and those in the way paid the price. The result would be general, enforced silence--just the way they like it.
I don't see the effects of Kyle Rittenhouse's verdict being much different. As I have written, the Supreme Court is soon to rule upon a law in New York which clarifies the right of anyone to carry a weapon outdoors anywhere, anytime. With that in effect, either protestors will have to be sure to form their own militias or at least make sure there are a representative number of people there who are similarly armed and have firepower to match those who object to them.
Tell me, if you would, that nothing will happen. Tell me, if you would, that the perpetrators of real trouble and real violence would be easily sorted out, arrested and dealt with appropriately. The American Revolution began at Lexington, where the colonists first faced the British with weapons. Someone fired a shot. We still don't know who, or what side he was on. The 250th anniversary of that event takes place four years from now.
Again, let me repeat: the police would, and now probably will, have to make choices about whose weapons they would assist. Otherwise, there would have to be enough of them to disarm everyone at the scene. It says here that from now on, that task may prove to be impossible. The National Guard would have to be called out more often, not less, and that is how you become a police state.
The total effects of this will be to suppress progressives from exercising their perfect right to protest. By their very nature, they would not be the ones to bring guns to their events. The other side would, and would bring plenty of outsized weapons to get people to go home. One or two kinds of these confrontations would make progressives back way, way off. And the right-wing monsters, those begging for support from ex-, would take complete control, would need to be in control to show ex- how great they were. Bragging rights, in other words.
If you doubt this, read Max Boot's opinion essay in The Washington Post today. Perhaps that will be evidence enough. The Republican Party has sold out on authoritarianism wherever it may lead, and it almost always leads to violence.
Yes, this sounds scary. You can explain away the verdict all you want, but it's the core message that it sends to those who crave power that matters most. The next time some kind of social justice demonstration happens, we will see how well that message has resonated.
Be well. Be careful. Get a booster. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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