@article {639286,
	title = {Stand beside those who kneel. First Amendment rights in the U.S. must prevail},
	journal = {Taking Bearings. LMG (London, Paris, Cambridge), September 25},
	year = {2017},
	abstract = {Auburn, Alabama {\textemdash} The most recent political football propelled a playful piece I wrote a few years back about about the differences between college and pro ball into the top 1\% in terms of Academia readership within the last 30 days.\&nbsp;Yet again, President Trump is able to manipulate media coverage and lead the unwashed about using division and diversion. Normally I{\textquoteright}d just be amused, but we have fellow citizens in real peril in Puerto Rico, brave men and women in our Armed Forces poised on the brink of war with North Korea (fault for which spreads across administrations and decades), and there still no bipartisan effort to fix costs and coverage problems with health care.\&nbsp;The Republic cracks under the tectonic tensions created by a right played as puppets by a lout-in-chief and a left devoted to polluting their own well by weakening, defaming, and destroying the best hope to defend and advance progressive enlightenment in a dangerous world.\&nbsp;A feverish madness is now epidemic across the political spectrum.\&nbsp;Instead of tackling important issues we have collectively engaged in reality television-like pedestrian spectacle across a number of issues. We continue to do so at peril to valid concerns (of both Left and Right) and the Republic itself.\&nbsp;For me the solution is clear:\&nbsp; Stand (both literally and physically) beside those who kneel.Peaceful protest is a fundamental First Amendment right secured with the American blood and treasure since the founding of the Republic. No matter how distasteful the display (whether kneeling or burning flags), patriots do not fear peaceful protest, and in fact protect the right to protest precisely when it is most uncomfortable or incompatible with their views. Protestors can do no injury to the memory or sacrifice of soldiers, but we can squander their sacrifice by seeking to compel behavior deemed as patriotic.\&nbsp;\&nbsp;(more)},
	author = {K.Lee Lerner}
}
