Protest is a tricky business.
Had those in power their druthers, no protest would be allowed. Had those out of power their way, all their demands would be met.
I’d say the necessary middle ground lies in the rule of law.
Did the recent Tennessee legislature’s reaction to three legislators who broke House rules follow the law?
Not according to The Washington Post, which provided the “Democracy Dies in Darkness” spin in the headline: “Tennessee House expels two Democrats in historic act of partisan retaliation.”
In the wake of the shooting at the Covenant School in late March, with its death toll of six, “activists descended on the Tennessee Capitol and demanded that lawmakers pass gun-control legislation. Republicans, with supermajorities in both chambers, refused to do so. The three lawmakers — dubbed the Tennessee Three — said they joined the protests inside the legislative chamber to speak out for Tennesseans whose voices have been ignored.”
But what they did is disrupt the proceedings of the legislature. Noisily. Angrily. Not-very-reasonably.
While it’s true that the votes to remove two of the three offending members were along partisan lines, it’s also true that all three offending members were unified by party.
But only two were removed from the legislature. Both are black, and the woman not removed is white. So of course the big issue for many became racism.
She escaped expulsion by one vote.
Was that vote racist?
Well, the two who were ousted used bullhorns within the legislative chamber. She did not.
That does seem an extra-outrageous breach of decorum.
Of course, the whole idea of legislators jumping sides to pretend they are “voiceless” protesters is itself absurd, making the issue here neither partisanship nor racism.
It’s a question of posturing and pretense.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Note: After his expulsion last week, the Nashville-Davidson Metro Council yesterday voted to return Rep. Justin Jones to the state legislature on an interim basis. A special election will be held to fill the seat in the coming months.
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4 replies on “Partisanship & Pretense”
So many professional victims in search of an oppressor. In the absence of an adequate victimizer, it is necessary to mislabel, else the posturer risks being found out.
None survive the sin of being irrelevant.
There are those who will use any excuse to further fractionate this country, and the favored excuse is racism or some other claimed prejudice.
In this case it appears there were differing levels of culpability, and therefore different outcomes potentially warranted.
The actions and individuals were dealt with individually. That was correct and proper. Individual responsibility for the individual’s unique actions is the proper goal, and alleged victimhood due to membership in a group in not an exculpatory excuse.
For members of the legislature to actively join in a disruptive protest because the majority of the legislature has chosen not to take the course which they favored is a serious offense which by implication displays that they do not believe in the legislative process and the state’s constitution. They, by their own actions, abdicated their roles as legislators and therefore their expulsion simply recognizes the action and they freely undertook. Their race, color and sex are TOTALLY irrelevant.
Nation wide we have become a lawless citizenry, ignoring Madison’s observation “aif men were angels no government would be necessary” and are n ow reverting to “might makes right” in protesting and ignoring, with impunity, laws against theft and murder in far too many
Democrat governed cities and states. Our once great nation is in dire straights. In Peril for sure.
Nation wide we have become a lawless citizenry, ignoring Madison’s observation “aif men were angels no government would be necessary” and are n ow reverting to “might makes right” in protesting and ignoring, with impunity, laws against theft and murder in far too many Democrat governed cities and states. Our once great nation is in dire straights. In Peril for sure.