The recent protests in Berkeley against the Marine Corps recruiting station there, led by Code Pink, has spurred a lot of debate between anti-war sentimentalists and seemingly everyone else.
The Berkeley City Council was drawn into the hostilities when they approved a measure to urge the military recruiting office to leave Berkeley. A group of Republican lawmakers in Washington responded by introducing a bill called the Semper Fi Act of 2008, which would rescind $2 million in taxes for Berkeley.
I remember when the anti-war protests started here in Bakersfield on the corner of Stockdale Highway and New Stine. I remember how people literally spat at them as they drove by and how other young protesters soon took to the other corner holding signs ridiculing the anti-war protesters and calling them “un-American.” I’ve even seen an outburst from one of our own SGA representatives against a fellow student regarding the war in Iraq, which is available on YouTube.
How can free speech and the protesting of a war, and now occupation of a country, that was started on false pretenses be un-American? Freedom of speech is the First Amendment of our Constitution. It is not only our right as American citizens to criticize our leaders, but it is our responsibility.
Even the spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Command, Gunnery Sgt. Pauline Franklin, said, “The Marine Corps is here to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which does guarantee the freedom of speech. In terms of the situation in Berkeley, the city council and the protesters are exercising their right to do so.”
Where in our Constitution does it say, “We, the people, must be blind to the actions and decisions of our leaders?”
Many of the ex-military personnel whom I have spoken with either don’t agree with the war or really didn’t care. The soldiers can’t protest, though, because it is their job. They go and do what they are told and risk their lives because someone in Washington tells them to. It is our responsibility to speak up for them.
Rather than discussing the issues at hand and actually taking a stance to do something about the war in Iraq, which is what the protests are about, our political officials are trying to extort the city of Berkeley.
Every day more and more people are becoming aware of just how far things have really gone. Our civil liberties are slowly being dissolved as our leaders spread fear, so that unwitting citizens won’t realize what is really happening. Forms of torture have been reduced from “cruel and unusual punishment” to acceptable means of procuring information. They even gave it a catchy name. The federal government is monitoring phone calls in the United States and from every country in the world due to the fact that all the calls are routed through the United States, thereby leading them to believe they have the authority to violate their privacy. We may have relinquished such rights by allowing the Patriot Act but when did they?
Justice may be blind, but our founding fathers were not. They recognized that power corrupts and did their best to write a Constitution that would protect “We, the people” from the government. It is our government and our military. The people waving their American flags and spitting on the anti-war protestors have severely missed one major important fact: Those protestors do support the troops! They care enough to spend their time, their money, and risk persecution so that one day someone will finally make the decision to bring our troops back home.
I not only respect the anti-war protesters, I admire them. At least they have the conviction to stand up for what they believe is right. I only wish that we had more people like that in political office.