American Consequences - June 2020

T he protests all across America are obvious, but what’s most obvious about them is not what’s most important... The message is more fundamental than the mess. The vandalism and the looting are unnatural catastrophes, and they don’t convey much more meaning than catastrophes of the natural kind.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

THIS IS NOT A REVOLUTION

The protesters, while rebelling against government, aren’t intent on overthrowing it. Yes, they’d like to be rid of some of the people who govern us (and who wouldn’t?), but only – it seems – to replace them with people they like better. And, at least at a city and state level, who protesters would like better isn’t clear, either. The meaning of widespread protests in a democratic nation is different from the meaning of widespread protests in an authoritarian state. Under dictatorship, people are protesting against a system forcefully imposed on them by a self-selected elite. Under democracy, we the people form the system, determine how and with what degree of force the system will be imposed upon us, and elect our own elite to do the imposing. Widespread protests in a democratic nation mean that we’re mad at ourselves. As well we should be... America’s Constitution was ratified in 1788, “in Order to... establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility... promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty...” None of which it did for a whole bunch of Americans – slaves, freed slaves, Native Americans, or women... It took 80 more years for the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to be ratified.

Destructive people are always among us. They are the friends of chaos, and when their friend is unleashed, they rush to embrace him. Thieves are always among us, too. Protection of property and law go hand in hand. When law is chased away, property is too. Under the circumstances, property can’t be expected to stick around and hang out with its rightful owners. Even the violence is less meaningful than it seems. Despite some brutal attacks – from and on the protestors – this isn’t a rebellion. A rebellion requires a clear objective. Although the protestors are quite clear about what they object to , they are less clear about what they want to achieve in an ultimate sense. The protesters’ demands – justice, ending racism, and eliminating violent, bigoted, and incompetent behavior by the authorities – are so inarguable they almost cause a consensus headache. People of goodwill have been trying to achieve these goals for hundreds of years. In the case of the first demand – justice – people of goodwill have been trying to achieve it for thousands of years.

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American Consequences

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