Why do many people do this?

Question

do most people go out and protest against the government? the way i see it; its like when you were young and you're parents gave you rules and taught you to follow and obey, so why cant we all just do the same with our govt and do our patriotic duty? Why all the liberalism?

Answer 1

Your first problem is that you think that your relationship to your parents is analogous to your relationship with your government. That couldn't be more wrong. The government exists because citizens give it legitimacy and sovereignty. We own the government, we get to call the shots. We give the government its authority, and it is subservient to our rights and expectations. That's not a parental relationship.

Answer 2

This is why we fought the American Revolution.  American colonists had no say in their government, even though British constitutional law at the time said that government was -of- the people and that governments derived their just powers from the consent of the governed.  American colonists were not allowed to assemble in protest, or to petition the govt. for redress of grievances.

So we fought to win our independence and then we wrote a Constitution that made it a basic right to assemble, to petition, and to speak one's mind.  This is as American as baseball and apple pie!

And it's not just 'liberals' that take advantage of this freedom!

Answer 3

You've heard of child abuse, right?

Suppose your "parents" don't love you, or even know you.

You think they might tend to put something over on you?

. . . this is government.

A wise man keeps an eye on his family and friends; the wisest keeps a CLOSE eye on his government.

Answer 4

You've accepted AUTHORITY as the TRUTH, rather than TRUTH as the AUTHORITY.

Answer 5

Because we have the freedom to. It's a Democracy, if you would want something else I say go to a Communist country and then you will most likely have everyone obeying the laws without question or protest.

Answer 6

because blindly assuming the government is going to act responsibly is denying your responsibility in protecting your freedoms as an American. While it is appropriate that we defend our nation against foreign influences it is also important to protect it from threats within. Our founders intended that our elected officials safe-guard those freedoms but they also realized that those positions wielded great power and corrupt people would seek out those positions and therefore provided us with various tools to deal with that threat and one of them was the freedom of speech coupled with the freedom of assembly. there is an old saying that goes "evil is allowed to flourish when good men do nothing" as was the case with n**i Germany. there is corruption in our government today and protesting it is our patriotic duty, not sitting idly by and watching it grow.

Answer 7

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Not all governments are good just as all parents are not good.  Aquinas said "a law that is unjust is no law"

Our patriotic duty is to be sure our governments stays just and reflects the values in our constitution.  When a government is doing wrong things it is our patriotic duty to speak up.  we can do this in three ways..in voting, in protesting, and with organized boycotts.

Since our vote has been compromised with electronic voting machines and tabulators, only one way to voice our displeasure remains.  We have the right to protest and many feel the duty.

No one thought of protesting as liberalism until Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk show hosts began making it a dirty word.

To blindly follow when your government does wrong is far more wrong than protesting as the more we let them get away with , the more they try to get away with.  Just as we as children needed to show accountability, so too, do government.  Neither parents nor governments are perfect as governments are run by infallible and often sinful people.  While most parents tried to do right by their children and give them rules that were for their own good, governments do not do this often.

As we see our government taking part in all kinds of corrupt scandals, lying, and so much more, it is our obligation to speak u[p.  As Bobby Kennedy said " Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."  Thus each who speaks out against something wrong or unjust is helping to bring about positive change.

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I strongly suggest, you  carefully review these quotes that tie in with this subject in some way.

King Jr., Martin Luther

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Abbey, Edward

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."

Adams, John Quincy "Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

Adams, Samuel

"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."

Bryce, James

"Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance.  It is also owed to justice and to humanity.  Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong."

Bush, George H.W.

"You do not reform a world by ignoring it."

Chesterton, G. K. "My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."

Clinton, William J.

"It takes a long time to turn a big country around. Just be of good cheer and keep working on it."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo "When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart."

Frankfurter, Felix

"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights."

Humphrey, Hubert H.

"What we need are critical lovers of America - patriots who express their faith in their country by working to improve it."

Ingersoll, Robert G.

"He loves his country best who strives to make it best.

"Thomas Jefferson

"Does the government fear us? Or do we fear the government? When the people fear the government, tyranny has found victory. The federal government is our servant, not our master!"

Kennedy, John F.

"The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us."

Kennedy, John F.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

Douglas MacArthur "No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."

Malcolm X

"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it."

Murrow, Edward R.

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

Reagan, Ronald

"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children (America), the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."



Roosevelt, Franklin D.

"When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him."

Schurz, Carl

"Our country, right or wrong."  When right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."

Answer 8

Not all go out and protest against govt ,rather political parties,,

and parents always teach you for your favor unlike govt,,

Answer 9

Apparently your parents never smacked you around for no good reason.  Parents are not always right or always good simply because they have authority over their children.  And so it goes with government.

But kids grow up and move out.  Nothing requires them to live their entire lives under the thumb of a bad parent.  But we all must live with our government.  Protests and Civil disobedience is sometimes the only way to address injustice and unfairness perpetrated by the government.

By your way of thinking women would not have the right to vote, blacks would be  second class citizens in the eyes of the law.

Answer 10

Because the Constitution tell us to. We are allowed & even encouraged to voice our opinions to our government.

It is not a bad thing actually, although at times i am sure it has been abused.

Answer 11

The people in Washington work for us, they're not our parents or any kind of maternal figure.

If they are not doing the correct thing, the constituents that are paying taxes must act to fix the problems.

It's not liberalism, it's democracy at work.

The government must be by the people and for the people.

Answer 12

Because we grew up!

We learned that:

Fathers beating their Wives and children so they follow their Right Wing Fanatical beliefs.  

Dressing in White robes and lynching the hard working guy across town because he was a different color.

Fire bombing Doctors Clinics because women don't want Men telling them what to do with their bodies.

Preventing Women and minorities from voting or only allowing their votes to count for a portion of a white mans vote.

Are all Wrong things.

Call it Liberal.  

I call it Freedom and Equality.

Answer 13

because its a free country.  there have been protests and demonstrations ever since this country was established.  its the american way.  its our right.

Answer 14

The Gov works for us!

Answer 15

It is our right as American citizens to question our government AND disagree with their decisions. Also, our government is chosen by the people and work FOR the people. They work for us, therefore we have every right to ask for change when things are not done appropriately. And considering that our current government has made so many WRONG decisions and gotten away with them, the real question is why aren't more people demanding the government change its ways.