One of my favorite things about Americans is our diversity.  Our unique experiences and personal attributes create an amazingly colorful and vibrant society.  These also largely define our individual views of the world, as well as our reactions to practically everything, political and otherwise.

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In many countries, our personal feelings wouldn’t mean very much to anyone but ourselves and maybe our families.  We could feel a certain way — and even be deeply devastated by events unfolding around us — but have very little control over how to change our circumstances.  

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But, thankfully, we live in the United States of America!  We are the country that welcomes the poor, the tired and the huddled masses.  We are the country that celebrates life, liberty and justice for all.  We are the country that, if not invented then certainly perfected, the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.

 

​These freedoms were secured for us by heroes who have fought for over two centuries, from the battlefield of Bunker Hill to the beaches of Normandy to the sands of the Middle East. 

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These rights have been protected for us in fights off the battlefield as well....by civil rights heroes like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Vernon Dahmer, John Lewis, Reverend James Reeb, Rosa Parks, Jonathan Daniels, Ruby Bridges, and Viola Gregg Liuzz, plus all those who participated in events like the demonstrations against the Cambodian Campaign at Kent State, and even the strippers of the Lust Lady in San Francisco, who demanded the right to form a union.

 

So, protests.  When you really think about it, is there anything that could be more fundamentally American?