Parents stuck on I-40 during protest call paramedics to help young son

[anigbrowl]

98. I really disagree with you about this

I think you have more power than you realize. You can go to city/county meetings, or meetings of your local police commission, or even just stay in touch with your local city officials on Facebook or Twitter. Or even interact with police officers that way. I had a week-long argument (albeit a polite one) with a chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police on Facebook last year pressuring them to make a statement about an officer who turned out to be really corrupt, eventually they caved and put up a grudging statement condemning his actions.

If I can do this, so can you, and more. I'm an illegal immigrant, so I can't vote and though I pay taxes I enjoy very few legal rights compared to you. Since I can't vote I don't appear on the register of electors, nobody in power cares about my political opinion because I am not allowed to make political donations, I don't even get called for surveys or anything. But I can still participate in the life of my community by showing up and holding a sign or speaking during a public comment period or writing a letter. Yeah, it's time-consuming and a drag, and it's a task I prefer to avoid because I have serious social anxiety and really do not enjoy talking to strangers, but I feel a responsibility to pay attention and participate when I can.

And if the Tea Party did this I would stand up to defend it. I loathe the Tea Party and most of what it stands for but I'm strongly supportive of their right to protest. Where I would draw the line is at destruction of property or armed/forcible occupation, eg when the Bundy family tried occupying that federal wildlife refuge in Oregon some months back. Destroying things (as sometimes happens here in Oakland when local protests are hijacked by our nutbar anarchist contingent not only pisses people off, but goes against the grain of our Constitution and is therefore an ineffective political maneuver. Infringing upon others' convenience, on the other hand, is provided for within the constitutional framework.