As Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address – our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It’s not meant to dictate to us. We are meant to dictate to it.

I have recently been involved in some interesting discussions about our Bill of Rights and what it means – particularly the provision in the First Amendment for peaceful protest.

I think there are things that should be considered non-partisan: decency, fairness, equity, kindness, wisdom, honesty. And there are certain things that no party should tolerate: cruelty, inhumanity, bigotry, racism, misogyny, dishonesty.

In a thread on a friend’s FB wall, one poster pointed out that 56-67 ICE detainees died during the time of the Obama administration. (Note that according to The Guardian, “Thirty-two people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] custody in 2025 – making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades, as the Trump administration moved to detain a record number of people.”)

In a comment to another poster, I wrote: “…thank you for reminding us all that this is a non-partisan issue, and whenever our Bill of Rights is ignored – no matter what administration is in charge – it is our duty to protest to make sure we keep our rights.”

To which, that poster replied, “…well the left treats it like Its (sic) a partisan issue and only sends (sic) to have a problem because trump is doing it. If you’re gonna protest then you need to protest when the left does it or allow when the right does it too. Its (sic) not rules for thee and not for me.”

To which, I posted the photo below – of me marching in a local migrant farmworkers’ march in 2012, during the Obama administration.

And no, I certainly don’t think any of us should EVER “allow” cruelty, injustice, inhumanity – regardless of which party is sitting in the White House. Activism – fighting for the rights of others, and for our own rights – doesn’t begin when one party gets in office, and end when another party gets in office. It should be, I think, a lifelong commitment to our country, and our world.

Another poster posted a response that gave me my first laugh out loud of the day. I’m still cracking up. 😀 Here’s a screenshot of that conversation…

I’m finding a sense of humor is essential to keeping one’s sanity in these interesting times. 😀