On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of women came together to express their right to assemble. They not only gathered in Washington D.C., but around the world. These protests were in response a few main reasons: The new president who was inaugurated on Friday, the people the president picked for his cabinet, and the people who gathered at the capitol that day.
I respect the right to gather peacefully and stand up for what you believe in. The original women's march on Washington D.C. was back in 1913 where women marched for their right to vote. This march was a radical thing to do and many people thought it was disrespectful to be protesting during a time of war (WWI). I am very thankful for these women because I appreciate so much that I have the right to let my voice me heard through the political process.
The march that occurred on Saturday is different though. These women weren't fighting for any basic right such as suffrage. These women were fighting for the rights that they already possess. These women, and men, were marching to say they don't want the rights they already have to be taken away.
I find this to be kind of pointless. There is no way for the president alone to take away the basic rights we all are guaranteed in the Constitution such as suffrage, speech, assembly, and a fair and speedy trial. These would take the passing of an amendment where two-thirds of the senate and three-fourths of the states must approve, which in my opinion is not going to happen. As for the rights given through Supreme Course Cases, to overturn a ruling takes the ruling of a new case, the passing of a Constitutional amendment or the passing of new legislation. To overturn Roe v. Wade or Obergefell v. Hodges would take one of these situations. While not impossible, this is unlikely because I doubt such a case would make it to the Supreme Court or that two-thirds of Congress would approve such a law. I know for sure three-fourth of the states would not approve; look around.
To protest that you want to protect your rights is respectable. I like that people are willing to stand for what they believe in. I don't think, however, that the situation we are in right now calls for a protest to protect your rights. During the 1950's and 60's, protests were happening all over the country to protect and regain the rights of African Americans whose rights had been taken away. Those protests were very well-deserved and required a lot of effort to give them the rights that were rightfully owed to them. I don't think what the women from Saturday's marches, who were marching to protect the rights that they already have, had a legitimate reason for the protests.
I don't think that the marches were necessary and were only in response to the dislike of the new president. They weren't to show support of women, minorities and others, they were to show the dislike of the new cabinet and a Republican-controlled Washington. While I won't get into the politically dividing topics of free love and open boarders, I will say that what we all need to recognize is that we are all American; not that some are white, black, asian or latino, not that some are men and some are women, not that some are gay and some are straight. We are have the same goal: the success of this country. Let's stop dividing ourselves into "us and them" and let's work on making America the most economically secure, militarily safe, and domestically secure it can be.
Let's work with each other to figure out what the important topics are and work to fix it. Whether it be the national debt, foreign threats, domestic rights or fixing corruption. We are all proud Americans. Let's start acting like it.
