The death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis four weeks ago has opened wide ranging discussion on civil disobedience.
Many believe Mr. Floyd’s death is the impetus for change in how the police should react to the arrests of minority members of this nation. I am  inclined to believe the actions of those who are destroying statutes and have essentially created a city state within Seattle by taking over several blocks in that city speak to a much larger national concern.
Many of the supporters of this civil disobedience refer to the Constitution and say all of this is simply a concerned citizenry exercising its First Amendment rights of free speech. The First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is clearly there to allow for free voicing of opinions and freedom of religion.  No serious student of government objects to those persons who wish to voice their opinion on the death of George Floyd and what actions should be taken by the government to make amends for what happened. The current protests have evolved into something that doesn’t want to use the Constitution for change, but rather wants to go back to pre-constitutional arguments.
Our nation was formed by an armed insurrection against the British Government. What our history books refer to as patriots were viewed by the British government only as treasonous malcontents worthy of being hung. That American Revolution was fought because the colonists had no say in the government and especially how they would be taxed. Remember the battle cries of: “No taxation without representation and Give me liberty or give me death.”  

Our founding fathers understood that a citizenry must be able to voice its concerns to the government and that the government was there to assist the populace, not oppress it. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are the two primary documents that reflected a government that would be responsive to the public. We became the new child of government in history—a government of law that the public had a decided say and interest in. Government by edicts from the King was gone. We would govern ourselves.
Unfortunately, our protesters today want to have a revolution and install some form of government that they believe is best---and many of us have no idea what that form of government is, beyond anarchy. They simply don’t seem to care that there is a process to address their concerns.
We have elections. We have a court system. We have citizen direct referendums.  Our founding fathers developed a system of constitutional law so that we would never have to have another revolution. Protests and free speech are easily accommodated. Violence is not a condoned avenue for change.
Several mayors of our large cities have a misguided affinity for the voiced grievances of the protesters. They have allowed the protesters to go too far in their exercise of free speech and now the movement has a mind of its own. The protesters object to the local police being overly aggressive, but raw facts clearly show the police officer is much more likely to be injured in civil disobedience events than the protester. Facts do not support these protests and many large city mayors have essentially neutered the police reaction in their cities. This only results in mob rule. Call it anarchy if you want, but it is simply chaos and people are getting hurt.
What really is a concern is if federal government gets fed up and pushes back, we will have tanks in the streets and a federal military presence. This is exactly what our founding fathers wished to avoid. It is time to have local and state laws enforced.
Many of these protesters simply want to overthrow our government and the only thing that gets their attention is if the other guy has a bigger stick. This is not a time to condemn the police. This is a time to support the police. That support will weed out the bad cops as the vast majority of police officers want the public to enjoy the right of assembly and protest in a peaceful manner.
If we accept violence as a proper form of dispute resolution, we have simply succumbed to the law of the jungle and this nation will fail.