Does that go for the vets who marched in the civil rights movement?
P.S. That's why a didn't attend the crackerfest tea party rallies.
Do you get the difference between trying to protect the constitution (which is what the civil rights movement was about), and trying to destroy the constitution (which is what OWS is about)? What did we take an oath to, an ideology, or the constitution? You know what we all swore to support and defend, and while you and I may be night and day politically, I think we agree on that much. I happen to believe that associating with groups that advocate insurrection and/or anarchy runs counter to that oath.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Do note that VERY important word! That right means just what it says; it does not contain within it any "right" to riot, incite riot, destroy public or private property, defecate, urinate and fornicate in public, or resist lawful arrest, or defy lawful orders from appropriate authorities. A lynch mob is also an "assembly", but it is NOT, and never has been, either peaceable, nor constitutionally protected. That right, like all constitutional rights, ends where abuse of the rights of one's fellow citizens begins. An assembly ceases to be "peaceable", when the first stone or bottle is thrown, when the first act of vandalism occurs, or with the first act that poses a reasonable threat to public health or public safety, or with the first attempt to incite a crowd assembled to violence.
Not every mob, well or ill-organized, is a Peaceable assembly protected by the constitution; I should not have to say this, but I would not condone a veteran joining a lynch mob or any other group intent on provoking violence or public disorder. We of all Americans should know better, and discipline ourselves and our personal conduct accordingly. If you want to see this sort of thing done the way Americans SHOULD do it, look at the civil rights marches in the South in the sixties. What you WON'T see (in spite of extreme provocation), is violence or threats of violence by the demonstrators; what you WON'T see, is indecent behavior on the part of the demonstrators; what you WON'T see, is any threat of rioting on the part of the demonstrators; what you WON'T see, is acts of vandalism on the part of the demonstrators. That's the RIGHT way, and any vet could be part of such a demonstration and such LIMITED, DISCIPLINED, civil disobedience, in good conscience. The difference between that, and the behavior of OWS, is a matter of plain common sense, and if you cannot see that, you are blinded by ideology.
