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ALPERN AT LARGE - I admit to the tongue-in-cheek humor that many might find offensive, and while I do NOT like hurting others’ feelings I am confused as to this past weekend’s “No Kings” marches.
For the record, I just LOVE freedom of speech—so PREACH, you anti-Kingsters!
(Although not too long ago social and legacy media were on a politically-mandated if not financially-incentivized campaign against “disinformation” by the LAST presidential administration).
But am I allowed freedom of speech, too?
Cuz’ if I am, then will I be hated on (not just disagreed with) if I point out that if President Trump were a King, then there was a whole lotta unadulterated-if-peaceful free speech going on last Saturday than would be allowed by an iron-fisted King?
If Trump was a King, wouldn’t the federal shutdown be mandated to be over a long time ago?
If Trump was a King, wouldn’t those judges who rule against him again and again be yanked out of their positions of authority and put in prison?
And so on.
And if a King changes the rules as he sees fit (taking immigration policy and crime into consideration), is a President enforcing the actual laws more or less of a “king” than folks like Presidents Biden and Governor Newsom who shut down schools, businesses, and churches for months longer than many health experts deemed necessary, or legal experts deemed acceptable?
So let’s not be too quick about declaring Trump a “King” in a one-party state where “King” Gavin Newsom has taken major efforts to disenfranchise any non-Democratic Party voter (not just Republicans, but Independents as well) with Proposition 50.
California has how many executive and legislative non-Democrats?
Los Angeles has how many non-Democratic county supervisors or city councilmembers?
So…please. Seriously…PLEASE.
Now maybe the marches are just not aptly or correctly named:
…perhaps a “no-Blowhard in the White House” day would have worked better?
A “No Troll in the White House” day?
A “No A-Hole in the White House” day?
I can’t say I like one bit the obnoxious and childish Truth Social and X postings from a President who’s supposed to be acting like an adult. Sombreros and mustaches on Democratic leaders? Brown debris raining on the marchers?
No, thank you—Trump’s postings are about as healthy to American discourse as the recommendations coming from his Health and Human Services Secretary are for public health.
But with respect to the marchers?
Antifa is real, and the violence and organized havoc is also real…and really fascist, too.
Cities with unfettered crime being at the crisis level are also real.
The attack on the American taxpayer? Real.
Danger to Jewish people who don’t want to be physically or financially harmed? Real.
Chicago, Portland, New York City, and other major urban centers (most of them NOT run by Trump supporters) being overrun by criminal activity, homeless, and debt? Real!
Closer to home, the City of Los Angeles is being bankrupted by poor spending, runaway mismanagement, and gaslighting lip-service from those who are supposed to be showing how much more “democratic” and “representative” they are for their constituents than the Orange Man in the White House? Fantasy…or real?
It’s REAL!
So let’s just say we had a nice public march, a good walk, a healthy rise in the respiratory rate of those who were out there exercising their freedom of speech as is their RIGHT.
It is their RIGHT to march and decry the President.
But it’s also the RIGHT of the rest of us to wonder what the heck they were arguing about, and to wonder what the heck their point was.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
