Call to Conservatives

During the past week, I was blessed with several column submissions about our President’s words and the rights of NFL players to freely express themselves in their professional lives (See Mary Honrud on this page). None of the submissions were from local Conservatives.

Now, I like an argument to have two sides, at least, so I tried reaching out to local Republicans. No takers. In point of fact, I came close to begging a few of the usual Conservative suspects to chime in. Still no takers. Why not? Doesn’t anyone want to defend the Commander in Chief, or at least explain things from a Conservative point of view?

Good thing people aren’t so reticent in person.

On Monday (Sept. 25), I had a visit from the American Legion’s Joe Yeoman, who considered the protests a fair subject for conversation while he was trying to get the word out about an important Oct. 1 district meeting in Opheim (it’s 9 a.m. at the school by the way, mark your calendar!).

Setting aside the President’s remarks, I asked Yeoman what he would say to athletes around here if he saw any of them taking a knee during the anthem.

“I’d ask them to explain themselves,” said Yeoman.

He said he’d ask particularly young people to explain the meaning of their protest; its causes, and the outcomes they’d like to see come about as a result of choosing not to stand. These seem like sensible (if hypothetical) requests.

My own request: If you’re a local Conservative and you think you can write, please send me an email or pay me a visit. It seems that even out here in Trump country, the President’s positions (tweets?) can prove difficult to defend. In any case, I believe the conversation is worth having.

One local Republican who passed on the opportunity to defend the President this week actually said, “There is no point.”

Surely somebody can do better than that.