But here’s who has NO right to protest:
People who don’t vote.
As first reported by KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon, police arrested 112 demonstrators who took to the public streets to vent their anger following the election of Donald Trump. When the station cross-checked their names against the state’s voting records, it concluded that more than half of them hadn’t bothered to vote. Precise numbers are unavailable because some of the protestors may have come from other states, but at least 79 of them either were not registered to vote in Oregon or did not return their mail-in ballots. So outraged were they by the results of the election they were seized by an overwhelming urge to march, shout and make their feelings known. But their feelings apparently hadn’t been strong enough to do the one thing that might have changed the results in the first place — which was to vote.
Several of the protestors said they didn’t vote because they couldn’t stomach either presidential candidate, although that doesn’t explain why they couldn’t vote for the other candidates and issues on the ballot. One abstainer rationalized his non-vote by saying “your vote doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough Electoral College points.” I’m pretty sure the document that established the Electoral College is the same one that guarantees his freedom to march and shout.
People too busy to vote but not too busy to march and shout is not just an Oregon thing, of course. Angry Americans reportedly flocked to the streets from coast to coast, which is more than you can say about how they showed up at the polling places; the national turnout was the lowest percentage in 20 years. It’s estimated that, of the 232 million eligible voters, no more than 58 percent bothered to cast ballots in what had been the most publicized, contentious election in our lifetimes — except for those of us whose lifetimes have lasted 140 years old and remember when 81.8 percent turned out in the Rutherford B. Hayes-Samuel J. Tilden race.
But no matter how many march and how loudly they shout, this election will stand. As a Portland high school student named Tony, showing maturity and wisdom beyond his years, commented on a website that carried the KGW report:
“Voting is the only protest that matters.”
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