Citizens have the right to speak up, rally and have their concerns heard. Any attempt to silence dissent should be frowned upon. Protestors should not be labeled rioters or insurrectionists, but merely demonstrators. Sometimes protests get emotional, sometimes property is broken or damaged. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have protests.

Now I get that the Florida anti-protesting law is mostly a response to the Democrats labeling the unruly and rather asinine pro-Trump protests at the US Capitol insurrectionists, and the abuse of the law by federal agents to aggressively prosecute those who marched on and in some cases damaged the Capitol grounds is gross. But two wrongs don’t make a right. Republicans shouldn’t be enacting a law because Joe Biden’s administration is being unfair to the January 6th protestors. And just because a protest is completely asinine and insane, doesn’t mean people don’t have the right to be heard and not be taken seriously.

There is a lot of injustice in the world today. People have the right to be heard. Law enforcement should work with demonstrations to ensure that people have a chance to have their voices heard, while minimizing damage to property and injury to fellow protestors and people going on their businesses. But remember broken glass isn’t end of world. The government breaks a lot of glass and tears down a lot of buildings with eminent domain to build highways, office parks and “public” works.

Protests may be asinine, and the may be inconvenient to people trying to get through daily business, but that shouldn’t be a reason to allow people to have their voices heard.