Today, we see college students, whose grandparent’s generation protested the Vietnam War, and fought for Civil Rights, women’s liberation, sexual liberation, the environment, and Stonewall, testing these ideas. And whether you agree with their actions or not, they have successfully forced their concerns to the forefront of the American mind.

We know they have been successful because Americans are discussing a very complex issue and conversing about rights, duties, international relations, and America’s evolving role in the world. It is through these conversations that we share ideas, debate Constitutional meanings, examine the conflict of rights, and, ultimately, learn. Through engagement we form norms that influence behaviors and define national values and morality.

I think it's time we stop, Children, what's that sound? Everybody look, what's going down. (For What Its Worth, Buffalo Springfield)

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson argued that the role of government is to protect our rights. He warned that “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it…” Earlier, Jefferson penned, “…governments are instituted among men, deriving their JUST POWERS (emphasis added) from the consent of the governed”

Arguably, our model of self-governance is founded on the idea that when government acts unjustly, the obligation of citizenship is to engage in dissent against the perceived injustice. Of the five rights enshrined in the First Amendment, four ensure the rights of peaceful dissent. These sacred words mean citizens have a duty, empowered by Constitutional rights, to protect our rights including those who are unable to protect their own rights.

There's something happening here. But what it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there, telling me I got to beware.

Riding alongside this national conversation are three rich ironies: those who historically dismissed liberals as “snowflakes” are now making the snowflake argument by rushing to the defense of those who “feel unsafe.” While public safety is a legitimate concern, especially in educational institutions, as we saw in the #MeToo movement, some claims are intended to silence dissent, cancel legitimate concerns, and punish the innocent.

A second irony is the students have modeled domestic political extremists by being disruptive, thwarting compromise, and asserting that their rights and concerns supersede the rights and concerns of others.

A third irony is that those advocating a pardon for those convicted for their role in the violent January 6^th insurrection are, at the same time, criticizing students for engaging in generally peaceful protests.

There are battle lines being drawn. Nobody's right if everybody's wrong. Young people speaking their minds, getting so much resistance from behind.

These protests include domestic and international components. Domestically, the focus is on the law and the conflict of rights. Should one body of students act in a way that impedes the rights of other students? While lawyers can, and likely will, debate this, it seems pretty clear that public safety is the overriding issue.

The international component raises a moral concern that strikes at the very core of American citizenship. Should students pressure their government to reexamine America’s role in the death and maiming of innocent women, children, and men in Gaza? Dr. Martin Luther King argued that in the pursuit of justice, we have a moral obligation to obey a just law and lovingly disobey an unjust law. If the actions of Israel in the Gaza Strip are unjust, then, according to King and Jefferson, we have a moral obligation to “redress grievances” without fear of punishment. According to Gallup, the majority (54%-56%) of Americans now “disapprove” of Israeli military actions in Gaza.

Although the Declaration of Independence is Jefferson’s ideal vision of American society, unlike the U.S. Constitutional, it is not a legal document. However, the Declaration has moral standing and includes our concepts of equal rights, the social contract, and self-governance. It empowers our democratic principles, asserting that the authority of government rests upon the consent of the governed and that the obligation of citizenship is to act when for causes that are not “light and transient.” Jefferson also defines the natural rights as, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

What a field day for the heat. A thousand people in the street. Singing songs and they’re carrying signs, mostly say, "Hooray for our side."

So what do we do? Some have taken to the streets and, thankfully, we live in a land where this is their God given right. Others are less certain. At a time when our rights often seem under siege, should we defend other’s rights?

In his correspondence with the Danbury Baptists, Jefferson is credited with a quote often attributed to Voltaire or Beatrice Hall, “I don’t agree with what you say but I will defend your right to say it.”

Also ascribed to Jefferson, John Philpot Curran wrote, “It is the common fate of the indolent (lazy) to see their rights become prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance.” Simply, we must be vigilant when rights may potentially be taken away. The applicable question here is, “Whose rights are under threat in this situation?”

Today, public discourse seemingly demands we take an immutable or unchangeable position on issues that often require complex solutions. Being inflexible is a bad idea. Complex issues get warped by partisanship in an election cycle. I would urge patience and respect towards this generation as they seek to discover their values and morals. An honest soul would admit our generation could have done better. Engage credible news outlets, and discuss complex issues such as, “Are the peaceful assemblies of student protests an appropriate moral response?”  These are exactly the sort of issues Americans should be informed of, concerned about, and discussing.

Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep. It starts when you're always afraid: step out of line, the men come and take you away.