Great Questions in Society

• Why do store cashiers ask if you would like a bag when you’ve purchased 12 items? Do they think you’re going to juggle them on the way home?

• Who taught dentists and hygienists in dental school to place their implements on the patient’s chest, as if the patient were a work tray?

• Have people who use their fingers to push food onto their forks in a good restaurant been raised by wolves?

• Since the only tunnels connecting Penn Station in New York under the Hudson River to points west and south are 110 years old, why do no politicians assume there’s going to be a major commercial catastrophe?

• Why have Super Bowl commercials gone from witty and brilliant to sophomoric and dull?

• Am I playing Frisbee for my dog’s pleasure, or is he playing it because he knows it’s important to me?

• Do people who shout about intimate personal and business issues on their cell phones in public understand that they appear to be oblivious morons?

• Would it be justifiable to knock someone down who, exiting a crowded theater, stops in the doorway to chat?

• Why do the people praying with me at the end of the church service refuse to allow me to merge a few minutes later when exiting the parking lot?

• Are lightning bugs (fireflies) able to mate when there’s ambient light?

• Was Wile E. Coyote the Acme Company’s sole customer?

One of the great aspects of free societies is the right to protest. Sometimes I agree with the nature of the protest and sometimes not, but I always agree to the right to rally in the streets, so to speak. The US Constitution guarantees the right of free assembly.

What I’ve noticed is that some protests—both by groups and by individuals—are not so much expressions of resistance as they are of impotence. It is as if people have given up, are frustrated by their lack of influence, are bewildered by their non-success in their cause.

I’m an independent. Sometimes I vote Democratic, sometimes Republican. I’m not a “single issue” voter, in that I examine a candidate’s entire platform. I wish most of all for a return to decency in debate, and civility in communications. Right now, it’s more of a wish than an expectation.

During the State of the Union Address, I watched President Trump refuse to shake the hand of Speaker Pelosi, a tradition, and Speaker Pelosi refuse to introduce President Trump with the traditional “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States,” and simply stating “the President of the United States.” I thought less of both of them. The President was rude, even to the woman leading an impeachment effort, and should have shown more dignity. The Speaker, even after being snubbed, should have shown she was above such petty insults. Neither, in that opening minute, represented themselves, their parties, or the American people well.

At the conclusion of the speech, Ms. Pelosi ostentatiously ripped up her hard copy on camera, tossing it aside, as if tossing the President aside. I believe this was more an act of impotence than it was of protest, more frustration than fire.

Protests work best from a position of strength, not necessarily strength in numbers, but rather strength in one’s integrity and belief in one’s cause. It’s not about denigrating others but about influencing others.

I have two degrees in political science and was elected to the National Political Science Honor Society. I cite that credential, because what I’m about to tell you is not partisan but, rather, analytic: The Democrats have paid little attention to President Trump’s policies but rather focused on the superficiality of his words. The Republicans had paid little attention to his words and have focused on the meaning of his policies.

Protest to bring others to your cause. When your protests alienate others, you’ve lost your cause.