America Is at the Crossroads | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the Beaufort Observer and is written by William "Bill" Moore.

    Look at the News, riots in most major cities. Our statues and other memorials are being defaced or destroyed. Nationwide the Police are either under siege, told to stand down or being defunded or disbanded. Politicians are either supporting the anarchy, afraid of the political consequences or inept to deal with it. To those who defend these actions, let me say what happened to George Floyd was unacceptable and a needless tragedy. However, it is being handled both correctly and lawfully.

    For those that say the statues and memorials needed to come down may I ask you what Memorials to the soldiers who fought in World Wars have to do with racial inequality? Secondly even the ones dealing with the Confederacy is a questioned action. There are legal means to remove these offending statues from public lands. If the argument is to be made that the statues are offensive to parts of our nation's people then do it through legal channels. If not what is to stop the parts of society that believe Martin Luther King was a trouble maker from attacking and removing the statues honoring him?

    We have a large and diverse population and I am confident that any actions someone takes will most likely offend someone. So the choice is a simple one do we allow all elements of our society, Far Left and Far Right, to destroy everything under the banner it is offensive to me? Those decisions are better left to the legal system and the ballot boxes.

    The attacks on the Police are both somewhat understandable and yet unacceptable. There is no argument there are good and bad policemen. There are good and bad teachers, good and bad parents, and good and bad people in every profession. The bad ones need to be weeded out everywhere but to use an old saying "you do not throw the baby out with the bath water". The overall majority of Police are good respectful people who are working for the good of their community. If Floyd was and is a tragedy, then so are the deaths of the six police officers during the unrest. The Floyd Family and the Police Families deserve better.

    Businesses have been looted and burned down. They are owned by innocent citizens that provide a service to the community while making a profit to support their family. Many owners will not rebuild, will close down or relocate away from the city and or state. The sad part is it will be the poor who will be most hurt after the situation calms down. Jobs will be lost they will have to travel further to get needed supplies and maybe at an increased cost. Again all this happened while Police were forced to stand down and watch as Leftist politicians were afraid to step in or wanted to use the destruction for their own personal agenda or career enhancement.

    There is a difference between those members of the community that peacefully demonstrate their opposition to the events that occurred and are trying to work change through the system, and on the other side, you have paid anarchists whose sole purpose is to disrupt, destroy and cause chaos. The Far Left is funding and organizing these demonstrations and destruction. The Far Left's goal is to cause the collapse of government and convince people the Democrats are the only ones that can restore order. My greatest fear is this might be the beginning of the end of the USA as we know it. At this point if Trump wins re-election the Left will continue to not accept the results of the election. Given the unsettling issues in the cities and the Democrats pushing for mail in voting, it is hard to believe if Biden wins the Right would accept the results of the election. In the past the losing side accepted the results and set out to regain control in the next election. I am afraid whoever loses at this point will set out to undermine the winners term of office. This might spell the beginning of the end of America.

    I am not ready to accept that. Our voices must be heard. At this point we are only hearing the voices of the far Left as they drown out the voice of legitimate dissent. We must support appropriate reforms while supporting the majority of Police who do their jobs well. In addition we work loudly to replace politicians who support chaos and will not protect people's property from mob rule. We must demand people use the legal system to settle disputes as appropriate and ensure there are judges in office that will render fair verdicts based on law and not feelings or personal agenda. We must work for an honest and fair election in November. We also must accept the results of the election especially if everything was done to keep it honest. We must not be afraid to express our beliefs either in person or in writing. Doing nothing should not be an option!! Business as usual will not work in these trying times.

    Most of all we must all work hard to elect Republicans in November for failure to do so will guarantee the events happening now will continue and grow bigger as there is no one to stop their destruction.