I’ve been talking a lot about history and core value in most of my writings lately. That’s necessary, thanks to the hostile environment that politics has become. I’ve always enjoyed a good political discussion and I’ve always discovered you can find a great deal about a person’s character by talking politics with them for five minutes – regardless whether your interlocutor is a Democrat or a Republican.

Often, people will support what they perceived to be a right of a person even though they wouldn’t likely that right. The core values of an individual get exposed when they talk about politics, that is, if you’re willing to look beyond the rhetoric.

There is one fundamental we all can agree on, if only we took a moment to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. That would be the fundamental right of life and the natural inclination to preserve that life.

Right? We can all agree on that, can’t we?

That is of course, if we’re being honest. If you can’t be honest about that one simple thing, can I trust you on anything else? If you are willing to lie to me about that, what will you be honest with me about?  Can I trust you in personal matters? Can I trust you with business matters? Can I trust you at all?

It seems to me that some people are arguing for the return to a time before police officers existed and the community policed by lynch-mob. That a group of people are able to load the wagon and hunt down the perceived criminal and do whatever harm they wish to that person and that person does not have the right to a trial nor the benefit of police protection – or even the right to defend himself.

While they will deny that they want lynch mob rule, their ill-defined “defund the police,” and “re-imagine police” alternative is sold as a fairy tale ending, the street action proves otherwise. There’s isn’t much to stop the lynch-mob from burning down buildings and doing physical harm, and their argument is to abolish two of the things that will – Police, and the right to self defense.

There was one person who was wildly condemned and I personally saw very little defense of a man recently. As a Denver Broncos fan, and an official Raider hater, it is somewhat difficult for me to speak up for Damon Arnette. You’ve seen and heard about this, no?

Perhaps Arnette came off as thuggish to most people – and certainly to the Raiders, who cut him, or maybe because we assume that NFL players earn too much. Whatever the reason, he is still an individual who has the fundamental right to self defense whether he’s wise to advertise this publicly on TikTok or not.

It’s possible that I’m wrong in my view, but from what I can tell from the video, he believed that somebody was coming to his house to cause him harm, and his reaction was simply a warning that he was ready and willing. Now, ask yourself, if somebody was threatening you and saying they were five minutes from your house, would you not act much in the same way? Would you not make sure your guns were loaded and that you were ready to protect yourself?

Yet Arnette wasn’t even given an opportunity to defend his actions, he was tried by media, found guilty, and had his football career cut short. Even Black Lives Matter didn’t think his life mattered.

The McCloskeys of St. Louis too found themselves in the same circumstance, put on trial by Mainstream Media and convicted, yet all they did was stand on their own porch letting the angry mob know that they were ready and willing to defend themselves if need be. And if you think I’m wrong, put yourself in their shoes. If an angry mob was marching in front of your house, and some of that mob breached your property, would you not also have a reasonable sense that your life may be harmed? Especially in a city where the city politicians invite mob riots by ordering the police to stand down? What would you do?

And then there’s Kyle Rittenhouse, who very clearly wasn’t even standing his ground. He was retreating, trying to escape the mob violence. He was lying on his back as one of his attackers pointed a gun at him, very clearly making the situation kill or be killed. Yet, we have people who can look at that and think that the violent lynch mob is justified and should not be on trial for attempted murder. That a young man who had no where to retreat and had no choice but to defend himself should be pronounced guilty.  This isn’t politics, this is core values. This is believing that certain people have the right to harm whoever they choose and that there should be no police available to stop the carnage and there is no right to self defense against those who are above the law.

Surely 90%, if not a greater percentage, would honestly answer that it was self defense, if for no other reason to admit that they would do the same if in the same shoes. As for those that still insist that Rittenhouse is guilty, can you trust that person? At the core values, if they are willing to lie to you about something so fundamental, can you trust them in anything else? If they are willing to lie to you about matters of life and death, you can bet they will lie to you about money, religion, career, and every aspect of their life. They won’t think twice about lying to you about anything else.

Politics exposes core values.