Portland Takes to the Streets to Protest, But Not to the Polls to Vote

Police in downtown Portland, Ore., attempt to disperse people protesting the election of President-elect, Donald Trump, Friday, Nov. 11, 2016. In Portland, police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades Friday to try to disperse the crowd after hundreds of people marched through the city, disrupting traffic and spray-painting graffiti. Authorities said "burning projectiles" were thrown at police and vandalism and assault had taken place during the rally, which organizers had billed as peaceful earlier in the day. (Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian via AP) ORG XMIT: ORPOR310

If you don’t vote, you shouldn’t complain when you don’t like the outcome.

We can argue the merits of that line all day, but I’ll go on record as saying I agree with it as a concept. If you didn’t care enough to be part of the process, why care later?

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So there were 112 people arrested in Portland, Oregon last week, protesting the election of Donald Trump to the presidency.

Oh, cry me a river, Portland.

Well, as the Washington Examiner reports, maybe they should have found a nice drum circle to join, in order to express themselves, since they didn’t feel necessary to express themselves with their vote.

WKGW reported 69 of the 112 people arrested in recent protests either weren’t registered to vote or didn’t turn in a ballot. The TV station compared the names of the people arrested by police and compared them to state voter logs compiled by Multnomah County elections officials.

Of that number, 34 didn’t bother to return a ballot. There were 35 who weren’t registered to vote in the state of Oregon. Out of the entire 112 people arrested, 25 voted.

Those 25 had a right to be in the streets. The rest of them, not so much.

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What they didn’t have the right to do, however, is break windows, destroy property, and tie up traffic.

What did they think that would accomplish? They became a nuisance, very likely alienating people who, otherwise, shared their position, but who had bothered to vote as a means of protest.

This nonsense went on for several days, with the city shutting down parts of the light rail system and major highways that ran through the city, due to safety concerns.

And at the end of it all, Donald Trump remained the winner.

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