Patriotic Protests Now and Then The renowned author Mark Twain once boldly stated, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.” During both the Vietnam protests and the March For Our Lives protests, American citizens did not believe that the government deserved their support. During the Vietnam War, a portion of the population believed that the government was lying to their country and was taking innocent men from ordinary families. In the March For Our Lives Protest, many people felt that the government needed to make a change to the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which currently gives the right to all Americans to own their own guns. With both protests, citizens clearly show that protest …show more content…
John Kerry explained what he saw as the government’s deceit during the Vietnam War, stating, “We rationalize destroying villages in order to save them. We saw America lose her sense of morality as she accepted very coolly a My Lai and refused to give up the image of American soldiers who hand out chocolate bars and chewing gum.” This highlights the main argument of those protesting the Vietnam war: the government painted a false image about the kindness and aid America provided to the people of Vietnam, and the American government irresponsibly sent troops out to kill and die and justified the murder of Vietnamese families. In contrast, the main argument for March For Our Lives was mostly saying that gun control could help to reduce the amount of gun deaths. For example, “Firearms were the 12th leading cause of all deaths, representing 1.3% of total deaths topping liver disease, hypertension, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as deaths from fires, drowning, and machinery accidents.” This fact is very moving for many people and drives the protesters to stand up for tighter gun restrictions and, in doing so, potentially limiting Americans’ Second Amendment