You cannot pick and choose amongst the twenty-seven ratified Amendments to the US Constitution. Each one is the law of the land. If people have heartburn with a given Amendment, a mechanism exists to change the Constitution via democracy. It is the Constitutional Convention, whereby the states come together and make or undo existing law.

An excellent example is the Eighteenth Amendment, which was undone by the Twenty-First. These Amendments concerned the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Prohibition, as it was known, was an experiment that took a disastrous turn. The failed Eighteenth Amendment was recognized as such, and via democracy, it was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment.

This is how the American system works. If enough voters decide they need or don’t need a right, they put pressure on their local politicians via legal means. This can be escalated in time to the stage of the Constitutional Convention, where elected representatives can vote on a proposed Amendment.

For a further understanding of the US Constitution, look here.

This is how women gained the right to vote. This is how slavery was abolished. This is how we got term limits on the Presidency.

This is America, and this is how democracy is supposed to work.

Not with high explosives and violence.

To see where this leads, look below.

This was once where an ancient statue of Buddha stood in Bamian, Afghanistan. An intolerant regime decided there could be no symbols of opposing beliefs or cultures. Therefore, they blew it up with lots of TNT.

Do you want to see this in America? Are you cool with book burning and freezing out friends and family you don’t agree with? Can you find no middle ground where you can respectfully agree to disagree? Do you cheer when objects you find disagreeable are destroyed? Can you not leave people alone, to believe as they see fit?

I try to practice what I preach. My friends and family hold a wide range of views, some of which I strongly disagree with. However, I see them for what they and I are. Fallible humans. Imperfect. At times rambunctious or contrary, but still worth viewing as people. I try to extend this courtesy to everyone I know, and if they say something that I find unacceptable or disagreeable, I let them know.

There is a line, of course. It is when others try to force you to agree with some belief or opinion that is contrary to one’s firmly held beliefs. This is at best discourteous. At worst, it is rude and disrespectful. In some egregious cases, I can only conclude that their Mama didn’t raise them right, and maybe I should look elsewhere for companionship.

I don’t know who blew up the Georgia Guidestones or what their motivations were.

What I do know is that in America we are supposed to respect each other’s differences and resolve issues at the ballot box.

We don’t resolve problems with bombs in the middle of the night.

This is deeply contrary to the spirit of the US Constitution. There was NOTHING that prohibited the bombers from erecting their own monument close by, enshrining their opposing beliefs, whatever those may have been.

No, they chose TNT or C-4.

Therefore, they have deservedly opened themselves to prosecution and sanction under the law.

I hope these felons and anti-patriots fry.