FAIRFAX, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement urging national reconciliation:
“There was a moving memorial for Heather Heyer who tragically died while exercising her First Amendment rights.
“Unfortunately, mobs in some of our cities have taken to vandalizing various statues in an attempt to erase our nation’s history. If those in Congress who identify with this new mob rule are truly determined to make a statement, they should start by renaming the Richard Russell Senate Office Building, given Russell’s long history as a segregationist who opposed extending civil rights. When they’re done wiping his name from the Senate office building, they can change the Byrd Rule, as nothing more than the legacy of former leader of the KKK. To leave Robert Byrd’s legacy in place in light of his horrifying views would be counter to the whims of the mob that they wish to marry themselves to.
“Obviously, this kind of symbolism will not bring Heyer back to life or achieve any reconciliation. In fact, all of these symbols remind everyone that many of our leaders have served honorably and yet had checkered histories, and erasing them from our nation’s memory does a disservice to the challenges that our nation faces moving forward. The genius of America is that we are a nation of laws founded around a basic recognition that all people are flawed. However the reason for the Bill of Rights was to ensure that flawed people did not impose their wills on others, by protecting individual rights from mob rule. It is around the principle of all people being created equal that our nation needs to rally and from there reconciliation can finally become a reality.
“If we cannot recognize to how we got to where we are, we will never recognize how to get to where we need to be.”
