Time to treat protesters like the brats they are

This week, Seattle saw yet another childish display of ideological arrogance. A small group of protesters snarled traffic during the morning commute because they haven’t been able to get their way. They keep engaging in these stunts because they’re enabled by city officials who collectively fear these lunatics and mostly agree with their message.

It’s time to treat these brats the way we would treat any child who has a fit when they don’t get their away: punishment.

These stunts are not, in any way, protected speech. You don’t have the right to lay in the middle of the road chained to PVC pipes or to each other because you’re angry about a political issue.

These protesters hold extremist views. One of their leaders, Maru Mora-Villalpando, doesn’t support deportation under any circumstances and is upset that the Seattle Police Department supposedly helps ICE agents target criminal gangs. Herself an illegal immigrant, she takes outrageous positions that even Liberals don’t hold. And that’s why she has to go through with these types of stunts for attention.

And is she ever punished by city officials? Are any of these activists hit with significant fines for what they do? They don’t even personally pay for the large police presence required to handle their stunts. Send them the bill. Have them pay for the cleanup.

People were late for work Tuesday morning, stuck in traffic for over an hour just to go a few miles. And the irony shouldn’t escape these protesters: they likely helped keep an illegal immigrant from getting to their job in Seattle.

When a 10-year-old yells in a store because the child wants a candy bar, you’re not supposed to give the child the candy bar. You punish the child, set the rules of acceptable behavior, and explain the best way to proceed when they have a craving for a Kit-Kat.

These protesters, like bratty children, haven’t learned how to have adult conversations and, without consequences, they feel empowered to do this over and over and over again. So the city should teach them some actual lessons and show them some consequences.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jasonrantz