Opinion: Mike Pence’s phony public patriotism

To the editor: When Vice President Mike Pence made a point of traveling to an Indianapolis Colts game on the taxpayers’ dime, likely knowing there were players who would kneel so he could dramatically stand up and leave the venue, it was the very act of public piety that Jesus spoke out against. (“Vice President Mike Pence leaves Colts-49ers game after players kneel during anthem,” Oct. 8)

If you have to manipulate an event to show how patriotic you are — thereby implying those who are protesting, an activity protected by the Constitution, lack patriotism — then I have to question the motive behind the act.

You don’t need to wave a flag to love this country, but you do need to have at least an understanding of what it means to be an American.

Martin Wauson, Westminster

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To the editor: So Pence, out of patriotism, left the Colts game after the national anthem because some of the players knelt — not in disrespect to our flag, people in the military or their country, but simply as a way to exercise their 1st Amendment rights to protest the racist, bigoted turn our country has taken.

No, it was just a political stunt, evidenced by the fact that reporters traveling with Pence from Nevada to Indiana were told to wait in their vehicle because Pence may not be at the game long. Add to the overt falseness of Pence’s principled act the immediate tweet from President Trump praising the vice president.

Seems to me this administration can’t even get a staged event right. God bless America.

Tom Hamman, Huntington Beach

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To the editor: Every American is given the right to peaceful demonstration, and that includes our nation’s vice president.

Should that liberty be taken away from us all, we would no longer be the United States, let alone the leader of the free and democratic world.

Ted Lux, Playa del Rey

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