In December 2020 my husband & I escaped the Marxist hatred and lack of law & order in the Portland area and moved to our beach house on the Washington Coast. Yes, Washington is also ruled by the America-Last Cult; but, the Democrats on our little peninsula are still sane, more or less. More importantly, we are 180 miles from Seattle where Democrats (88% registered voters) have spent the last few decades turning it into a lawless cesspool indistinguishable from Portland.
This little peninsula has about 11,000 residents which are about 50-50 Republican-Democrats. The Democrats here are not as nasty and violent as they are in the nearby major cities of Portland (150 miles) and Seattle (180 miles); however, they are still arrogant bullies. West Linn, our beautiful suburb outside of Portland became an intolerant place to live after Liberals & Progressives & Marxists took over.
These last nine years, if a group of citizens wants to put on an event in blue cities that is deemed “right-wing” by those in charge of the facility, venues are limited; but, I did not expect to find such ignorance and bigotry at the beach. The standard excuse is “we don’t rent to political events.” This excuse is priceless given the Leftist riots in 2020: “your event will attract violent people.” I struggled to contain my laughter when I heard that one.^ This same venue, which claims they do not rent to “political events,” had no problem holding classes for illegals, to teach them how to apply for welfare and how to stay in the United States, et al. One can’t get much more “political” than that, given the wide-open southern border.
KICKING CONSERVATIVES OUT OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE
In July 2023 our local John Birch Society chapter, Peninsula Patriots, rented a large room at the local grange to hold a Legislators’ Town Hall. The 2023 Washington State Legislative Session had just adjourned and we wanted the public to be able to ask questions of our state senator and our two state representatives about why & how they voted on various bills. I am an active member of the chapter and arranged this entire event, including performing the duties of Master of Ceremony.
I was surprised the grange would rent the space to us because two other venues turned us down. Our state senator and both state representatives are Republicans so they did not want to give them a forum in which to speak. Had they been Democrats, these venues would likely have rented the space to us. The public has the right to interact with their representatives.
The Legislators’ Town Hall was a smashing success, well attended, with many free-flowing discussions between citizens and their representatives. Two of the grange’s active members, both Democrats, attended the town hall and told us they wanted Peninsula Patriots to rent their facility again.*
REPUBLICANS WERE 86’d
As the 2024 state legislative session was about to end, I contacted the grange to make arrangements to rent the room for our Second Annual Legislators’ Town Hall. You can imagine my surprise when I was advised that the grange won’t rent to Peninsula Patriots again because our event was not “balanced:” We did not have any Democrat politicians on the stage. Say what? Our legislative district voted in three Republicans. Should we have invited the sewer commissioner? I heard he is a Democrat.^^
The grange had a new chairman of the board and he is a bigot. He 86’d us after he had attended two of our Peninsula Patriots meetings and discovered we are merely open-minded Americans who believed in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, and wanted to maintain freedom for ourselves and future generations. Apparently, he is another American who is unable to carry a debate with a Conservative, and “fights back” by closing the venue. Sad. We found another venue, at a church, for our 2024 Legislators’ Town Hall and held a well-attended, informative town hall on May 3rd, full of give & take between citizens and those who represent them in the state capitol, Olympia.
“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power.” Frederick Douglass, Republican, abolitionist, author, orator, statesman (1818-1895).
CENSORSHIP INDUSTRY IS BOOMING
^Without mentioning that he was with the John Birch Society, three years ago our chapter leader called to inquire about renting the space for public showings of a six-video series on the US Constitution. The board discussed this and told us this event might bring in thugs from out of town, and that this topic was “ridiculous.” Yes, a board member called Americans’ precious constitution “ridiculous.”
*Myself and the leader of the other JBS chapter in our small county rented the same grange facility in October 2023. We worked with the same grange volunteers I worked with for July’s town hall. Again, they were pleased to have us. We put on a Meet & Greet for Joe Kent, a Republican candidate for congress, who lost by a handful of votes in 2022.
^^Just a little levity here. We don’t have a sewer commission.
**An anti-free speech hater twice threatened our sweet post office clerk (the woman works all alone at the very small PO annex down the road from us) because there was a poster in the lobby which invited the public to a Peninsula Patriots’ open house. He went whining to the postmaster and now NO ONE can put up posters on ANY TOPIC at the two post offices in our community. This one Liberal hater ruined it for everyone. Putting up posters is one way we communicated in this community. Your dog is lost? Put up posters immediately! Want to sell your old lawnmower? Put up posters! Your group is holding a Christmas event? Put up posters!
I WANT YOUR TALE ABOUT LIVING BEHIND ENEMY LINES
My readers love my “Living Behind Enemy Lines” articles. I need more! Could you provide me with an experience or two you have had? If you live in a Blue area, you have many stories. I will not use your name. It can be a short story about one aspect of living in a Blue area, or a longer essay. It could be a story about an abuse you have suffered because you are a Trump supporter, or because you are Conservative, or . . . . It can be a light-hearted story or a serious story. For more info: DianeLGruber@Gmail.com.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited.
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