Syria protest planned for Saturday at courthouse

LUDINGTON – The topic of whether the United States should intervene militarily in Syria is definitely a hot one. Many are calling upon President Obama to recall Congress so it can make the decision. Democrats and Republicans seem to be each on both sides of the topic.

Locally, Jana and Michael Brockwell of Ludington wanted to do their share to protest the prospect of intervention there. They have organized a protest, scheduled for Saturday between 11 a.m. and noon on the lawn of the Mason County Courthouse.

Jana said she has promoted the protest through Facebook and has at least 20 people confirmed that they will come.

“My feelings on this subject is that I needed to do something,” Jana said. “My husband and I are very vocal on Facebook but never get more than the same three or four people commenting back. As Constitutionalists we feel our government is breaking its own laws and not even regarding the wishes of the people anymore.”

Jana cited a recent survey that appeared in the Washington Post stating that about 92 percent of Americans are against intervening in Syria. “There has been no difinitive proof found that Assad’s forces were responsible for any alleged chemical attack. We feel this is a clear situation of our President acting again without approval in matters that effect all of us.

“We want more people to get angry about it and realize that China and Russia are heavily involved in this situation and any intervention on our government’s part could bring about serious consequences on citizens who are currently struggling just to feed their families.

“It seems that our government agenda is clouded by hidden agendas that have more to do with keeping the us dollar stable and making more money for the military industrial complex which is intertwined with our government. The people who profit from this war should not be the only deciding factor ow whether we invade another country.”

Jena said it can be difficult to get people stirred up on the local level on a topic like this.

“When bringing up the Syria issue we have gotten responses like: ‘there is no point in a peaceful protest because it won’t do any good,’” she said. “When asking about other suggestions, some have stated it is too late to do anything because it is just a waiting game until the country (Syria) falls apart anyway.

“The general opinions I get is that people feel their voice means nothing in the eyes of the government and looking around I see lethargy and avoidance for issues such as these.”