Michigan Freedom Fund: Protesting at Secretary of State Benson’s Home was Dangerous and Wrong

LANSING, MI, December 7, 2020 – Michigan Freedom Fund Executive Director Tony Daunt provided the following statement today, after Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson shared her experience over the weekend with an armed mob outside her home: 

“There is no place in political discourse – none – for harassment, for intimidation, or for holding demonstrations outside the homes of public officials, their spouses, or their children. The individuals who threatened and harassed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and her family on Saturday night were dangerous and they were wrong.”

Violence, anger, and intimidation in response to political disagreements have escalated nationally in recent years, as public voices, including prominent politicians on both sides of the aisle, call for more aggressive behavior.  Saturday night’s display was just the most recent in Michigan and this thuggish behavior must end. Exercising our Constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and assembly is not mutually exclusive with respecting the private property and lives of elected officials.    

 

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