ANALYSIS/OPINION:

It’s one thing to exercise a First Amendment right to assemble and petition the government for redress — to “peaceably” gather together for a protest, as the exact language of this particular Bill of Right specifies.

It’s another thing entirely to chase senators through the halls of Congress and pro-Kavanaugh politicos through streets of Washington, D.C.

Come on, leftists. Show some sense.

“GOP senators get police escorts as anti-Kavanaugh protesters swarm the Capitol,” read one headline from the Washington Examiner.

“Kavanaugh Protesters Descend on D.C.,” read another from Breitbart.

“U.S. Senator John Cornyn looks on as he is chased by protesters in the Senate Hart Building,” reported Getty.

“Resistance Meltdown: 302 Arrested, Protesters Chase Cornyn,” Breitbart reported in another headline.

Cornyn, of course, is a Texas Republican supporting Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

But it’s not just in the nation’s capital where the crazies have run amok.

Within the past few days, Resist Kavanaugh types have taken to the streets in select cities around the country, honing in especially on Republican senators’ district offices and casting aside all cares of common sense to express, angrily and violently at times, displeasure with anyone supporting President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick.

They carry signs like “We Believe Survivors” and “No More Rapists In Government” and “F— Kavanaugh.” And they brag about their hate.

“We’re going to keep showing up and no matter how this goes they cannot keep us down,” said Hollywood comedian Amy Schumer, in Sky News, shortly before she was arrested, Newsweek wrote. “We will win. A vote for Kavanaugh is a vote saying women don’t matter. Let’s say it together: Let’s fight! Let’s keep showing up!”

As the Daily Caller’s Benny Johnson tweeted of the arrest: “Here is @amyschumer telling cops she ‘wants’ to be arrested. Cop asks ‘Do you want to be arrested?’ Schumer: ‘Yes.’”

Prepare for the expressions of faked First Amendment outrage to follow, right?

Newsweek blasted out a photo of Schumer being led away by police, alongside fellow celebrity Emily Ratajkowski.

“Today I was arrested for protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault,” Ratajkowski wrote on Twitter. “Men who hurt women can no longer be placed in positions of power.”

The left certainly loves to bask in its hate.

What’s the most maddening about all these protests is that they’ve being buoyed by untruths.

For all the talk about Kavanaugh sexual misdeeds, not one shred of evidence has come forth — not one allegation has stood the test of sunlight. And what a sad commentary on the condition of the left, that its members are such sheep to partisanship that they’re so willing to toss aside truth for a good old fashioned character assassination.

Founding Fathers set in stone a constitutional First Amendment principle, based on God-given rights, for citizens to gather and peacefully express their objections to political goings-on and politicians. But they also expected these citizens to be informed of what they protested.

Thomas Jefferson is oftentimes credited with saying, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” The Thomas Jefferson Foundation finds that the attribution is incorrect — that the particular quote has never been found in any of Jefferson’s writings. Yet: “It is an accurate paraphrase of Jefferson’s views on education,” the foundation wrote.

Oh, that this principle were true with this slate of anti-Kavanaugh thugs.

Truly, there’s nothing peaceable, nothing educated — nothing American — about those who’ve been storm-trooping in the streets, in the hallways of Congress, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in recent days.

Sorry, left, screaming at senators and dropping f-bombs about Kavanaugh may make for dramatic television coverage. But these are not American First Amendment principles on display. Rather, they’re the marks of mental illness.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter, @ckchumley.

Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.