Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

I tried to be respectful towards the student protestors by showing empathy to those who survived the Parkland shooting. What these kids may or may not realize is that you can only go so far on somebody else’s empathy, especially when you make a complete fool out of yourself in public. Yes, I am looking at you David Hogg. There are others that I do take issue with, such as the students who used the school walk-outs as an excuse to commit vandalism. I know that most of the walk-outs were relatively peaceful, but there were some who decided to act like junior members of Antifa by showing a blatant disregard for other people’s property. Though the person that I have the most beef with is the one who has been given the undeserved title of the spokesperson for the Parkland Survivors.

David Hogg, I have tried being nice by not calling you boy or son, like many people my age would do. I tried not to make disparaging remarks about your age, since I was once seventeen and I didn’t like being belittled just because I was young. Yet it seems like all I got in return for showing courtesy was more grief. Well, guess what, boy? I am done being nice. First of all, I am sick and tired of you calling the NRA and millions of its supporters murderers. Newsflash, son, there are some of us out there that would prefer to live in a place called reality, where criminals and psychopaths are not deterred by magic gun laws. It’s not like we didn’t give you solutions, but you turned your nose up at them, like having more of an armed presence at your school. Hell, you didn’t even want to hold Sheriff Israel accountable for the neglection of his duties. So, don’t you dare call us murderers just because we would rather go with a reality-based solution than one that has failed time and time again. It also begs the question of who will enforce these magical laws. Obviously, you don’t actually believe that laws have magical properties that will stop criminals in their tracks. Somebody has to enforce these laws of yours. So, who’s going to do it? The same members of law enforcement who did nothing as your classmates were being slaughtered? Yeah, that’s certainly going to be effective.

I also have a few things to say about the video where you went into a cursing frenzy. Look, I have nothing against cursing, since two of my favorite comedians/provocateurs, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin were renowned for their potty-mouthes. Hell, when I was your age, my language would have made a sailor blush. When Bruce and Carlin swore, they did it get a point across, which is likely what you were attempting. Though I can certainly say that you are neither Lenny nor George. When you threw all those F-Bombs around, it didn’t sound provocative. It just sounded ugly, especially when some of the F-Bombs centered around your own parents’ so-called inability to get anything done. While, I was far from the perfect son, I can certainly say that you would never find me swearing at my parents and pointing out their short comings in public like you did.

Then there was this war that you started with Lauren Ingraham, just because she thought that you came off a bit whiney, when you complained about your college applications being rejected. Now, whether you believed that Ingraham was out of line or not is irrelevant. When you chose to become a public figure, you also chose to leave yourself wide open for criticism. In this particular case you have demanded to be respected as an adult, yet when you have to face some form of adult criticism, you decided to hide behind your age, as if that alone gives you immunity from criticism. Guess what, junior? That’s not how the world works. Also, when you try to force sponsors to leave her show just so you can effectively silence her voice, it just shows that you don’t have any more respect for the First amendment than you do for the Second.

I have also tried to take the high ground by not comparing you or your movement to The Hitler Youth organization in Nazi Germany, since I get tired of the left yelling Nazi at anyone who disagrees with them. Unfortunately, when you walk around with armbands and raise your fist in the air with a cold grimace reminiscent of a dictator from the 1930’s, it makes it much harder for me not to compare you to the fascists of that time period. So, tone it down a bit.

The sad part is that you probably think that your side that is winning. In reality you have actually angered the very people that you had hoped to shame into changing their stance. NRA memberships have doubled and gun sales are starting to skyrocket like they did during the Obama administration. On top of that the lead that your democratic friends had in the polls of the mid-terms elections is starting to narrow. Contrary to what your anti-gun friends have told you, the NRA doesn’t send people to walk around Capitol Hill with a wad of cash to bribe Republican candidates. Instead they encourage gun owners to cast their votes for candidates that support the Second Amendment. People don’t like it when you threaten their Second Amendment rights as you will soon learn.