What Should A Dallas Dad Answer When Asked, 'What's A Traitor?'

DALLAS, TX —"Daddy, what's a traitor?"

Well, if you were in Denton Monday night, you'd have heard that El Paso Democrat Beto O'Rourke is a traitor, along with other choice words hurled by hecklers.

That is where we are today. But it shouldn't be.

Anyone who grew up in pre-Trump America — and that includes most everybody — knows that the country was founded first and foremost on freedom. And that includes freedom of speech.

O'Rourke's treasonous offense? He appeared as part of his For the People tour to advance the idea that if people don't raise their voices about voter suppression, it will continue to happen and fester not only across the state, but across the nation.

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What was initially a lazy summer town hall-like atmosphere Monday descended into chaos as the gathered throng assembled with chaise lounges and coolers were invaded by a an auto caravan of Trump supporters determined to either shut O'Rourke down or shout him down if they couldn't. They used car horns and apparently a siren to try to keep his message from being heard.

Mind you, O'Rourke was not there to preach insurrection, the forceful ejection of elected officials or to destroy government property. He had simply come armed with an opinion that his detractors found objectionable.

Once parked, O'Rourke's adversaries dared him to disarm them because O'Rourke had spoken up against gun violence after the 2019 Walmart attack in El Paso.

Then one of them took to a microphone to tell the former presidential candidate, "You are a f--king traitor to this Constitution.”

Imagine having one of your kids at a rally like this. What would you tell them?

Something is wrong here. Remember that Norman Rockwell painting where a guy in a leather bomber is standing at a community meeting and is speaking his mind while others listen respectfully? The painting clearly suggests the speaker is no leader, just a person with an opinion. And soon, someone else in the image may stand to agree or disagree with him.

But they're not angry. They're not cursing. And they're definitely not thinking that someone with a point of view different from theirs should be accused of treason.

According to reports of the event from The Dallas Observer, O'Rourke explained that the fever pitch rhetoric is a sign of just how dire the circumstances are right now. "This is as pivotal a moment as we’ve had in this country," he told The Observer's Simone Carter. "As hard-won as this democracy is, it could be just as easily lost in the next year, in the next two years.”

By O'Rourke's count, there are close to 360 bills pushing voter suppression, either pending or passed in some 47 statehouses. Among them all, he says Texas is a place that's become uniquely difficult for voters to have their voices heard, and the worst may be yet to come since Lone Star legislators didn't get to push through a bill that would increase partisan poll watching (a recipe for confrontation and Jim Crow-era voter intimidation) as well as banning drive-thru voting and limiting hours when polls are open.

What kind of alternate reality are we in that sharing an opinion makes people traitors in "the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

Freedom means the freedom to disagree. And to have that opinion heard by anyone who cares to listen. If you prevent someone from being able to do so, who's the traitor?

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