This year, we have had a series of armed protests. They followed the rules, got the appropriate permits, were scrupulously non-violent, and even cleaned up after themselves. The intended message of these protests was that there is an army of good citizens that are governed by consent and not ruled. They were immediately dismissed, ridiculed, and slandered by politicians and the press. They played by the rules and tried to do as little as possible to interfere with the lives of those who had nothing to do with the issues that they were protesting. The day after these protests, there was no sign that they happened.

Just as quickly, their message was forgotten.

We are seeing massive protests across the country that have nearly universally turned violent. People have been killed. Lives have been destroyed. Entire city blocks were burned to the ground. While we are quick to try to separate the protesters from the rioters, we still have to contend with the fact that the peaceful ...