At many times in our country's history, like the sit down strikes of the 1930s or the period of racial integration in the 1950s, it was necessary for the President of the United States to Federalize and deploy the National Guard to physically protect citizens as well as their constitutional rights against local or state police forces.
Today we witnessed the aftermath of just such in incident in Oakland. Peaceful protesters were arrested, tear gas was deployed, fake bullets were fired, a veteran of the United States Armed Forces was critically injured and citizens were cleared from a place where they were constitutionally within their right to peaceably assemble.
President Obama must protect the first amendment rights of these, and of all, Americans by deploying the National Guard.