Whatever a Government official can do to you in response to real or perceived disrespect, they can also do to you just because they don't like the way you look or dress or vote. Various forms of Constitutionally protected protest and dissent can often be perceived as disrespect by those against whom they are directed. It's a slippery slope and to me "be respectful or have your rights violated" is a poor standard.

Agreed, and everyone has the right to conduct protest or civil disobedience.

If one chooses to engage in activism, then it’s worth recognizing that this is what you are doing and that they will be likely consequences.

It seems, before engaging in a protest, to be a good idea to think about whether it’s likely to be effective or not.

For example, before deliberately being disrespectful to an individual government employee, why not consider whether it would be better to be cooperative in that moment and then make a donation to a group that supports political change in that particular area?

The only defensible standard is that abusing State authority for personal or political reasons is grounds for immediate termination, AND should be prosecuted as a criminal matter as a matter of course. That it isn't, whether at the border or at a traffic stop, is a national disgrace. They are employed by the public to enforce rules for public reasons.

Saying that such prosecution would clog up the courts with a million cases is to admit the problem.

> The converse - that it should be fine to be disrespectful to people who hold state backed power makes no sense that I can see - that seems to be a dehumanizing act with no apparent benefit.

Quite the opposite - I think they should be subject to regular testing where some kind of internal control officers behave flippantly towards them (perhaps even disrespectfully) and if they respond by abusing their power they are (at the very least) immediately relieved of their state backed powers.

I fully support this suggestion. It would be great to have a law mandating this kind of training.

Randomly disrespecting government officials seems to play no part in bringing this about.

If you hold such power, you have a responsibility to exercise it in a way that furthers the objectives of those who entrust you with it. Retaliating against people who hurt your feelings is not consistent with that responsibility.