Kudos to those who have gone to Denver to protest – they have abandoned the “freedom cage” and simply gone elsewhere to do their business. The guarded enclave sits empty. (One person wrote in the book where protesters were supposed to log in, “MLK ‘I have a dream, that one day, all free speech will be done in cages.”) Meanwhile, helicopters churn overhead and the Democrat Party has expanded its reach to two blocks beyond the Pepsi Center. They take protesters very seriously, working hard to make sure they are out of sight and ear shot.
I’m conflicted about protesting. I have two objections: For one, it’s a sign of powerlessness. People who have power don’t have to take to the streets in order to engage other powerful people. They go through normal channels. Secondly, the news media has always been drawn to the weirdest hairdo and teeshirt – smart people with solid ideas are cast with nut cases, and all are painted as extremists. It’s how we marginalize discontent.
On the other hand, I like to see a good time spoiled. The riot in Chicago in 1968 contrasted very nicely with the staid liberals inside going on about their business of nominating a war candidate. The contrast was the message. If that is the objective of the protesters in 2008, it is worthy.
But I don’t get that. I don’t see unity. I see a fractured and powerless left doing the only thing it knows how to do. The right has nothing to fear from the left until the left finds leaders and learns how to organize effectively.
Still, Democrats should not have an easy time of it. The liberals are at it again, nominating another war candidate, and that fact needs to be broadcast. But the left needs to be careful – the Democrats never did address the issues raised by Ralph Nader in 2000 – the rightward pitch of the party, its abandonment of progressive causes. They merely spat on him and disowned any who followed him. The Democrat Party has power, and those who dare hold them accountable will pay a price. They will be ostracized.
It’s a choice. Be inside, be wrong. Be right, be gone. Catch 22. That’s all.
All of that said, the left really needs to reinvent itself. Protests and signs and mace and billy clubs are the symbols of a time when there was no 24 hour news cycle or Internet. Taking to the street with a megaphone is reflexive – I don’t know the answer, but I know that is not it.
Creativity, dude. Creativity. Get some.
Piece of Mindful 
Small steps, starting with Pelosi. The speaker’s job has not served her well, or her constituents. I’ll never understand why she would reinvent herself, evolving into a lesser person/representative. She didn’t need the face lift either. Voters in her district will have a clear choice between endless occupation and peace. It’s as good a shot as progressives have anywhere in the country to take on the powers that be.
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