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What a Little Protest Can Do:Since the 2004 election, moping has become a favorite activity of some progressives. These progressives still pay attention to the news, and still talk about the news with their friends. However, their reason for doing so seems only to find things that are going wrong, and then complain that there's nothing that can be done to make things better.
This group of progressives is particularly fond of conspiracy theories which explain why George W. Bush is still in office. Sometimes, these theories are thoroughly absurd, like the one about the Pentagon was not hit by a plane on September 11, 2001, thus proving that President Bush himself created the explosion there. Most times, though, the conspiracy theories of the moping progressives are absurd exaggerations of sensible critiques of our political system. Progressive mopers will note, for example, that corporations hold some sway over the political process, and conclude that there is nothing that can be done by ordinary Americans to improve anything because corporations control absolutely everything, and already choose who wins every election.
The moral of every story told by these progressive mopers is: Give up. There's no point in trying to participate in the political process any more, they say, because THEY control everything (whoever THEY are).
Even worse, these moping progressives are so immersed in their conspiracy theories that they have started to believe that participation in the political process is not just pointless, but is part of the problem. Thus, whenever any other progressive proposes an actual solution to any problem, the mopers will sneer, "You're so naive" and then launch into an angry, bitter explanation of how trying to make things better actually helps keep things bad.
The real solution, according to these progressive mopers, is to completely withdraw from the political process, and wait for the United States of America to self-destruct. Only then, they say, can a genuinely democratic political process that is worth participating in be built.
A particularly ridiculous argument of this sort was recently made by a moping progressive who uses the pseudonym Alan Smithee. In response to an article in which we brought attention to this year's special congressional election in Ohio's 2nd congressional district, Mr. Smithee gave us the moper's mantra "You're so naive" and then praised the worth of staying at home and not participating in the election. In spite of the fact that the Republican candidate, Jean Schmidt, has a history of supporting the most outrageous excesses of the Religious Right, Mr. Smithee declared that the effort to stop Schmidt from becoming a member of the U.S. Congress was part of a corporate conspiracy to suppress citizens' participation in democracy. Smithee's solution: Don't participate.
It's a good thing that most progressives don't go along with such ideas. Most progressives recognize that citizen participation in politics will never create a Utopia, but it will help to make things better. At the very least, we can agree that with a Republican government in power, political participation by progressives is necessary to prevent things from getting an awful lot worse.
A recent protest in Rochester, New York is an excellent example of what progressive action can accomplish. As part of his attempt to sell the American people on his schemes to attack Social Security, President George W. Bush travelled to a Republican-friendly suburb of Rochester to give a speech advocating the funneling of Social Security money to Wall Street investment firms. President Bush was hoping to generate some favorable press in New York State, which has a large congressional delegation.
Progressives in Upstate New York were ready. A demonstration of opposition to Bush's Social Security schemes was organized, and word was spread through the communication networks between local progressive activist groups.
Of course, the Bush White House did everything it could to prevent the protest from taking place. Bush's aides worked with local Republican officials to ensure that protesters would be outlawed from getting anywhere close to the President's speech. With a little drama, these efforts to douse free speech actually helped to undermine President Bush's message. When President Bush's limousine drove through the suburban neighborhoods, a nun was ready, and laid down in front of it. She was arrested, of course, and so for most of the morning, the local news said very little about Bush's Social Security proposals. Instead, the top story was that President Bush's had had a nun thrown into jail.
Elsewhere in Rochester, progressives gathered in astonishing numbers to protest Bush's proposals to cut Social Security benefits in order to provide profits to Wall Street. Protesters lined the streets for blocks. In fact, more people went to Rochester to protest Bush's Social Security schemes than attended Bush's speech.
The protests were so successful that President Bush left the Rochester area having created more problems than publicity for his plans to attack Social Security. Local news operations from all across Upstate New York reported on the protests and overshadowed the message that President Bush had hoped to broadcast across the region.
In fact, the Rochester protests even beat Bush in the national news. A USA Today article the next morning featured the protests, and discussed the strength with which grassroots activism was effectively countering Bush's efforts to dismantle Social Security. Because progressives near Rochester decided to take action, the President's message was overwhelmed for that day.
The beauty of this kind of grassroots activism is that it can happen in any place where people care enough to participate in the political debate. Rochester's protests countered the President's plans for one day, but all across America, similar protests have been organized wherever Bush has travelled to make a speech.
The progressives who mope and whine that they're just too powerless to do anything are dead wrong. Real progressive activists have never given up the struggle to advance an enlightened vision of America, and their efforts are paying off. The majority of Americans now agree with progressives on key issues like the importance of protecting Social Security, the futility of the war in Iraq, and the right to dignified death as highlighted in the case of Terri Schiavo.
If we truly believe in progressive values, then we must conclude that it is not merely our right, but our responsibility to act. The democratic system that we value depends on our participation, and when we refuse to participate, we help those who seek to undermine America's liberal democracy. Moping provides comfort to the Republican power elites. Active resistance counters the power of Republican government with something much more authentic and appealing: The direct voice of the American people.
Progressive action works. Moping doesn't.
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