Protests at our convention will not be a bad thing

[Ken Burch]

Yes, there will be protesters...but their presence won't hurt the Obama/Biden ticket. Most of those people will end up working or at least voting for Obama anyway.

None of them want Romney, and none of them are working for Romney.

It's good for our party that our conventions be seen as an event where at least SOME free speech can occur.

And you can't just demand that these people get behind the ticket and be nothing but silent.

What they are talking about won't go away...and we can't gain votes anywhere by dissing activists and the issues they care about.

Just go with it...things will be fine...it's all to the good.

OK?

[orpupilofnature57]

1. No Drones or Clones

[Bjorn Against]

2. I think it is great they are protesting

I support them and agree with a good number of them, I would be with them if I were near NC. I will vote for Obama as will many of the protesters, but that does not mean I am going to be silent and pretend everything is just great. Our political leaders need to hear our voices because there are a lot of problems in the world and no one in Washington is speaking out as loud as they should be. Politics are about more than candidates and elections, no one should be asked to remain silent just because it is election season.

[Ken Burch]

3. Nice post.

if you support social change, activists are always your friends.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. No NDAA, NDRP, drones, free Manning and Assange, end deportations and crackdowns on

whistleblowers, and most importantly, immediately overturn the supreme court's "Citizens United" ruling and reinstate Glass-Steagall. And fuck "the Fed".

Also, destroy the DHS and TSA.

AND GET BACK THE $16 Trillion dollars stolen from the United States.

[Bjorn Against]

6. Those issues are the reasons that these protests are necessary

It is doubtful that any of those issues aside from possibly a couple will be talked about on the convention floor at all yet they are extremely important. Protests are essential to democracy and when you have as many decision makers and media outlets gathered in one place as you do at a convention it is a place that protesters should be at. I have protested outside two Republican National Conventions and I would protest the DNC as well because even though I vote Democratic does not mean I don't see severe problems with the party.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. You forgot Mumia

...

[Ken Burch]

19. I doubt he'll be the subject of that many events in Charlotte.

Still, are you saying you're ok with letting an innocent man spend years rotting in jail for a crime he didn't commit?

Would you have said progressives should have given up on trying to save the Rosenbergs, too?(Ethel was clearly innocent, and Julius didn't give the USSR anything that mattered...it was Klaus Fuchs that actually handed over the H-Bomb).

You have very little empathy for anyone who's faced political persecution, that's clear.

[Luminous Animal]

5. David Swanson wrote about protests here:

http://warisacrime.org/content/obamobedience

It's a good read and augments your point.

[KoKo]

9. Good Read...thanks! n/t

[AtomicKitten]

7. sure, it'll be fine

[Ken Burch]

8. What those protests remind us is that we, as Democrats, have a special duty

to be the party of conscience and the party of all those the GOP tries to keep powerless.

Trying to be those things is the only reason our party has for existing.

We lose ourselves when we settle, as so many of our insiders want us to, for being a mundane party of power.

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. Oy vey

[Ken Burch]

12. A protest-free convention wouldn't be worth watching.

Nothing that mattered would be said. A week of nothing but "on message" would be a week of conservatism and boredom.

Why would you find that preferable? Such a week wouldn't gain us any votes.

It would lose us votes to see the cops getting heavy with people. THAT was the problem with Chicago in '68-NOT that there were protests, but that Daley was a total asshole to the protesters. NONE of them did anything to deserve getting teargassed and no harm would have been done by letting the Yippies march into the convention hall chanting "Stop The War!"

To repurpose the words of the Prophet Carville:

"It's the Repression,stupid!"

(I'm not saying YOU'RE stuped, "Al", that's just how the quote works).

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. yeesh

[Ken Burch]

14. One-word snark isn't a winning debate strategy.

You might consider actually making a case for why a bland, soulless, politics-free political convention would be better.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Were we debating?

Oh.

[Ken Burch]

16. I assumed that was your intent.

Seriously, do you really hate activists that much?

If they didn't show up in Charlotte, would anything happen there that even you would want to see?

What's so terrible about people speaking out for what they believe in?

It's not like that can hurt Obama's chances.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

17. We're going to need to make some big moves soon...

Because the more I read about this economic system and how just going back to old reforms won't work, I long for some strong leadership... forced by a coalition of the left to nationalize the banks, build a green economy, and defeat the neolibs once and for all.

[Ken Burch]

18. Well put.

Power, even Democratic Party power, never gives anything without a demand.

Change has to be forced from below, and politeness and deference usually don't get the job done.