You have no right to protest. You should put your signs down and leave the streets of San Francisco, New York, and Fairfield, Connecticut. The right to voice dissent and engage in a campaign aimed at swaying public opinion is tied inexorably to the duty to vote and the obligation to correspond with our representative government. The fact is if you don’t vote you might as well use all that duct tape you have piled up to tape up your mouth. You mean nothing to politicians and, for better or worse, politicians hold the power of the people.
Right now we as a nation, along with “coalition” forces, are storming across Iraq in hopes of wresting power from an oppressive regime and providing real freedom for the long-oppressed people of Iraq. These are facts that will not be changed no matter how much shouting of “no blood for oil” goes on or how many people fill the main boulevards of our great cities. The debate between hawks and doves is no more. The people exerting so much energy over President Bush’s recent decisions need to channel this negative energy in positive directions. This war is happening-like it or not. Still it must be said that the next time we are in put in a similar situation the actions of the protesters today have the power to dramatically alter our nation’s policy tomorrow.
President Bush for all of his mainly cosmetic outward flaws and seemingly aggressive “cowboy” bravado is but one part of a power triumvirate. The other two parts are the Senate and the House of Representatives. These two organizations are both intended to reflect the will of the people. They are the most accountable to the people of this nation because they each represent but a slice of the population and their views. Both of these organizations rubber-stamped this war. They ceded the power endowed to them in the Constitution to declare war to President Bush. This may not be a declared war but it cannot be called anything less than a de facto war. We don’t refer to it as “Force in Iraq” but as “War in Iraq.” They had no right to do this and we had no right to let them do this.
Protesting has its place but dissent must not be forgotten. Stacks and stacks of letters or millions of emails to Senators and Representatives mean something. If enough constituents had actively voiced concern via first being a registered and active voter and then an engaged and active citizen this war might have been avoided. In an age where we can contact people the world over with email and postal letters why have we forgotten to contact the people that actively want to hear from us. To the protesters here and across this nation I say remember the troops and support them. I urge you to register and vote in the first election that comes along. I urge the Fairfield University protesters to run a voter registration drive and encourage responsible civics among our ranks. Get people informed and involved.
Young people can have a real voice in this country if we would just vote. Finally, I urge all to flood the switchboards in Washington (which some anti-war activists have done) instead of flooding the streets of our nation. This is not a republic we live in. It is an apathetic democracy that needs to wake up.
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