Demonstrating the Power of the People

No, I'm not talking "Second Amendment remedies" threatened by Sharon Angle of Nevada. I am talking about how taking to the streets and flooding public forums have moved us in the past--even the recent past. Response might not be instant, but politicians can usually see the future.

Our choice is not between the bullets or the ballots. The remedy is not Second Amendment and guns but First Amendment and freedom of speech. Our voices and bodies, the sounds and pictures of us protesting and witnessing for our values, can and have moved mountains. Together the people can overwhelm the bought and paid for megaphones sponsored by Big Business and Big Government using Big Money to drown out voices and keep from our democracy.

Remember that anti-war protestors in the 60s did not end the war quickly, but did drive LBJ out. And eventually, their voices, our voices and rage, were felt by the political establishment. Remember that landmark civil rights legislation did not come into existence ex-nihilo, but from a mass movement that was planned, implemented and, while starting (at least publically) small with Rosa Parks refusing to move, grew into marches, sit-ins and boycotts. All of which moved our society and made a difference. Remember too that this is not the exclusive franchise of left or liberals, but that the Tea Party changed, for at least one election cycle, the center of gravity of the Republican Party--moving it farther from the center and towards the right edge of the world. I may not like it, but it worked and still works.