It’s Iraq, Not Vietnam

2:08 pm EST August 26th, 2005 | Democrats | 9 Comments

Chris Bowers has a good post on this issue

While progressives admire and appreciate those trailblazers who came before them, unlike conservatives we are not bound to follow in their footsteps. Iraq is not Vietnam, and we should not mistake it as such. The actions that succeeded in ending the war in Vietnam will not succeed in ending the war in Iraq. Even more importantly, the progressive movement cannot suffer another twenty-five years of ossification where we offer unrequited worship to the institutions and methodologies of our forebearers.

This is what bothered me and has bothered me since I went to the Take Back America conference. Way too many of the constituents were of the aging hippie variety who don’t have a clue that the way we fight these battles nowadays is via organization and the media and not singing protest songs with Joan Baez.

It is 2005. Stop protesting.

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9 Responses to “It’s Iraq, Not Vietnam”

  1. Oliver says:
    August 26, 2005 at 3:08 pm

    That’s why we had a Democratic president stop genocide. I know, the Republicans were carping at him while he did it, but it happened.

  2. evergreen says:
    August 26, 2005 at 3:08 pm

    Instead of protesting, let’s get a bunch of like-minded folks together… march on Pennsylvania Ave…kick the doors in …drag the Bushco criminals out of their holes…and lock them up in prison where all traitors to democracy belong.

    They are criminals and should be treated as such. No protest needed.

  3. SaveFarris says:
    August 26, 2005 at 3:08 pm

    Even more importantly, the progressive movement cannot suffer another twenty-five years of ossification where we offer unrequited worship to the institutions and methodologies of our forebearers.

    Not to mention the fact that for the next 30 years, the Democratic Party lost the faith of the American people on National Security matters.

    But hey, if you want a return to those days, more power to you!!!

  4. Oliver says:
    August 26, 2005 at 5:08 pm

    Which Republican has ever stopped genocide? In fact, the list of Republicans who have done business with international criminals is significantly longer than the list of those who have “stopped genocide” (a list with no members).

  5. SaveFarris says:
    August 26, 2005 at 5:08 pm

    So when a Republican stops genocide, why do Democrats insist on carping?

  6. goatchowder says:
    August 27, 2005 at 6:08 am

    See, evergreen points out exactly what the aging hippies have forgot, and why protesting is no longer effective. Protesting worked in the 1960′s because the protesters were *dangerous and scary*. Have you seen the old clips from those days? Watched the recent Weather Underground documentary? Protests were violent, hippies were dangerous, and they used to *scare* the Powers That Be into paying attention.

    Aging hippies singing Joan Baez songs just don’t generate that kind of urgency. I like peaceful protests, but, alas, they don’t accomplish shit.

    Marches and protests used to be the warning signs of revolutions, uprisings. Masses of people marching carries the implicit threat that the masses would drag the aristocrats out of the castle and behead them. Even in the 1960′s, the police were outnumbered and underequipped to deal with the throngs of angry hippies.

    What the olde farts have forgotten– and us young folk weren’t around to experience– is that hippies used to be *scary* and *dangerous*. They threw rocks, they burned down ROTC buildings, they broke stuff, they screamed and cursed, and the cops didn’t have much recourse except to mow them down, which they eventually did at Kent State.

    It’s a modern age and that whole “mobs in the street” model doesn’t work anymore. Today, all that matters is money. It’s all the economy, stupid. Money is political power, pure and simple. We wanted to see Howard Dean get appointed to run the Democratic Party because of his courageous stands and straight talk, but that’s not what got him the job. What got him the job was his demonstrated ability to *raise money*. From us, of course.

    The wingnuts have taken over our country because of one thing only: they are extremely good at raising money. Those fuckers can sell like there’s no tomorrow: representing the combined expertise of Huge Megalithic Corporations with all their marketing know-how, massive evangelical TV ministries like Robertson’s, Falwell’s, and Dobson’s, and the nattering nabobs of nutdom in the hate radio industry.

    Fuck protesting. Send money instead.

  7. serial catowner says:
    August 27, 2005 at 8:08 am

    Here’s a little clue for you all- the protesters are the parents of the aging hippies. Make space in your busy (and fulfilling?) lives to actually attend a protest, and you’ll find the people there are average Americans, not hippies. If you were an aging hippy, as I am, you would know the difference.

    As for the whole idea of “working within the system”, the reason we ended up with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets is that it didn’t work. Now, I am personally able to report that for the past 30 years I have been trying to work “within the system”, and it still doesn’t work.

    If you’re happy with what you’re getting from the system, stay home and watch television. The system is going to give you what you’re getting now regardless of what any single person does.

    As for chowderheads comment, do you think the telly and movies are going to show you boring peaceful demonstrations or teach-ins? European workers still fill the streets regularly and now have a higher standard of living than we do. Get a clue.

  8. dugger1 says:
    August 27, 2005 at 8:08 am

    “the people there are average Americans, not hippies.”

    Really! Then everyone of these ‘average’ people must have visited Fred’s Used Hippie Clothes Shop and Sign Emporium before their protests.

    Dugger, “I’d Like to teach the World to Sing in perfect Acrimony”

  9. JK says:
    August 27, 2005 at 10:08 am

    Have to disagree with Oliver. These protests are small, and yes, they’re probably of the “hippie” variety. However, whether you agree or disagree with Cindy Sheehan, she and the other people in Crawford, Tx. have started a grassroots effort to question this war, and largely succeeded in bringing the war into the forefront of American consciouness.

    In other words, if you’re over the age of 14, and don’t have an opinion about this war, you’re probably brain dead.

    As someone once recently said, once these protests start to include soccer moms and dads, then there’s real trouble for the Bush administration.

    There could be no more powerful statementl, no more powerful image that this war is wrong, than 500,000 “average Americans” marching on Washington, D.C. That may be a long-way away.

    The two strategies can co-exist as well. So, I don’t see why calling for an end to the traditional protest is particularly productive.

    JK