Here We Go

As I touched on in yesterday's post, the Republican National Convention is going to be held later this year in St. Paul. It is my belief that there is going to be some serious protesting going on in my fair city. It turns out that some groups are already "practicing." From a report today on kstp.com:

ST. PAUL (AP) - A few dozen anti-war protesters marched Wednesday from the state Capitol to the Xcel Energy Center, hoping it will guarantee them to chance to hold a demonstration along the same route during the Republican National Convention in September.
The sign-toting, slogan-chanting crowd set out around noon in near-zero temperatures on what they described as the first part of a recurring protest.


The group "The Coalition to March on the RNC to Stop the War" (that is TCTMOTRNCTSTW to you and me) claims that protesting takes some serious planning and practice.

"The protest of the Republican National Convention requires the same type of planning the Republican National Convention requires," said Bruce Nestor, a Minneapolis attorney working with protesters as part of the National Lawyers Guild.

No question about that. Now, once again, I would like to say that I am firmly FOR the right of American citizens to protest. I look at it as freedom of speech and, when orderly, is a fundamental right. Hey, try protesting in China or Iran and see where it gets you. Either thrown in the huzcow (probably wrong spelling of that) or dead or worse. So I am all for it. Also, as I have written, I am a big fan of 60's tunes. So, of course, a small part of me thinks it would be fun to walk down the street chanting some slogan (hell, no, we won't go!) with a big 'fro and a sign that tells other people What Jeff Thinks. But another part of me would feel like a fraud unless we were protesting "not building a Twins stadium" or a raising beer tax or something.

As I have written before, I do not believe that all protesters have "the issue" in mind when they march. Here was my breakdown of why people protest in that previous post, which I still believe is fairly accurate:

10% - People protesting because they care deeply about the issue at hand.
15% - People trying to relive the '60's.
25% - People pissed because they missed the '60's.
40% - People who just like to burn things and break shit.
10% - People who "just happened to be in the area."

It is the burning things and breaking shit that has me worried about the protesters this fall. Hey, I love downtown St. Paul. The X, Rice Park, the Science Museum, The Liffy (for God sakes), Tom Reid's, McGovern's, The Gopher Bar (but they'll leave that place alone), etc. We don't need people lighting that stuff on fire. I'm starting to get paranoid because I've seen too much video of Chicago in 1968.

Anyway, it's not the people who are practicing protesting that worry me. Hey, have a sit-in. See if I care. It's the people who drive the love bus in from Jersey just as the acid kicks in that worry me. They had better not lay a hand on the Xcel Energy Center.

Peace,

Jeff