Misguided passion

I keep reading about folks planning protests in New York City for the Republican Convention. Not just the obviously large-scale stuff, but blocking traffic, getting arrested, causing mayhem, etc.

Am I the only liberal who thinks this is not only ridiculous, but damaging to the cause?

Who exactly are they protesting for? The Republicans? News flash: the Republicans don't give a shit. So who? The media? Yes, the media is known for its careful articulation of the thoughtful positions of left-wing twentysomethings. Swing voters? Seems to me that chaining yourself to a car in the middle of Madison Avenue, and getting on the news for it, would only play to the swing voter's stereotype of liberal-as-heedless-lawbreaker, hardly the one we want to be putting out there right now.

None of this is to condone "free speech zones" and other such crap that's descended from local law enforcement in the last year or so. Obviously there's nothing that's American, and much that's disgusting, about such things. But here are two thoughts: (1) Republicans do actually deserve to congregate in New York City without all of this crap getting in their way. It's just a convention, after all. It's just for show, which means so are the protests. And even if one disagrees, then certainly the owners of small businesses in the area certainly have the right not to have their business further curtailed by this kind of silliness. A little respect, people. This isn't Wesleyan.

And more importantly, (2): If all of these people who have spent months figuring out how they're going to screw up a convention would put that energy into going to a swing state, registering voters, and canvassing for Kerry--that is, getting their hands dirty with actual electoral politics, which is what this race will turn on--then come November 2nd, we might see an actual return on the investment of our outrage.

We might not have gotten to scream our heads off for four days, but hey, life's a compromise.