There is more to protesting than poll numbers

With opposition to the war hovering around 60-65% it would seem that protests would be rampant. Student sit-ins, unorganized and spontaneous gatherings of disgruntled youth would fill the 24 hour news networks. However, all is silent on the post-modern front. Students go to class, teachers review their basic lessons, and workers go to work. A sense of malaise is in the air and the effects of this war seem to be on the periphery. We may know someone who has a cousin or distant relative in the war, or we may have an idea about where Iraq is geographically, but the essence of the war and its global ramifications are absent in civil society. Have we become desensitized to death and destruction? Have we giving up on our first amendment right to protest the government? Do we give a damn?

Last night the President of these United States made a shift in foreign policy, which will entail the increase of troops into the war torn theater of Iraq. No matter what your opinion of the President is he still has the power to send young men and women, our follow citizens, into a situation which can cost them their lives and destroy families. The support for this war is at 15-18%. Let me repeat that number 15-18% of the population support the efforts by this administration in the war. However, without these numbers you would assume that everyone is in favor. There are no out cries of anger and disappointment, no public assemblies of fist waving youth, no speeches in Beacon Park. The American voice is absent. The American people are absent. In effect, America is absent. A rouge President can do anything he wants in this apathetic atmosphere. Rights can be dismantled, war can be fought without a clear vision for victory, nations can be bombed, countries can be overthrown and leaders can be hung. We are left with coffee cups in hand, shaking our head and scoffing at “those idiots”. Never once thinking that those idiots represent us, they represent the better men of a nation. Those idiots are our representatives, we are responsible for their power, and we are ultimately responsible for their actions. In effect, we decided to send more troops.