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Frustrated Protesters Say Washington Isn't Listening
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Frustrated Protesters Say Washington Isn't Listening
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by Stephen Koff
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WASHINGTON - Early in the Iraq war, thousands of protesters took to public squares in cities like Cleveland and rode buses to Washington. They wanted the United States to end its invasion.
The war continued, and the war critics' frustration has only grown.
The same pattern, but with a smaller group, occurred a little earlier in President Bush's first term, when environmentalists complained about global warming. Al Gore, the former vice president, had said the country needed to regulate smokestack emissions of greenhouse gases, but other politicians caricatured him as a tree-hugging kook.
People are warming up to Gore these days -- but Washington still has no intention of dealing with global warming.
It's hard, if not impossible, to get Washington to listen, or so say activists and even ordinary people who feel impotent in their desire to change the country.
Decades after a long anti-war movement helped prompt the United States to exit Vietnam, after the civil rights movement forced colorblind treatment of all citizens, and even after an outspoken group of mothers brought about tougher drunken-driving laws, ordinary Americans can have a hard time getting their government to listen.
"The American people are losing their voice," says John Becker, a retired police officer from Seven Hills, Ohio, who has voted for Republican presidential candidates ever since the Nixon-Kennedy race.
His perception is widespread, though the frustration is deeper among Democrats, whose party is in the minority.
Congress and the White House debate about Social Security's looming financial problems, about the deficit's legacy on a new generation, about war and the ozone layer, but they have failed to act.
"Most Americans look at Washington from the hinterlands and they see a lot of yelling and vituperation and game playing," says William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has extensively studied civic engagement. "And it seems to be disconnected not only from the problems but from the real political cleavages and disagreements as people experience them."
Young adults who want change don't even try to work with political institutions or power structures, instead going outside on what they see as parallel tracks, says Galston. And older adults have a sense "that the political parties, especially in Washington, D.C., are engaged in senseless squabbling at the expense of doing the public's business."
Yet, lest Americans give up on their government as nonresponsive, Galston and others say citizens can make their voices heard. Large, well-organized pro-immigration rallies -- and, on the other side of the issue, deep discontent over people in this country illegally -- are forcing politicians to make hard decisions.
Congress members "are going to catch heck" over the issue this summer, says Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The group is not involved in immigration issues but, rather, works to further the efforts of the late Howard Jarvis, father of Proposition 13, the 1978 revolt that dramatically cut California taxes.
"There are probably more citizen activists about immigration today than just about anything else," says Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist.
Citizens' voices have been effective in another surprising social movement, Galston says: blocking Wal-Mart from some towns and putting the giant retailer on the defensive nationwide over employee benefits.
"The anti-Wal-Mart campaign has been phenomenally successful in a short period of time, from a standing start," he says.
It helps to have good organization, a clear message, and crystallization of exactly what the activists want. The anti-global warming movement lacks these.
"There are lots of people muttering about the problem, but that is not a movement," Galston says.
And committed activists notwithstanding, the same goes for the Iraq war critics.
"The country is split," Galston says. "And I've been around long enough now to see some real anti-war movements, but at this time in this country, there is nothing resembling a real anti-war movement."
Sarah Morton, who serves on the Northeast Ohio Anti-war Coalition's coordinating committee, recalls a day with rallies across the globe. Everyone went home feeling as if they had been heard.
"That should have been seen as a launching pad for people feeling empowered," says Morton, a playwright. "And I think that people thought that was sort of the culmination: `We've done it."'
Morton recognizes that "it takes long-term commitment." But what counts as a commitment -- let alone a movement -- puzzles some these days.
"You've got a bunch of bloggers blogging, and you've got Cindy Sheehan marching around and doing some things," says Galston. "Believe me, I was not in the streets with the anti-war protesters during Vietnam, but I know what that kind of movement looks like, and it doesn't exist at this point."
He adds, "An e-mail is not a movement."
Copyright © 2006 Newhouse News Service
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