Protest Was Patriotic When ACORN or ANSWER Were Involved

Glenn Reynolds has a piece in the Washington Examiner detailing how protest was considered patriotic when professional leftist groups like ACORN or ANSWER (today's communists) were running them, but are not simply "mob action" when average citizens are turning out in large numbers:

"Protest is patriotic!" "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism!"

These battle-cries were heard often, in a simpler America of long ago -- that is, before last November. Back then, protests -- even if they were organized by the usual leftist apparatchik-groups like ANSWER or ACORN -- were seen - at least in the media - as proof of popular discontent.

When handfuls of Code Pink ladies disrupted congressional hearings or speeches by Bush
administration officials, it was taken as evidence that the administration's policies were unpopular, and that the thinking parts of the populace were rising up in true democratic fashion.

Even disruptive tactics aimed at blocking President Bush's Social Security reform program were merely seen as evidence of boisterous high spirits and robust, wide-open debate. On May 23, 2005, the Savannah Morning News reported:

“By now, Jack Kingston is used to shouted questions, interruptions and boos. Republican congressmen expect such responses these days when they meet with constituents about President Bush's proposal to overhaul Social Security.

“Tinkering with the system is always controversial. To make Bush's plan even more so -- political foes are sending people to Social Security forums armed with hostile questions.

By now, Kingston, a Savannah lawmaker and part of the GOP House leadership, has held 10 such sessions and plans at least seven more.”

On March 16, USA Today reported that Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum "was among dozens of members of Congress who ran gantlets of demonstrators and shouted over hecklers at Social Security events last month. Many who showed up to protest were alerted by e-mails and bused in by anti-Bush organizations such as MoveOn.org and USAction, a liberal advocacy group. They came with prepared questions and instructions on how to confront lawmakers."

This was just good, boisterous politics: "Robust, wide-open debate." But when it happens to Democrats, it's something different: A threat to democracy, a sign of incipient fascism, and an opportunity to set up a (possibly illegal) White House "snitch line" where people are encouraged to report "fishy" statements to the authorities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the "Tea Party" protesters Nazis, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman --forgetting the events above -- claims that left-leaning groups never engaged in disruptive tactics against Social Security reform, and various other administration-supporting pundits are trying to spin the whole thing as a deadly move toward "mob rule" and – somewhat contradictorily -- as a phony "astroturf" movement.

Remember: When lefties do it, it's called "community organizing." When conservatives and libertarians do it, it's "astroturf."
But some people are noticing the truth. As Mickey Kaus notes, "If an 'astroturfing' campaign gets real people to show up at events stating their real views, isn't it ... community organizing?" Why yes, yes it is.

As someone who's been following the Tea Party campaign since the beginning, it seems to me to be the most genuine outbreak of grassroots popular involvement in my lifetime. People have been turning out, in the tens of thousands at times, because they feel that Obama pulled a bait-and-switch and is moving the country much farther to the left than he promised during the campaign.

More significantly, most of these people are turning out to protest for the first time in their lives, and they're planning for future political involvement in years to come. Perhaps that's what's got the critics worried.

There's more here.

When two Code Pinko protesters tried to disrupt Sarah Palin's speech in the middle of the Republican Convention did any Democrat suggest those were Nazi tactics, or even denounce them in any form at all? Of course not. Dissent and bad behavior is patriotic as long as it's against Republicans and conservatives.

How many times was Barack Obama's speech at the Democrat Convention interrupted by Republican protesters? Zero. We know how to behave in public.

However, Republicans are beginning to realize that polite behavior is not getting their message out, and amidst genuine anger are starting to express themselves in ways they haven't before. Democrats don't like looking out into a sea of angry faces demanding answers. They're not used to that.

An "astroturf" (or fake grassroots) movement cannot last long. People who don't genuinely feel strongly about an issue will not continue to turn out or vigorously pursue their goals. Given the increasing intensity of the Tea Party movement and the numbers of people who are making their first political stands on behalf of freedom and American exceptionalism, it's clear this movement is not manufactured and those politicians who choose to mock or ignore it do so at their own peril.