Reply #24: A Couple Of Letters To The Editor Of The Newark Star Ledger [View All]

[DistressedAmerican]

Some great comment from protesters and some nonsense from Bushies thrown to be "fair and balanced":

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/111052208262640.xml?starledger?for

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This is democracy?
Friday, March 11, 2005
As a participant in last Friday's peaceful protest in Westfield against President Bush's proposed radical changes to Social Security, I was angered by the government's calculated blocking of anything resembling a true "conversation" on the issues, as the administration likes to bill its marketing campaign.

While the armory where Bush "conversed" was filled with carefully selected supporters, objectors were herded away from their nation's leader, barred from lining the route of his motorcade and repeatedly blocked by police barriers when they tried to wind through the streets.

Protesters were divided by this police tactic into smaller groups. The one of perhaps 150 people I was in, kept many blocks from the armory, was amused and appalled when a special police unit in dehumanizing face shields and black jumpsuits joined a fire engine, a fleet of squad cars and a small army of uniformed city and county officers to protect -- what? Homeland security from us?

If this outrageous obstruction of constitutionally protected protest is what the administration's promised two-month propaganda blitzkrieg of the nation will be like, how can we pretend to export democracy to the rest of the world?

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Dwindling liberties

President Bush and I both visited Westfield last Friday to talk about Social Security. Our paths never crossed -- not surprising given the heavy-handed attempt to marginalize opposition voices.

While the president takes credit for tackling the "third rail" of politics, his actions are hardly courageous. A true leader would seek broad consensus on Social Security and listen to both sides. Bush hides in a protective bubble, speaking only to supporters. Even he admits his plan doesn't solve the problem he claims needs attention. In lieu of leadership, we get crisis mongering and bait-and- switch -- the same duplicity that sold the Iraq war.

If Bush were as interested in repairing, respecting and reinvigorating representative democracy as he is in destroying Social Security, there'd be no need for street protests -- or reason for police to act as they did. In treating nonviolent demonstrators as would-be criminals undeserving of minimal decency and politeness, the cops behaved like jackbooted thugs. Any balance between presidential security and honoring the right to assemble peacefully was distorted beyond recognition. It is yet another example of how our civil liberties are gradually eroding and our democracy diminishing under this hypocritical presidency.
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Pressure is mounting on these police thugs!