We have POLLING places, but we don't have PROTEST places.

[barbaraann]

I've been thinking a lot about how we rolled over for the 2000 coup and how that could have been avoided. And I've been thinking about how in other countries, there are traditional places people gather to protest and how those protests are crucial in helping ordinary people have a say in their government. I lived in Europe for a long time and people there really know how important protest is and how voting is NOT enough to maintain democracy.

It seems to me that because we don't have a strong tradition of local protest we don't get the democracy we should have. And it seems to me that a first step in strengthening our ability to protest would be to designate protest points. If I had had a designated protest point and a directive from my leaders to show up when the Supreme Court carried out its coup in 2000, my family and I would have demonstrated for as long as it took. Because our transportation systems are such a disaster here in the Seattle area, someone would have had to think carefully about how to get people to places where the maximum impact could have been achieved, keeping in mind that getting to downtown Seattle for most people would have been impossible.

The biggest lesson I have learned from the past three years is that voting and helping in a political campaign are NOT enough to guarantee democracy. The right can too easily manipulate the system if that is all a country's citizens do.

Well, I'm not in charge, but I hope someone in the Democratic Party, MoveOne, or some other other organization can PLAN for a protest when the GOP attempts it next coup. I'll be there.