Phil
Thanks for passing along and elaborating on my comments about the
declaration.
I attended a portion of Saturday's protest and agree with Cindy's assessment
that the turnout was low. The majority of people who turned up seemed to be
the hardcore protest types I met a couple of years ago. I didn't see too
many "regular people". There were a couple of good speeches, but also a
number of shrill ones and, as one might expect at an ANSWER rally, a lot of
linkages to other issues. See
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/17/18625822.php.
The length of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the great reduction in US
casualties since the Iraq surge and the election of Obama all account for a
dampening of interest in the peace movement. That said, I can see the
potential for a new window of opportunity opening up in the next year or
two. If the conflict in Afghanistan drags on without apparent benefit and
it comes to be seen as Obama's war, more folks on the right may follow
George Will in opposing it. At that point, it may be possible to create a
coalition of anti-war progressives and tea party Conservatives in opposition
to a Democratic Party led conflict.
Of course, we should hope that Obama does the right thing and pulls the
troops out of Afghanistan. But, if he doesn't, we libertarians may be able
help pull together a very diverse coalition. I think a ninth anniversary
Afghan war protest coming on the eve of the 2010 elections could be very
interesting.
Marc