Marching To Irrelevance

David Corn
September 29, 2005

David Corn writes The Loyal Opposition twice a month for TomPaine.com. Corn is also the Washington editor of The Nation and is the author of The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (Crown Publishers).


Was it 100,000? Or 150,000? Or 227,000? Or 301,294 and three dogs?

That's one reason I'm a bit down on come-to-Washington demonstrations. Following the gathering, the debate often focuses on the body count. And organizers, I suspect, usually adopt the tactic of the military in exaggerating both the number and its meaning. So after the protesters leave town, what remains? A dispute more than a debate. Which is what happened following the anti-war rally that occurred this past Saturday.

Three decades after Vietnam, perhaps it's time to rethink the utility of mass demonstrations. Back in the 1960s, such events had the power of novelty. Never before had so many citizens protested a war. That was news. And in the days before daily polling that is regurgitated by cable news, newspapers and blogs, these demonstrations were necessary signs that something was happening here—or there. But today, anyone who bothers to read newspapers knows that a majority of Americans believe the war in Iraq was a mistake. Thus, the news footage of an anti-war demonstration carries less impact.