{"id":1272,"date":"2007-09-04T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2007-09-04T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1272"},"modified":"2007-09-03T14:52:22","modified_gmt":"2007-09-03T19:52:22","slug":"meet-me-out-in-the-street-wear-pants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=1272","title":{"rendered":"Meet Me Out In The Street. Wear Pants."},"content":{"rendered":"

Last spring, when I appeared on MPR’s “In The Loop<\/em>” on a panel discussion, Jeff Horwich asked me (and I’m paraphrasing closely) why conservatives aren’t out there on the street, protesting.<\/p>\n

I stammered and yawped my way through the the answer, live on the air (it’s much easier being a host than a guest!).\u00a0 As I noted later<\/a>, I wished <\/em>I’d said…:<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff, I think the difference is that conservatism isn\u2019t fundamentally about emotions, or their expression.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liberalism – or the left, anyway – is really a co-option (good or cynical, or a little of both, really) of a lot of things most of us are taught as kids; share with people, be nice, don\u2019t fight, you\u2019ll shoot your eye out with that gun.\u00a0 That kind of thing.\u00a0 Now, it adds some grownup things, like a legal imperative and, in extreme cases, a certain pseudo-religious ardor – but at the end of the day liberalism is\u00a0 just an institutionalized version of things we all learned in kindergarten.<\/p>\n

Conservatism is not about emotions, usually; it\u2019s something that doesn\u2019t come easily to a lot of people, since it\u2019s something you have to think hard about, and in some ways on the surface it seems to fly in the face of things we\u2019re brought up to believe.\u00a0 You share, or be nice, or quit fighting, not because mommy or the government tell you to, but because it\u2019s the right thing to do.\u00a0 And you realize that there\u2019s complexity to all these things; sharing in the form of charity is good, while welfare has and causes serious problems.\u00a0 Fighting is bad, but sometimes it\u2019s necessary to defend yourself, your family, and your country.\u00a0 That kind of thing.<\/p>\n

So if you consider that becoming a real conservative is largely a solitary, intellectual journey rather than an emotional wave one gets swept up in, it makes a lot more sense that we\u2019re not out there waving signs and threatening to, say, bum-rush Erica\u2019s convention, to pick a random example.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, I was oversimplifying, of course; emotion is a huge, and justifiable, part of the pro-life movement.\u00a0 And the left’s war of bigotry against the law-abiding gun owner certainly left many a rigorously law-abiding citizen in a fit of pique or two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But either way, with few exceptions, conservative movements are generally not about standing about in the street and waving signs – and certainly not about standing around hoping to get “arrested” and slapped with what in the (liberal) protester-friendly Twin Cities generally involves the most token possible charge and released instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I have no desire whatsoever to change that!<\/p>\n

But if there’s one thing “protests” are good for, it’s getting outdoors, meeting people, and having a good time.<\/p>\n

Now, on Saturday the 15th, the Anarkids are going to be throwing a “tune-up” march in downtown Saint Paul, in the environs of the Capitol and the X – basically the area that’s going to see most of the action next year.<\/p>\n

And it’d be fun to get some of the Good Guys and Gals out there.\u00a0 To “show the flag”, literally and figuratively.<\/p>\n

Of course, being a group of conservatives, we have to have an operating philosophy; I suggest “WWPJOD” (“What would P.J. O’Rourke Do?”)<\/p>\n

Over this next week, a group of us at True North will be organizing a counterprotest; a big, fun, loud, fun, raucus, fun, “tune-down” for the passersby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We’d love to see you there.<\/p>\n

Details forthcoming.<\/p>\n

It may be out of character – but it’ll be fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last spring, when I appeared on MPR’s “In The Loop” on a panel discussion, Jeff Horwich asked me (and I’m paraphrasing closely) why conservatives aren’t out there on the street, protesting. I stammered and yawped my way through the the answer, live on the air (it’s much easier being a host than a guest!).\u00a0 As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-convention-08","category-days-of-adolescent-rage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}