Politics: I'm with Kos

In this post from yesterday the Daily Kos makes an eloquent and personal statement about the value of protests and rallies. In the world of people who do this sort of thing, these events are generally lumped together under the heading "direct action." I am with Kos. I dislike direct action. (As with Kos' post, it should also be noted that I am virulently opposed to the war in Iraq, and feel with absolute conviction that the principle goal of the White House is to obtain oil drilling rights and win elections.)

I will write more extensively on the subject, but Kos' points about the damage done to the anti-war perspective by the attitude and associations of many of the 'direct activists' on the Mall this weekend are well-founded. To paraphrase a better man before me, I would defend to the death your right to have a rally, but I'm just not going.

Kos also points to Nathan Newman's comments that, if the hundreds of thousands on the Mall had instead wrote letters to their policy makers or run phone banks, for instance, they could have magnified their impact even more.