Move On From Meetings

By the way, MoveOn.org hosted some parties across the country tonight to organize opposition to George W. Bush's judicial nominees. There were a couple in Essex County, New Jersey, where I live. So why didn't I go to one? I asked myself that, then I suddenly remembered why - I went to a couple of meetings of an antiwar group two years ago, thinking I'd help make a difference and make a few new likeminded friends in the process. I though I was going to get involved in the fight against the war in Iraq and that I would help out in their projects, which included a public access television show I hoped to write for.

And of course, nothing happened. I kept e-mailing a couple of members and they said they'd get back to me about future meetings but they never did. The result was that I'm soured on group activism. In fact, I've soured on activism per se, because I never got any personal satisfaction out of it - but then, I'm always backing losing causes! (This is a topic I'll return to in a future post.)

Incidentally, I've come to the following conclusion about the war. We just can't pull out of Iraq tomorrow even if we want to, because creating instability will only make it worse. That, ironically, is an argument that has prevailed in Lebanon for allowing Syrian troops there, a condition Bush opposes.

Although, I can understand Bush's refusal to deal with Syrian President Bashar el-Assad, a ruthless, miltiaristic leader who disrespects the sovereignty of another nation and was put into his job five years ago because his father had held the same office. . . . Hey, wait a minute! :-O