Why Conservatives don't demonstrate.

Remember, during the 2000 Florida recount crisis, the incident where some Republicans started to protest the recounting of ballots in Palm Beach or Broward County and were made to leave the room? David Brooks commented about the strangeness of protestors in tasseled loafers. Traditionally, conservatives don't picket, demonstrate or protest. They may attend Support the Troops rallies, but they don't normally expect to change society by marching. They prefer debates and political organizing.

Ever since the success of the Civil Rights movement, which publicized the injustice of Jim Crow in the South, people on the left seem to think there is something legally binding to painting signs and marching in the streets. They don't seem to realize that the purpose of demonstrating is just that, to demonstrate their grievances, as the followers of Ghandi and Martin Luther King did. Those watching and seeing the violent and hate-filled reaction from the authorities were moved by the unfairness to compassion and support for reform.

What would the result have been if MLK, Ghandi or their followers had been filmed throwing rocks at the police or trying to kick a police officer to death? Is anybody really convinced by terrorist actions that their cause is just? I don't think so. That's why civil disobedience must be kept civil. You can't persuade anybody if your cause doesn't appeal to people's sense of fairness.