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Activist luminaries are planning a major protest in D.C. in October, something special that will hasten the peace and petition for decent governance.
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But a dear friend advises:
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" I think, like most of the world, that we are afraid of 'America's might' since we've seen it turned on ourselves so many times. You ask people to go and camp out and I think they are afraid of being physically hurt. Especially in DC which basically turned unrecognizable to me after 9/11. It's a war zone even when nothing's going on."
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Of course we're afraid. That's how our personal intelligence protects us. But of course we should act anyway. That's what courage is all about. And if one has neither, he doesn't deserve decent government, which after all is not a gift from God, but which always has had to be earned.
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I want to do this. I have a need to do this. But I will not be party to another show of protest that withers away at the first prospect of government thuggery or mere discomfort of the process.
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The movement for peace and decent government -- under whatever of its plethora of organizational names -- has had its own dark sides of personality celebrity, tokenism, and hobbyism. If I conclude that the October initiative is just more of the same old stuff of the past ten years, I will not participate. No more weekend larks on the Mall for this old soldier.
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My requirements for participation are straightforward. I need to gain confidence that the October protest will feature twenty-four hour days, consist of adequate forces (that is a minimum of a million participants) and that we will remain in place until the Peace and our Bill of Rights are assured however long (weeks, months) that takes.
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Lacking such confidence that our resolve is genuine and adequately resourced, I will not participate.
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Gaining such confidence -- whatever the personal hardships involved -- I will actively participate in the preparation and process of the operation, and would reject any recognition or credit save the personal self-satisfaction of being one of the nameless million who will have finally rescued America.
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It's time for integrity in our activism. It's time for a victory. It's time to pay the price.
