Our very own massacree.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Alright, here’s a fairly weird idea that might have some actual merit to it. Or, tell me to shut up, and go back to Great Debates.

Suppose a whole lot of those fractious, opinionated, cite demanding, myth busting, ignorance fighting Straight Dopers were to arrive, on the same day, at our very own Nation’s Capital. And suppose further, that each and every one of them brought with them a sign. A sign demanding that Congress, and the President implement their own particular pet “thing” that the Congress or President ought to do.

I mean, just imagine it. Socialists, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Trekkies, Animal Rights Activists, Vegetarians, UFOlogists, Christians, Wiccens, Capitalists, war mongers, pacifists, Gay Rights Activists, Anti Abortionists, Pro Choicers, Raving Gun Nuts, and Knee Jerk Liberals, and informed zealots of every stripe, all gathered in our Nation’s Capital, ready to lobby their representatives, and generally cause well regulated social upheaval in the general direction of the free interchange of Ideas!

And then we could go out for beer, afterwards. And we could march together down the sidewalk, from Congress, with our signs. And wouldn’t folks just have to wonder how the hell that happened? I mean, obviously these folks have nothing in common, right? It would be an eye-opener, I tell you. A grass roots demonstration of just what the heck democracy is supposed to be about. And a great party, too.

And maybe the next day, we could go to the Zoo, or the Museums. Or we could time it for some particularly good concerts, or such, they have a lot of them here.

I am figuring late spring, or early summer, with a long lead time, to get permits and such. We won’t specifically mention Cecil’s name, on account of him being such a legal weenie, and all. And of course the Chicago Reader will get absolutely no credit whatsoever for this once in a lifetime expression of freedom of thought. I am sure that’s the way they would want it.

Loudmouths of the World, Unite! Or at least walk together, as we take our own path. Or at least come to the beer and yelling afterwards.

So, am I nuts, or what?

And if I am nuts, is that a yes, or a no?

Tris

“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.” ~ Hypatia of Alexandria ~

2

Can I bring a a flamethrower?

[sub]screw Geneva, and the rest of them Switzers, too![/sub]

3

Must… resist… obvious… reply…

4

Wow Trisk, an incrediably interesting and exciting idea. I wonder, though, about what the Reader would think when we were interviewed and someone had to explain that all us protesters met via the Reader’s message board.
Really cool idea. I love it!

5

Love it, Tris! It would be especially interesting if those with divergent opinions and contrasting signs marched arm-in-arm.
I get the titters just thinking about it!

6

Oh, yes! It is imperative in the nature of the thing that we have solidarity of purpose, in the face of utter disparity of opinion. That’s the nature of the group statement, although no one of us makes that statement. Shoulder to shoulder, into the fray. The triviality of our differences is of no consequence to us; it is our manifest unanimity that such differences have equal right to be heard. Our ideas themselves shall stand or fall on their own merits, not by spurious appeal to popularity, or fashion.

We shall not mention the Chicago Reader, for we all know that such an expression would be distasteful in the extreme to their corporate being. Cecil shall remain unnamed, for he is not among us, by reason of litigious indifference.

OK, so, if I am crazy, I am at least not alone! Way cool!

I urge you all to consider well your purpose, your cause, and then we shall attend to details. Many details need to be attended to. I wish to make it a legal and peaceful demonstration of the right of the people to address their government. Not the issue upon which they choose to speak, but the simple right to speak itself.

We will need a parade permit, I imagine, although a small one, as such things go. And we need some among us willing to sponsor such a rabble as a group. I will volunteer for that, but would be well served to have others from local areas to help. (It would be fitting, in the spirit of the thing if they were not left wing hippie looking people, but let’s not be prejudiced.)

Then we need a few who are willing to attend to the normal details of Dopefests. Crash pads, hotel info, carpooling, and places to eat with relative assurance that we will be welcomed. I imagine that if people are going to come from any distance, they will want to make a weekend of it, at least. So, the big march on a Saturday, leaving that evening free for a big bash. Then a Sunday for cultural events, of which the City has many. Probably a Friday dinner for the early comers, and a Monday breakfast for the lingerers. I think April is good, and with luck, even the cherry blossoms will be there for us. ( A quick check of my pictures for 99, 00 and 01 show that the date would need to be early April, and we still might miss, if the blossoms come early.) Or, later, since the weather will be a bit warmer, in late April, or May.

I have a one-bedroom apartment, and can only reasonably put up one or two highly adaptive folks who don’t mind sleeping on a palette on the floor. I live outside of the city, though, so such adventurers will have to plan on getting around with me, or by bus, which service is available, other than sucking a bit. (half hourly bus to Metro, 6am to 10pm, stops outside my building.)

There are a surprising number of DC Area Dopers, though. I bet we can get forty or fifty people together, if we work at it.

OK, who do we march on? The White House never lets you anywhere near. I don’t know if we can go to the House as a group, but if you are a registered voter, you can surely make an appointment to see your Congresscritter on the fated day. Then we do our legal demonstration parade on the way back, marching away from Congress. (nice touch, eh?) Hmm. We may have to march on a weekday. I don’t think Congress works weekends. That’s fine with me, but I think it runs counter to tradition, Dopefest wise.

Oh, well, these are details.

For now, everyone think.

That should help.

Tris.

“Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what’s going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?” ~ Will Rogers ~

7

I don’t really feel like going through the song and dance that is logging B out and myself back in, so here I am, punha, posting. Anyhoo.

When MsRobyn and I went on a semi-tour of DC like two Mays ago, we got decently close to the White House, though IMHO that isn’t the best place to march. If I were trying to make this as loud and obvious a march as I could, I would honestly try to hit both the US Supreme Court Building, some parts of Georgetown University (and surrounding metro stations), and The Mall. You can hardly walk half a mile in DC without hitting one of these (to say nothing of the three blocks you have to walk to get from one metro station to the nearest one).

Start at the Metro, because it’s easy to get to. Have some of the metro-savvy dopers lead various groups through different color metro lines (the orange and red run perpendicular to each other in some areas, IIRC) and meet up at, like, Metro Center.

DC Metro System map.

From there it’s a hop, skip and jump to the national archives, Smithsonian, Washington Monument and Supreme Court. And whatever metro line you get on from there, you can either transfer to or be on the yellow line, and we can then go to Chinatown for lunch (or, really, whatever. DC ain’t exactly lacking for places to eat), and from there the Pentagon is four stops. And for those who are interested (I’m thinking this would be more sight-seeing than peaceful-protesting), Arlington National Cemetary is a stop up on the Blue Line from the Pentagon.

Then it’s a switch to the Red Line at Gallery Plaza/Chinatown and on to Union Station, which has both Marc and Amtrak trains. Both of those go to Baltimore train station, which has a free (rather frequent) shuttle service to BWI. Or, if you prefer flying into National Airport (for those of you who may plan on flying in for this), it’s just three metro stop after the Pentagon.

As for housing…B and I don’t know for sure yet exactly where we’ll be staying, but I think it’s fairly safe to say that we’ll be out of her mother’s house by this summer/late spring. And if we’re in the place we’ve been looking at, which is a 3-BR house (rent down here is beyond dirt cheap. The same place that costs $400/month here would cost 1200 easy up near DC), we should be able to house any NC/southwest VA/KY/TN dopers or others of their ilk who are up to making a 300-400 mile drive to our place for the night and then driving up in a caravan of two or more cars.

I do think this feels like a whole-day thing, especially since it’s easy to walk around in DC for about five hours without even realizing it. Granted, one’s feet or knees would be writing a Letter of Complaint at that point, but it is very doable. And what is even better is that it won’t be so very cold anymore, and it won’t yet be oppressively hot. Really the only thing to worry about is rain, and anyone who’s seen DC (or NYC or Chicago or LA or SF or whatever) in action knows how much rain it takes to slow down DC:)

I’ll email my mother (remember, folks, this is punha posting. B’s asleep:)) and ask her what route the pro-life march takes every year, as it’s relatively easy to navigate and goes past, among other things, the US Supreme Court.

::hoping this goes through before routine board maintenance::

8

I’d love to be a Libertarian Objectivist Atheist out there in that parade, equal to everyone else around me, one of many disparate but unified voices heard that day. :slight_smile:

Triskadekamus, the fact you could have such an idea demonstrates a deep understanding of true democracy. It makes me proud to share a discussion forum with you.

9

So, am I nuts, or what?

Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

::breaks out Big Fat magic markers and begins making Psychiatric Inmates’ Liberation Front signs::

:slight_smile:

10

But would we all have to sing, “You can get anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant”?

11

And if two Dopers walked in, sang a bar of Alices Restaurant, and walked out, they’d think it was Scott Evil and Matt_mcl and they wouldn’t take either of 'em.

:wink:

12

And if fifty dopers, imagine fifty dopers walking in, singing a chorus of Alices Resturant, and walking out.

They’d think it was a Movement!

OK, singing is fine with me.

“We shall overcome.”

“All we are saying, is babble babble babble babble.”

Does anyone else think the arranged visit with various different congrescritters, and a march from the Capitol, to the Supreme Court sounds doable? (It’s a short walk; maybe we should be more ambitious.) I doubt that they will let us take signs into the various congressional office buildings. So, there needs to be a central point to pick up our signs, and marshal our forces.

Those wishing to be arrested for acts of civil disobedience should do so after the main march. Not everyone is a pioneer. Not everyone even agrees with you, in fact. If you want to be bailed out, (waffle!) you will have to arrange that yourself.

Me, I am thinking of catchy signs:

"Don’t follow me, I’m an Anarchist!"

“Nilhists of the world. . . nevermind.”

Tris

13

I am somewhat interested, if for no other reason than the party afterwards. :slight_smile:

Now to think of a cause…

14

Especially Barry. If it weren’t for his getting caught, Oklahoma would have the longest #1 streak ever.

15

This is a great idea, however there is an ocean between us that I don’t think I can traverse :frowning: somebody please take photos and let the press know what you are going to do before hand.

Go Dopers!

16

Is this not cause enough to march?

17

Finally- a movement for my generation!
I love it.

18

I think it’s a faboo idea. We may be able to offer some crash space to any Dopers who don’t mind dog hair, cat hair, and punky teenagers all that much.

In the meantime, I’ll be trying to come up with a catchy slogan for a pro-life, pro-military Libertarian atheist.

19

Catchy signs? I’m there.

Apathists of the world - Who cares?
Fatalists of the world - Why bother?

:slight_smile:

20

The tricky part is lobbying one’s representatives, who are almost never present on the weekends, and rarely even on Fridays. (As I understand it, the normal Congressional week runs Tuesday through Thursday, and by Friday morning they’re out of town. Unless they have a whole buncha stuff they’ve got to do before recessing for a longer period of time, in which case they’re probably too busy to talk with constituents.)

Other than that hitch, this communitarian liberal Christian is good to go. I’ll talk with Mrs. F. about putting people up for this hypothetical event. Between guest beds and sofas, we can sleep several guests, even without getting into floor space.

Timing-wise, I’m for May. Tourist-wise, it’s between the cherry-blossom crowds and the summer tourist season, which is a plus. And May is generally mild without being hot, which is also a good thing.