. . . As a freelance writer, I pitched my services to cover a peace rally on the west steps of the state Capitol building last Friday, September 7, and the editor went for it.As it turned out, there wasnÂ’t much of a story there, but it was impossible to tell in advance that the event would be such a flop. . . . Some organizers had predicted that 3,000 peace activists were going to show up, but the people on the steps of the Capitol to protest the war never numbered much more than 200 souls, and of that number a couple dozen were either speakers or organizers.
Without a trace of irony, one of the first speakers at the event shouted into the microphone, “This is what democracy looks like,” and then tried to lead the pathetically small crowd in chanting those words, but the effort died. . . .
An hour into the event, a woman passed me with a disappointed look on her face and said, “This is pitiful.”
And it was. “We are not insignificant,” a speaker read from his prepared speech, but the numbers assembled before him gave lie to his words. And the repeated references to the will of the people seemed pointedly indifferent to the fact of the rather listless group that milled around, carrying the same sorts of banners and placards that might have been seen a couple of generations ago in much larger and much younger gatherings. . . .
. . . Perhaps a lesson that can be drawn from last FridayÂ’s rally is that what once worked to turn the nation against the war in Vietnam isnÂ’t going to play in re-runs. . . .
"Read the whole thing--it's the feel-good story of the season!"
--James Taranto, Wall Street Journal