As many of you know, the 2008 Republican National Convention was held from September 1st to September 4th in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The minute the location was announced, activist groups around the region (not just the Twin Cities -- a large part of the Upper Midwest jumped in on this) started to organize their protests.  There were a large range of activities in planning, everything from student walk-outs and concerts to marches and demonstrations to disrupting traffic and blocking off roads.

At the end of the spring semester, when student groups were trying to get some more details down before everyone left for the summer, I was looking forward to participating in a march or two. By that point the area around the Xcel Center had been zoned:  green for peaceful, red for "you're prolly gonna get arrested".  Yet I was still extremely worried that even the safe areas would turn violent.

 And then I went on vacation.  After spending almost two weeks experiencing the different cultures of Mexico and another week basking in the sun dust at Burning Man, I returned early Tuesday (Sept. 2nd) morning to what my friend had termed a "proto-police state". More than 300 people had already been arrested, and by the end of the week the count was over 800.

 But after about 50 hours in a bus and over 6,000 miles in a car, I had completely changed my attitude on protesting the RNC.

First of all, and this is a very weak reason, the people attending the RNC aren't going to care if I protest or not.  They're already set in their ways, and not even thousands of people saying the opposite are going to change their minds.  I know that sounds apathetic, but it's true.  Have you ever had an argument with someone who was convinced that they was right?  You can't change their mind because they've convinced themselves that their idea (or method or philosophy), and only their idea is correct.

Secondly, why would I protest one of the fundamental parts of our country's political structure?  We're lucky to have a two-party system.  We'd be luckier if there were three or four or more viable parties, but at least we have a choice.  (And yeah, at times, the choices aren't all that different, but at least the choice is there.)

Finally, I'm no fan of words without actions.  If I'm going to complain about the Republican energy policy I sure had better be trying to reduce my own energy consumption.  If I'm going to protest the Republican party's attitudes toward women, I should be working to improve equality in my workplace or calling people out when they use words like "bitch".  I feel that without actions to back them up, words are just words.  "Do as I say, even though I don't" just doesn't cut it for me.

Now the RNC is over and its effects have already been pushed to the back pages of the newspapers.   The semester is in full swing and students are more worried about readings and catching up with friends than they are with the state of governmental affairs.  And me?  I'm sitting in the Women's Student Activist Collective's office with the lights out (sunlight is enough) learning how to use video editing software for our Sex Ed for Everyone film project and figuring out what vegetables to plant in my garden;  I have no regrets, only optimism.