I can’t say I am moved by all the controversy this summer over how many will be allowed to protest at the Republican National Convention and how close they can get and for how long. I think it is an exercise in impotence by people more concerned with making noise than making change. Trust me, I despise this Bush administration as much as anyone. And I recognize that among the delegates to the RNC are the truest of its true believers.

But c’mon—don’t these Republicans know the country hates their war, their abrogation of the Constitution, their manipulation of science, their attempts to politicize every once-sober function of government, and their attempts to label anyone who would disagree with them as unpatriotic? They know. They support a President with 27 percent approval ratings. They know the country is done with them.

This convention was sought out by our Democratic mayors and Democrat leaning Congressional delegation as an economic development tool. They didn’t just bid for the DNC. They went for whichever one would bite. If we didn’t want the RNC, we should have decided that beforehand. (Or we can let RT know at the ballot box in 2009. But we won’t because we are suckers for well-meaning earnestness and ineffectuality.)

In the meantime, why not focus on how to make our Republican guests feel as welcome as possible so some of them come back and steer their conferences and vacations here? So they walk the streets and spend money in our restaurants and shops instead of holing up in their hotel room in fear of a bottle being thrown at them. So they relocate their businesses or consider expanding one here. I mean, we want their dirty money, no?

I have to laugh after reading that several members of the Minneapolis City Council will be on the line in St. Paul protesting. It’s the usual suspects: the windmill tilters, the circus haters, the perpetual victims, the folks who spend the bulk of their time trying to solve social problems beyond their reach rather than figuring out how to make the city work.

Councilmember Cam Gordon notes (in the Southwest Journal article), to his chagrin, that despite participating in decades of protests, protesting doesn’t seem to affect real change. Ding, ding, ding!

I’ve been surprised over the years at the number of people who are heavily involved in protest work (earnest liberals mostly) who don’t vote because they believe the game is cooked either way. That’s Ralph Nader’s line, and it’s not without grains of truth although failing to vote is nothing short of brain-dead.

But if corporations and money run this country, why not work to affect change in ways that have impact (voting for one)? Pension funds and consumer pressure and basic economics have more impact on corporate behavior than protest marches.

I know you’re angry. I’m angry too. Maybe it’s time to figure out ways to protest that are harder to ignore and more likely to effect change.