http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/17/opinion/17tue1.html

It is interesting the way that the ghosts of the 60s protest movement are coming back to haunt us. This editorial of the NYT today is trying to keep the FBI from continuing down the same old path they went down in the 1960s--in which the tactics they used to infilitrate protest movements were so illegal that few of the cases against actual criminal activities could be prosecuted and little of the information that they gathered was useful.

On the other hand, Todd Gitlin (SDS pres in 1963-64) and John Passacantando have warned the protesters themselves to keep it clean: "Protesters who spell "Bush" with a swastika, who smash windows, fight the police or try to block Manhattan commuters might as well stay home and send their contributions to the Republicans."

The extremism of both of these sides is the best evidence around that Bush is bad for the health of the country. And it makes me appreciate Kerry's moderation all the more. For a while I was bothered because it didn't seem like there would be any drastic change in the system itself with the election of Kerry. Now I feel that, after watching Bush for the past four years, revolutionary extremist agendas are difficult to get consensus for without lying about what you are doing to most of the people most of the time. That is no way to run a country.

For the FBIs part, I am sure they are caught up in the neo-cold-war logic of us vs. them and are therefore more interested in quelling dissent of any kind, regardless of what totalitarian practices they have to use to do so. At the same time, I am sure that these protesters--or those who may be planning some of the more "violent" protests--feel that they also have an enemy to protect themselves from and that the "legal" means (which, as of late, are becoming confined to a thinner and thinner area of practice) are no longer effective. On both counts, however, it seems that people in the US don't like to see violence and they don't like to hear about the Feds infringing on civil liberties; no one is really worried about these activities as being "terrorist" thus the battle is really over hearts and minds (especially for those of us who may be protesting). As much as I cringe at Gitlin (aka Uncle Todd) I do think he is probably right that violent protest will only help Bush--and I wouldn't put it past the GOP to have people out there trying to make things violent so that it will look worse.