Manifest

The Manifestation:

I sewed the White Cross of Denmark to the left shoulder of my coat, and went down to Christopher Hitchen's rally in support of Denmark today, at the Danish Embassy in D.C. (Evidence: Grim is the man in the Stetson on top of the hill in the first photograph). I have three things to say about it.

First, the fellow referred to as "the man" in Corsair's photos was a sergeant with the uniform division of the U.S. Secret Service. He actually said the cleverest thing I heard anyone say at the rally, while trying to get people to stand clear of the neighboring embassy's driveway so that a white Lexus could back out into the street. After several failed attempts to get the crowd's attention, he loudly called out:

"ATTENTION! FEMALE... BACKING... UP!"

That worked wonderfully well. I paused to thank the sergeant for coming out to watch over the rally as I was leaving. He took off his glove to shake my hand.

Second, Wonkette is right to note that the rally was mostly staffed by people who had probably never attended such a thing before. I certainly had not. Mr. Hitchens and his companions are old Leftist warriors, of course, and knew what such things are meant to look like; but they were very much in the minority, and most of the people preferred to stand silently and with some dignity.

There is a difference between a protest and a rally of this type, anyway. The protest is intended to influence government policy through extralegal means. That is not to say illegal ones, nor even immoral ones: but the protest is not part of the legal process of elections, debates, and the like. It is meant to convey an impression that there is a large constituency that will be angry if not appeased, in the hope that politicians will get nervous and start appeasing. It has failed as a mode in America, because it has become evident over the years that no group with enough time and energy to protest can be very large. Americans, for the most part, have more important things to do with what time is left to us.

A rally to express friendship and support, by contrast, isn't trying to change anything. It's only meant to convey a message of companionship. I imagine that many Danes are shocked to wake up and find that their flags are being burned alongside American and Israeli ones across the world now; but there they are, whether they wanted or planned to be. All I wanted to express was the sense that, though they might not have chosen this company, they would find here loyal and faithful companions who would stand beside them gladly in defense of our common liberty.

Third, a personal remark. While I was standing in the crowd, a fat man in a black open crown hat was cheerfully explaining to someone he'd just met why he felt the war in Iraq was unhelpful to the common cause. He's free to feel that way, and it goes to show that support for freedom of speech, conscience and the press is not limited to only one side of the spectrum. Nevertheless, I grew somewhat angry at the point where he began, "I attended a classified briefing at the Pentagon, me and..." and carried on revealing certain details of it to buttress his theories.

It would have been churlish, at a rally devoted to freedom of speech, to silence this man by strangling him with his tie. I supposed it would have been illegal, also, and I am a man with a certain respect for the law.

Still, if he should happen to read this, allow me to suggest that his proposed formula for measuring the difficulty in Iraq ("...and that explains 90% of what's gone wrong," he finished) does not leave nearly enough room to account for the harm caused by the ill-keeping of America's secrets by those who have sworn to do so. Perhaps he thought himself clever enough to know what part of the classified information he was discussing would be of no use to the enemy. He was not, and even if he were, I will wager any sum of money that his agreements allowing him access to the information did not include a clause permitting him to make the judgment.

One fellow nearby turned to him at one point, and began a reply: "I couldn't help but overhear." Indeed, sir, none of us could. The man should be ashamed.

But that is an internal American dispute, not relevant to the business of the day. Here's to the Danes, and the Mark! We will ride with you gladly, into whatever this brings. Neither you nor we would have chosen it, yet we shall see it through together.