Lexington, Kentucky is not known as a hotbed of liberal, antiwar sentiment. The San Francisco of the Appalachians it’s not. So, when protesters line the streets in Lexington to protest the war, as they did yesterday, America ought to take notice. That’s what happened yesterday, as a peace protest in Lexington was greeted with appreciative honks, and waves, and peace signs from drivers passing by. There was no counter protest. No one took to the streets of Lexington to demonstrate support for the war in Iraq.
It isn’t just the people of Lexington who are uniting against the war. The newspapers have also finally come to agree with what we liberals were saying back in 2003, before the war began. The Lexington Herald-Leader today released an editorial entitled “Insanity of War”, which begins with the declaration, “President Bush’s new plan for Iraq is to do even more of what he admits isn’t working,” and ends with the statement, “The brave volunteers who defend us deserve better than to be sacrificed to Bush’s stubborn pride.”
After years of needless destruction, the sham is finally exposed. Next time the right wingers propose starting a new war, let’s just save ourselves the trouble and listen to the liberals.
Even conservative Charleston, SC had a peace protest with another 50 or so individuals present. Defenders of Bush’s plan either call for a huge escalation in forces (“nuke them until they glow”), or say that if we don’t fight the terrorists over there, then we’ll have to fight them over here.
Besides, didn’t we already try increasing the number of American troops in the country a year or two ago? As soon as the troop levels went back down, the violence went back up. Why would it be so different this time?