This Saturday, July 10, liberal activists in Boston face a choice with two simultaneous protests occurring in Beantown. At noon in Copley Square, activists will gather to protest against SB 1070, the Arizona law that requires police to detain people they somehow think look like illegal immigrants. Governor Jan Brewer is coming to town for a governors’ conference and the Boston activists are interested in sparking resistance to the spread of sb1070-like laws to other places in the country.
Also at noon, Boycott BP, Boycott Firestone and Citizens for Clean Energy will come together in a protest march against the corporate and government policies that led to and followed the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The march will begin at the Borders bookstore at 10-24 School Street in Boston and end at the Long Wharf in the North End.
If you were in Boston, which of these events (if any) would you choose to attend?
I’d choose the clean energy protest, because the issue has to deal with people living in Massachusetts, instead of a law nearly 3,000 miles away, but it’s a close call.
And these protests will influence policy how? Unless they want to physically take over the House and Senate in D.C. nothing will be accomplished (other than venting).
If you believe public pressure has no effect on policy, then you would conclude that they can’t affect policymaking. If you believe that legislators do respond to public pressure, then you would conclude that they have a higher probability of affecting policymaking than sitting at home.