Been noodling on the "protesting is tratorous" meme for a while today. While the exercising of rights is hardly un-American, I've been looking for the communicable reasoning behind my intuative comment to a women at last weekend's march that I'm doing this because I love my country.

RonK, from Seatte (the original), who I've been reading in the comments of Daily Kos has a piece of the action: because we need to convince the world that this is not the real USA. This isn't the whole story. There's the bit about standing up for what you believe in, creating your own reality, taking meaningful action to be an active participant in your own existence, but this is a critical element. The world must know that what is going on now is an abbaration, so that when we bench Team Bush and bring some sanity back to the White House, we'll have a leg to stand on international credibility-wise. Protest. Do it for the future.