New Mars Forums

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

Re: A Convention on the Capitol - A Realistic Approach

I just finished reading Canth's old "A March on the Capitol" thread in which he advocated organizing every space advocacy organization together into a single mass march on the US Capitol.  I tried to picture the affiliated space advocates I've met, trying to march on anything.

  :hm:    ???            :laugh:   

Sorry, but we're just not usually the type!  Honestly, who here can say that long hours in the hot Maryland sun - during which you will never even see a congressman but might get an intimate experience with a policeman's night stick or flat-earther - appeal to you more than a convention - which might include actual sightings of, and possibly even meetings with, invited government dignitaries? 

Just try inviting the entire US Congress and half the Cabinet to a protest march.  That's hopeless.  However, if you invited them to a large convention, offer free admission to the lectures, allowing them to get exposure by addressing the assembly, then THAT might get some takers. 

Far better to organize a mass Convention in Washington, DC than some sort of mass protest rally.  Yelling at government officials from a roped off distance about what they're doing wrong has long since lost its sting.  Let's try getting them comfortably face to face and telling them what they can do right.

---

"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

Cobra Commander

Member

From: The outskirts of Detroit.

Registered: 2002-04-09

Posts: 3,039

Re: A Convention on the Capitol - A Realistic Approach

Sorry, but we're just not usually the type!  Honestly, who here can say that long hours in the hot Maryland sun - during which you will never even see a congressman but might get an intimate experience with a policeman's night stick or flat-earther...

Ah, that takes me back... 

The idea has merit, I must admit. A large gathering of the space advocate community in such proximity would not go unnoticed, and when trying to pressure elected officials twenty warm bodies on site always trumps twenty highly motivated people working vigorously out of sight. A joint space advocacy convention in DC has a great deal of potential, attract the community with the event itself as well as the political aspects.

---

Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

Re: A Convention on the Capitol - A Realistic Approach

Who'd sponsor it?

---

"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger