One thing I love about my girlfriend's dad is that he's an ex-marine who fought in the Tet Offensive, a former president of an ironworkers' union, and he's not shy at all about his opinion on Bush. He was showing me around his neighborhood once, pointing out people who voted for Bush: "That fat asshole voted for Bush, and that asshole over there voted for Bush..." - He also will get into confrontations with people who have Bush stickers on their car. And this is Ohio, a pretty red state. I think the lack of significant youth protests may be due in part to their hippie parents and grandparents, who raised them with a little too much "you are special and unique" and helped them become extremely self-absorbed. This is speaking as a member of that generation, since I was born in the 70s. Another reason may be that Abbie Hoffman is dead and no one seems likely to fill his shoes. I mean, a coffin with boots on top of it? Please. If people can get large groups of teens and twentysomethings to show up someplace dressed like robots, or wander around WalMart in white coats (or Best Buy in blue polos), why can't anyone coordinate an interesting war protest? What happened to exorcising the Pentagon? That was a cool stunt that people could get behind. And, as you can see from the paragraph above, another big component may be that Gens X and Y have bought into the entertainment culture, where little to nothing has value unless it's amusing. Being raised on network news, Phil Donahue, and various "newsmagazine" shows, I can see where this perspective comes from, even as I try to fight it in myself. P.S. I would've voted for Pigasus over Bush. In fact, I think Pigasus has a good chance over many of the likely candidates for '08.
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