University of Virginia Library

Charles Weir

That Was No Way To
Stop The Government

On Wednesday, demonstrators
tried to stop the procedures of
Congress. They did it by sitting on
the East steps of the House of
Representatives. All told there were
just over 1,000 demonstrators on
the steps. They had another 1,500
sympathizers on the sidewalk across
the street.

Hamburglar

The day had started quite dull
for me. I felt that my big thrill of
the day was going to be the free
Ronald McDonald cup that I got
free with my lunch at McDonald's.
It came complete with pictures of
Hamburglar. Cheeseburger and
Captain Crook.

For an hour I sat at the fountain
in the middle of the round-about
directly in front of the Capitol.
There were nearly as many
demonstrators as newsmen. At
1:30, 1,000 demonstrators came
marching down Pennsylvania
Avenue from a rally in Lafayette
Square. Everyone was milling
around.

Impromptu press conferences
were held by District of Columbia
Police Chief Jerry Wilson and
another by one of the Federal
Employees for Peace. While these
went on, the demonstrators moved
to the back of the Capitol.

When the occupation on the
steps began there were few
policemen on the steps. Soon
afterwards, a company of 100
helmeted, riot police moved in.
They were later joined by another
group of policemen about the same
in number, to help in making the
arrests.

Entertainment

The crowd was addressed by
Reps. Bella Abzug, D—N.Y.;
Ronald Dellums, D—Calif.; and
Parren Mitchell, D—Md. They were
told to "take up where (Martin
Luther) King left off," by Dellums.
Mrs. Abzug told the demonstrators
to "keep doing it peacefully."

Entertainment provided during
the sit-in included a bearded youth
who disrobed before too many of
the police came. Once they were
there, he put his clothes back on.
Several medals were turned in,
including a Marine Corps Purple
Heart, along with draft cards. Songs
were sung, "The Star Spangled
Banner," "We Shall Overcome,"
"Amen," and "The Battle Hymn of
the Republic."

The only damage that I
witnessed was the crushing of the
roof of a Ford Galaxie 500. Other
than that, the entire demonstration
was peaceful. The arrests were
simple to carry out and there was
little resistance. The procedure
went like this; two policemen
would walk up to a demonstrator
and take him by the arms to the
foot of the steps, he or she was
then photographed, taken to the
waiting bus where they were frisked
and then put inside the buses to be
driven to jail. Many of the newsmen
took down names and phone
numbers to inform families and
friends of the busts. As the buses
were driven away, the
demonstrators called out to the
newsmen to stop writing and join
them.

Little Accomplished

For all the grand plans to stop
the government since it wouldn't
stop the war, the demonstrations
this week have done little to do
either one. It has had something of
a different affect. Many of the
anti-war leaders in Congress
attacked the demonstrations with
speeches from the floors of both
Houses. On Monday, most
government workers had to get up a
half hour early to get to work. Not
much in the way of stopping a
government. It was more of a pain
than a crippling action.

The returning of medals and the
overall demonstrations by the
veterans drew much public support.
It was only one day in seventeen of
the official demonstrations. The
little good that it did was far
outweighed by the negative aspects.
There were 12,000 arrests, but they
were processed through the court
system and many will have to
appear in court and a good portion
may have to serve some time in jail.

Flexibility

The overall effect will have been
to slow down the processes of
justice, the alienation of a few
friends and little else. Flexibility is
one of the strong points of the
government in this country. It can
bend to process a few thousand
demonstrators, people can drive
across different bridges to get to
work. If the goal is to stop the
government, it will have to be done
away with, along with its strongest
friends.

Violence

Blocking traffic to the pentagon
won't stop it, but bombing the
North American Rockwell, General
Electric, Boeing and DuPont
factories will. Violence in the street
will be a necessity with thousands
of lives being lost. There would
follow not long afterwards a
counter revolution to return the
present system, or a facsimile, to
power. Demonstrating on the steps
of the Capitol is showing a belief in
the American way of government.

The country is running with
business as usual now. It will
continue to until the businesses are
done away with entirely. To redress
your grievances is a vote for a
continuation of the present system
with modifications. A peaceful
demonstration with everyone
hoping to get arrested is no way to
stop the government.