Mount Pleasant, SC- Rob Groce became the forth leader of MoveOn.Org in the SC Lowcountry in the last two years last week. He immediately began organizing it's first demonstration, an unprecedented “Speak Out for the American Dream” event at the suburban office of US Senator Lindsey Graham (R) in Mount Pleasant, SC.
We stumbled upon a strategy for exluding liberal political activity from the Republican suburban landscape that other activists should be aware of. This post contains a description of the problem and suggeted strategies for addressing it.
Background
Mount Pleasant is a conservative community attempting to maintain it's standing as a home to the secure Southern middle class after seeing its real estate and development industry collapse and property values fall by 30%. It still claims solid public schools, award winning town sponsored recreational programs and a realatively low crime rate. It's just across the bridge from better known Charleston, SC, one of two major blue cities in the red state of South Carolina.
Lindsey Graham is our formerly moderate senior Senator to the better known rabid tea party hero and junior senator from SC, Jim DeMint. Graham was moderate enough to attract a right wing opponent in 2008, who managed to plant himself on the Democratic ticket as a “Ron Paul Democrat.”
Graham supported a version of the Cap and Trade energy bill and an amnesty program for illegal immigrants who had no criminal records. He voted to confirm Obama's nominees to the Supreme Court. The SC Tea Party, which is amped up by large amounts of out of state, funding has put a target on Graham's back. (That's how they express it.)
Grahm has been shouted down by the Tea Baggers at his own Town Hall meetings. He's retreated from most of his moderate positions and is now saying some fairly embarrassing things for someone who knows better. It isn't working. The Tea Baggers still want Graham's hide. Congressman Tim Scott, their new African American right wing darling from Charleston, may be their designated replacement in 2014.
However, the huge amounts of right wing money out of state money in SC are generating far more Republican ambition that the remaining Democratically held seats can possibly absorb, so there will be several challengers. South Carolina has one Democratic Party and three Republican ones, the intermural politics of which look like something out of the Middle East.
Graham's unhappy place in SC Politics is between a disappointed moderate and Democratic voting block and the various deep shades of red out for his hide.
Location, Location, Location
Graham's local office is on the second floor of a community bank building on a suburban strip known as Johnnie Dodds Blvd. It a four lane, divided road with two access roads flanking it which connect a string of shopping centers, commercial business and subdivision entrances punctuated with “For Lease” signs everywhere.
The building is fronted by a three feet wide public sidewalk, a disconnected piece of concrete connected to nothing, but required by code in hopes that someday the adjacent property owners will be required to build their segments. The police, who had been contacted before the rally appeared with three cruisers and at least three officers to control our 11 member demonstration. We were informed that we couldn't go on the bank's private property, which we anticipated. However, we handn't counted on being informed that we couldn't use the parking lot.
Here is a link to the location on Google Maps: Location of Demonstration in Mount Pleasant
Unfortunately all the available parking in every direction for about half a mile was on private land. The adjacent street has no on street parking. Noone present had any idea of where they could move their car too. We weren't prepared with maps and there was a concern that the entire effort would disolve if people had to drive off, park some long distance away and then attempt to walk back through a landscape which didn't have sidewalks.
The Bank was allegedly concerned that the demonstration might consume their parking lot. Several bank employees were watching our tiny act if civil participation with acute concern. It didn't appear they had every seen anything like it before. I'm sure some confused mashup of Wisconsin and Cairo was in their heads, but we weren't nearly that ambitious on the four days of prep time we had. A basic lack of sympathy for liberal causes of all types can be taken for granted at Southern banks.
Rob Groce pointed out that five members of the demonstration had an appointment to see the Senator's staff at 3:45 and the bank had chosen to rent an office to the Senator knowing that constituents would visit. We also offered to relocate our vehicles to the nearly empty lot at the office building next door, which has apparently been emptied by the consequences of the Bush crash. The Bank's still open thanks to TARP funding.
The Police evidently weren't comfortable appropriating the desolate asphalt next door as a liberal parking resource.
The handful of cars we came in were allowed to stay after considerable wrangling. The Police left after about 15 minutes, probably to deal with our town's overwhelming after school traffic snarls (which most residents of a major city would laugh at).
It was only a shot across the bow, but if we start showing up with over a dozen demonstrators, we can expect the strategy to be tried again. Virtually no landlord in Mount Pleasant wants a political demonstration near their commercial space. It disrupts the smooth sense of security a steady diet of Zoloft and single malt scotch produces, essential to getting through the time remaining before the roof caves in.
Next time, we can expect to be challenged on the parking issue. The trick is bound to be communicated through the right wing political and business network which is probably more scared of the Tea party than the Democrats.
Strategies for the Future
Here are several strategies for dealing with it when it arises here or where you are.
First, consider using public transit to get to your events. You can identify the bus line you propose to use to get to your event and the run you'll be riding on. This is an old approach to getting to pollitical events seen long ago in the era of the trian and street car. People used to start the party on the way, filling trains, buses and streetcars from the end of the line until the time they arrived. Trains to national demonstrations were rolling press events and celebrations.
In our case, I arrived on the #40 CARTA bus from downtown and the same line, going in the opposite direction passed by the location shortly before the demonstration started.
Identifying the transit route you will be using makes it impossible for the police or the opposition to know where you will be parking. In our area, the Tea Party has moles on every mailing list we use. If you send out a list of available parking lots within walking distance, you are likely to find that business owners have been notified and will attempt, with police assistance, to exclude any event related parking concentration they can identify. In area are Obama bumper stickers on three adjacent automobiles don't happen by accident.
In our area, some people have their progressive bumper stickers mounted on magnets, so they can take them off when they park at work or in a public place where their car might be vandalized.
Since transit often isn't available in suburban areas and political office holders are likely to begin locating offices in places where they can be insulated from political demonstrations some sort of private vehicle drop off system could be used. Hopefully there is some public parking somewhere near your event that you can shuttle people from such as a park, government owned facility or recreation facility. Failing that, you'll need to play Taxi, facilitated perhaps by some sort of website meet up mechanism.
Of course sharing the ride and car pooling are always good ideas for the environment and activists who care about it. The smaller your auto footprint, the harder a time the authorities will have dialing in on you.
Of course for larger events you can charter a bus, as is typical for big demonstrations in Washington, DC. If you are conservative, a large corporation may fund that for you. Otherwise, add that to the list of things you'll have to pay for and deal with.
On this occasion, we were treated politely by the Police and the Bank, but in our area demonstrations by liberals are still an occasional novelty outside of the City of Charleston. As an increasingly vicious and dangerous political climate develops, things will change. Putting our conservative leaders beyond the reach of people working for progressive change can be anticipated. Getting people there and figuring out where to put their cars will need increasing attention.