Talk of a march on Washington is heating up again and, speaking as American Street’s Lady of the Sacred March, I couldn’t be happier. But with great power comes great responsiblity so I feel like I have to share what I learned during my painful failed attempt to generate excitement in Blogtopia (term owned and operated by Skippy Inc.) for the idea of a summer march on our nation’s capitol.

Last month, I posted two posts about marching on Washington. The first was a plea to organize one. I have a fantasy that Americans left out of the BushCo agenda will march on Washington and rally on either August 28, the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington or on August 14, the 70th anniversary of FDR’s signing Social Security into law. The second post was a grudging acceptance that nearly everyone I talked to about that idea did not share my enthusiasm for a march, although some had very good ideas of their own.

First the argument against a march:

1. The big blogs ignored my requests to discuss the idea. That could be because I’m a small fish in the pond or because they get so much mail that my emails got lost in the shuffle or because they aren’t interested. It really doesn’t matter but if we don’t have the support of the top blogs, we’re in a bad way.

2. I contacted a national anti-war group to see if there was any interest on its part, I was told by the man who answered that the calendar for the year was set and that they have no plans to march on the capitol. He told me that of course, plans can change but the event would have to be huge and well-planned for his group to get on board. I used that phone call as a focus group of one and decided that all the other big groups would give me the same answer.

3. Marches take up a ton of time and cost most people attending a lot of money. It’s a great day of connecting with kindred spirits but that feeling wears off pretty fast - even faster when the corporate media does its best to minimize and mock the effort, which is sure to happen. You can see the coverage now - “Hundreds of people protested the president’s agenda” accompanied by a photo of some kids with crazy hair holding a a “Buck Fush” sign.

4. The logistics involved in a march of any size are nightmarish, which is why I contacted the anti-war group. Permits and PA systems are the tip of a very large iceberg.

Argument for a march:

1. Nothing’s perfect. A poorly attended but passionate and peaceful march this year can be the inspiration for a nationwide march next year with blogs and progressive organizations on board. Nothing succeeds like success. It’s certainly not a good idea to give up a dream because some, or even most, people say it can’t be done or ignore you.

If the goal is to make a difference in policy this year, then a march is probably going to be a disappointment. But if the goal is to build a tradition of activism on the left, than a march this year is a must-do first step in that direction.

2. The Left needs a win. We need a day to feel powerful and reach out. We need to show that we are on America’s side against a corpofascist agenda. That’s why I like an August march. Now that the Dems have set out an agenda of their own, it makes the focus of the march more clear. Marching for the Democratic Agenda is an exciting prospect.

I’m sure I’m leaving out some pros and cons. Feel free to add to the list in the comments.

After going through both sides last month, I came to this decision:

… I’m willing to give up the Big March against the BushCo Agenda (it would’ve been really cool) but I’m not willing to stop suggesting that more effective activism exists beyond our blogging (gasp!) and telephoning and emailing and even our GOTV efforts. I’m also not willing to pretend that we aren’t facing a dire situation that won’t wait for us to take action. […] We need to set an agenda of our own. I say take down WalMart, which is the corpofascists’ Achilles Heel. It’s something we can do every day and something for which the tools we have at our disposal - blogs, Meet-ups, canvassing, grassroots stuff - are perfectly suited.

Toward that end, I’m encouraging everyone who reads this to visit Wake Up WalMart to learn how to take part in their Love Mom, Not WalMart campaign. If you’re a blogger, there’s a banner you can put on your site. If you don’t have a blog, there are information flyers you can download and hand out to your friends.

For a long time, I’ve been railing against organized labor for not having their act together. Well, they’ve proven me wrong with this campaign. Although I can’t be sure, I think that this is the beginning of monthly actions to avoid WalMart (don’t dare call it a boycott) built around the holiday of the month. I’m hoping that in June we see Love Dad, Not WalMart. August will be Back to School, Not Back to WalMart. September is Labor Day for the love of Pete.

In the end we have to ask ourselves, what do we want out of an action? If it’s making a statement, comraderie and tradition-building, I’m all for a march and count me in. If we want to affect change more quickly without relying on a hostile corporate media to spread our message, I say we hit the corpofascists where they live, which means voting with our dollars. WalMart is their standard bearer. Putting a lot of blog energy and good old fashioned grassroots work into supporting the campaigns organized at Wake Up WalMart (and WalMart Watch) is an efficient use of our time and a good way to reach out to our neighbors who will learn from us, not the corporate media, why shopping smarter is not only good for American workers, but also good for America.

Give it a few months of hard work and see what happens to WalMart sales figures. That’s one number the corporate media reports accurately and loudly every month without fail.