OK, I confess, I am the one who paid those demonstrators to protest the president’s refusal to release his taxes.
They wanted minimum wage, but all I could afford was 1 ruble per protester, to be paid from the proceeds of the book I am writing about it, and most of them seemed grudgingly happy with that.
But it’s a shame that we have to pay demonstrators these days.
Back in the 1960s and ’70s, folks were happy to burn their draft cards and bras for nothing.
Huge crowds of students and other unemployed riffraff were eager to spend untold hours chanting and waving fists just because they believed in something.
You could even get Black Panthers, Grey Panthers and Pink Panthers to come out and rally without offering them money.
Nowadays, you can’t rouse any rabble without putting out big bucks.
And not only do they want cash, they want book rights, movie rights, TV rights and 15 minutes of fame.
It’s a shame what political dissent and civil disobedience have come to.
Tracy McCallum,
Port Angeles