Ripon College Days

Media Credit: Photo by Nicole Klaas [Click to enlarge]

As a crowd slowly gathered, 17 motionless bodies laid in the intersection in front of Lafayette Square. Their faces painted red, the men and women remained there for hours on cold, hard pavement, an act that was to serve as symbolic remembrance of all the lives lost in the Iraq war.

The 17, those who gathered around them and thousands more converged in Washington D.C. Jan. 20 for various counter-inaugural events.

While Americans from every state attended assorted balls and the Inauguration itself, dissenters from all over the nation continued to bitterly contest the mandate President Bush so frequently affirms he achieved in 2004.

Through various rallies, marches, musical gatherings and other anti-Bush events, the continued bitter division of the American public was visibly apparent.

Although violence erupted in some parts of the city, all actions I witnessed on the day of Bush's second Inauguration remained nonviolent, at least in a physical sense. Nevertheless, both sides spoke out against each other, and engaged in the exchange of vicious words.

At a rally in Malcolm X Park, self-proclaimed anarchists, socialists, anti-capitalists and others united in their disapproval for Bush and his agenda. Here people proudly displayed hand-made signs that varied from "Four more years, God help America" to "Clear cut Bush, save the trees." Constant chants calling for the end of war in Iraq was also part of the rally, as protesters shouted, "Stop the killing, stop the war," a sentiment that was echoed by others throughout the day.

At the die-in in front of Lafayette Square, some passing Bush supporters were enraged by the demonstration, deeming it "excessive," and engaging in verbal arguments with anti-war protesters.

Of course I expected this war of words on the streets of D.C., and I also expected confrontation, but what surprised me most was how quickly arguments over political agendas, the legitimacy of war, as well as domestic and foreign policy turned to character insults.

A man who carried a sign declaring Chaney to be a "Greek god," was an easy target for protesters. When he began to engage in a political debate with the demonstrators he was quickly accused of being ignorant and unlearned, to which the crowd began chanting, "Read a book," one woman adding, "If you even know how."

There was simply no room for reasonable debate on the streets of Washington D.C. Instead, Inauguration 2005 seemed to be a commission for personal criticism and attack, a testament to how divided America truly has become, as it seems to me division in America has escalated to the point there is no longer a willingness to agree to disagree or to engage in meaningful debate.

One dissenter literally blocked the path of a man and his wife who were leaving the Inauguration, forcing them to consider a homeless man they overlooked, a man who was living inside a makeshift shelter that was basically an air-filled plastic bubble.

Turning to the couple, the demonstrator questioned, where's the equity when the man and his wife could afford expensive clothes and a warm fur coat while a homeless American had no home and shivered in the January cold and snow. A question to which the woman replied, "He should get a job and earn his way like we did."

All of these protests and all of these incidents throughout the Inauguration serve as a reminder that America today is a divided nation, which will continue to be disjointed at least for the next four years, a fact I feel President Bush failed to adequately address in his Inaugural speech. Currently there seems to be no reason for either side to unite, and Bush's only passive recognition of America's state of discord gives those in opposition little to hope for.

The division that has nearly created two separate political worlds is disheartening, and I feel there is no hope for unity unless Bush, as well as other Republicans, acknowledge a fragmented America and show some effort to reach out to the other side. Unless some action is taken there is little reason to believe the Inauguration four years from now will look much different, regardless of which party assumes office.

Klaas is the College Days' former News Editor. She is studying in Washington, D.C.

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