In post-Trump US, Seattle protests are futile

Now that President Donald Trump is in office, protests are futile. Maybe they always were on national issues.

Related: Millennials complain they can’t afford Seattle life they chose

This week, we saw Trump sign executive orders pushing forward the Keystone XL and DAPL pipelines. Hours later, activists held an “emergency rally” at Westlake that accomplished nothing concrete. Why? Because on national issues, Seattle rallies don’t mean a thing.

How can that be? Seattle activists converge on a number of issues in protest and they’ve gotten their way on a number of issues including the pipelines under the last administration. Well, it’s because they were protesting on behalf of a position that was shared by the politician in power. President Barack Obama was always going to stall the pipelines. He was in ideological agreement with the protesters.

In fact, when you look back at most perceived wins by protesters, you could easily make the argument that the politician enacting any kind of change was already on their side. That would suggest these protests are futile; when they don’t have someone in power to enact change, they’re not getting anything done.

And this is a reality on a local level as well. If the protesters aren’t already on the side of the local politicians in power, you don’t have a great track record of getting anything done. Minimum wage increases in Seattle? The entire council and mayor were on already on that side.

This is not a smack against Progressive activists. The same futility is true among Conservative activists. Conservatives, when they’re not protesting an issue people in power already agree with, equally lose. And I think they’ve figured this out better than Progressive activists, which is why you don’t see as many Conservatives protesting as Progressives.

Millennial protesters took to the streets over Donald Trump, in support of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, and … Trump won. Protesters chanted “black lives matter” but clearly haven’t passed meaningful policies that addressed their issues (which is why they’re still protesting).

And while primarily millennial Progressives take to the streets, millennial Republicans are running for office and winning. Look locally. At 21, Republican Russell Wiita was elected to the Sultan City Council. The newest member of the Snohomish County Council, Republican Nate Nehring, is only 21 years old. Republican State Representative Melanie Stambaugh proudly represents the 25th district of Washington. Nationally? Democrats hit new lows in state representation.

Compare the Tea Party movement with Occupy Wall Street. Both had strong support from passionate activists. But one was a success and the other a failure. The Tea Party elected members to Congress where they enacted change and gave their activists power. Occupy Wall Street? They protested with few policy gains.

Perhaps it’s time to stop the futile protests and truly organize behind candidates with shared values? You’d be better served.

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