The other side came to Jackson, MI, on March 11, to demonstrate against health reform in front of the office of Rep. Mark Schauer (D-MI), and we beat them. We outnumbered them at least two-to-one and easily outshouted them. There was a running dispute over who got more honks from drivers, but I think we won that one too.

When the call went out for them to gather, various e-mail networks mobilized on our side. There were folks from Organizing for America, Moveon.org, and at least one labor group. Not surprisingly, our group was racially mixed — theirs wasn’t. Their side fell into two groups: Republicans and Tea-Baggers — the first identifiable by their Tim Wahlberg stickers, the second by their home-made signs.

The crowd was reasonably friendly — if we could get past being called “communists,” “fascists,” “dictators,” etc. (I don’t recall anyone calling them “racists” or anything like that.) We had a few decent arguments. There was one nut-job running around shouting — ironically, of course — “We support unions, we’re communists, we hate America”; when he was pressed, he explained that the world is divided into two groups — those who own their own businesses and those who aren’t smart enough.

But I also talked with a young working-class guy who might have some potential. We didn’t agree on much, but he did concede that the government might be a part of putting people back to work, which was what he was most concerned with. He kept saying that if I wanted a different system — I insisted that my goal was closer to Western Europe than Cuba — I clearly wasn’t a real American and ought to leave. He has a ways to go, but don’t assume he’ll never be on our side.

It was a fun afternoon — despite a little bit of rain. And it was a reminder that there are ultimately more of us — we did win the last couple of elections — and it’s just a matter of turning us all out.