I agree with you on a personal level -- we're not too demonstrative up here in Minnesota, and I've always felt kind of silly waving signs or chanting or what have you.

But there's still something powerful about seeing 300,000 people all making a statement in opposition to, or in favor of, a given person or idea. And sometimes it can be very important, drawing attention to an otherwise overlooked idea, or providing an indelible impression of the depth of support for a given issue.

There's a reason mass protests are banned in totalitarian societies.