A cadre of enthusiastic youngsters carrying homemade banners and balloons called for an end to the Iraq war this weekend in a kid-centric “peace parade” stretching from the playgrounds of Carroll Park to the arch at Grand Army Plaza.

“Money for schools, not for war,” the children shouted from their Razor scooters and inline skates as they moved up Union Street. “Impeach Bush.”

I was 11 in the summer of 1972. The Grateful Dead were touring Europe. Those were the flowery days of the imminent second term of Richard Nixon. A family friend, here in our small town, stretched a banner across his house: IMPEACH NIXON. That was cool.

I was a supporter of George McGovern, the Democrat. Nixon ridiculed McGovern as the radical candidate of “acid, amnesty and abortion.” Or so says this entry on Wikipedia. I don’t remember that. I also don’t remember that Nixon carried 49 states. (Yes, we already had 50.) But I remember some of the names: Chisholm, Muskie, Humphrey, and Roger Mudd. And I really thought McGovern had a chance, because he won the mock election at my school. I figured we were a microcosm, you know?

I remember that Edward Kennedy was already known mostly for the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident. If that had never happened, and he had been able to run in 1972, I wonder whether Nixon would have lost and Watergate might never have happened. America might not have become so disillusioned with politics. Maybe not a good thing.

Nixon might have done us a favor in teaching us mistrust for high government. Or we might be even more inclined to fall for the lies and misdemeanors of the Shrub and his ilk. If kids hadn’t learn the word impeach back then, it might not be in the vocabulary now. Or, in the words of The Grateful Dead, “So it goes, we make what we made since the world began.”

Impeach Bush