Lessons learned, a new approach and social strategy for the future were the subjects of a recent interview with Mike Oden, a bartender and union organizer with a background in finance who began a coast-to-coast walk in September 2004 protesting the war in Iraq, and found himself in Moriarty, New Mexico, in April this year.

Oden's New Mexico experience could be described as difficult - he was jailed in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque for demonstrating, and when he stopped to take a break near a Moriarty school, he was immediately asked to move on by local law enforcement, a common occurrence for him in both Arizona and New Mexico, he said.

"I was working at a golf course," he said. "and I saw a story on CNN. There was a father in Florida notified by two marines that his son was killed in action. He poured accelerant on himself, went inside a government van and set himself on fire. I said, ' I gotta do something,' and I thought of this." Oden dreams of a Time magazine photographer to meet him when he reaches the Statue of Liberty, and of being joined by many walkers.

"The trip has re-instilled my faith in the American public," Oden said. "Lots of people I meet don't believe in what I'm doing, but respect what I'm doing as my American right. On the other hand, I think Americans have fallen asleep at the wheel, and this protest is a way to try and wake them up. My old way didn't work, because the police are called, and I'm arrested."

Oden spent 48 hours behind bars in Santa Fe, and 18 days in Albuquerque, unable to post the $50 bail to get him out after being charged with trespassing on a University campus. He was arrested three times in Arizona: in Phoenix for trespassing, in Scottsdale for sleeping in a public park, and in Flagstaff for disorderly conduct. His protest there was to stand at a busy downtown intersection as throngs of people in business suits flowed around him as he shouted, "fuck Bush in the ass!"

"They went around me like I wasn't there," he said. "That was the high point of my frustration." He spent a total of 17 days in jail in Arizona, and 20 in New Mexico. As a result, he said, he's changing his approach to his peace walk. His favorite demonstration now is to stand on an overpass and make the peace sign at truckers, perhaps holding a sign, 'honk for peace.' He's looking for people to listen to rather than for people to talk to.

Oden's background is in union organizing, and as an activist in the Bartender's Union Local 165. He visited the state once before when invited to the Rocky Mountain Labor School, hosted by the United World College and held in Montezuma, New Mexico. Oden says that four Nevada laws have been changed as a result of action by this union.

Oden is a tall man, over six feet with longish hair under a baseball cap. He hasn't cut his snowy white beard since he began the trip, and his hair is keeping up. His daughter thought he looked like Santa Claus when she saw him at Christmas. People are sometimes afraid of him. "I'm not a convicted felon," he says, "put that in there."

"I want to pose in front of the Statue of Liberty," he says, "for a Time magazine photographer." He pauses. "Only after, God willing, people walk down 5th Avenue in a mass demonstration with me." He continued, "I had some disillusionment about waking up America. America is building walls - that's the way this country is divided."

His new approach is to listen to people. Waiting for a ride in Moriarty, New Mexico, he soon had all of the restaurant's regulars engaged in conversation that ran the gamut from the Bible to Washington to global politics. East of Moriarty another 30 miles or so is an isolated truck stop with its own quarters for workers there. It seems like the perfect spot for Oden, who loves truck drivers.

On social policy, Oden is a strong proponent of unions, and "a labor party. Not a communist thing, but one which gives the working man a say-so. They've been forgotten about in the last 25 or 30 years."

Oden also believes that all employers with more than 150 employees should have a union, and that every small business with two or more employees should provide health insurance. He wants to see a consumption tax for anyone making over $25,000 per year of 10 to 12 percent on all purchases. Those with income of less than $25,000 would have a no-tax card like those used now for food stamps. He would like to see a nationwide bottle deposit of 10 cents.

"The middle class is fed up," Oden said, "and a lot of them have become poor in the last 25 years. Trickle-down never worked. People are too greedy, and when they have [money], they won't unleash it.

Oden envisions an America in which "the people reclaim their government," and sees a possibility in diverting money from oil companies by moving to hydrogen-fueled cars. "Detroit does have the technology, and it wouldn't take long to build an assembly plant and plants to convert gas cars to hydrogen," he said. "It seems that as long as there is war, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The erosion of the middle class is almost complete."

Oden has already walked more than 800 miles, and his trip will take him through Amarillo, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland and New York, following Route 66 to Chicago. He intends to be in New York by August 14. You may send email to peacewalker (at) yahoo.com or visit THEPEACEWALKERQUEST (at) blogspot.com.