Tea Partiers Take D.C.

HumanEvents.com ^ | 9/14/2009 | Connie Hair

[2nd amendment mama]

An enormous crowd of conservatives gathered Saturday in Washington, D.C., for the 9-12 Patriots’ Rally at the West Steps of the Capitol Building to protest the Obama spending spree and tell Congress, “Enough."

The crowd -- which appeared to be hundreds of thousands in number -- stretched down the mall and for several blocks to the West and also to the North and South along the avenues. It took all of the protesters several hours to complete the march from 14th Street down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Building. It was billed as the largest gathering of fiscal conservatives ever.

Out-of-control spending, bailouts, the House passing the national “cap and trade” energy tax, the government takeover of the banking and auto industries and the current proposal for government-run health care were the hot topics of the day as people from every state in the Union traveled to the nation’s capitol to attend the massive protest.

"The president has warned us if we disagree with him he's going to call us out," Fox News reported Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) as saying. "Well, Mr. President, we are out."

“This is the most exciting thing that’s happened since I’ve been in Congress,” said DeMint, who spoke with HUMAN EVENTS before addressing the crowd. “You see Americans from all over the country from all ages and political parties come here to take back their government.”

I asked the senator what the people were saying to him.

“A lot of them try to encourage me, tell me not to give up,” DeMint said. “They know I’m one of a small number. They say, ‘Speak for us. Don’t back down. Keep fighting.’ They’ll hold up their children and say, ‘This is what I’m fighting for.’ I haven’t heard anything about ‘Republican’ -- this is not a ‘Republican’ rally. This is a freedom rally. I think it’s going to help realign politics in America. I think you’re going to see a lot of Republican primaries, a lot of conservative Republicans running against maybe incumbents who have not been true to the message in the House and the Senate. I think you’ll see more Republicans winning in the general elections in surprise states that we don’t expect them normally to win.”

Did the Democrats and the President misread their “we won” mandate?

“They really did because we keep hearing the President won, but he didn’t run on this stuff,” DeMint said. “He didn’t run on a trillion dollar government spending stimulus. He promised no earmarks, and he’s signed thousands of them. He didn’t run on national health care. If he’d have run on the things he’s doing he wouldn’t have been elected. So this is a bait and switch if I’ve ever seen one.”

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana also spoke to HUMAN EVENTS before his speech.

“It’s overwhelming and profoundly encouraging,” Pence said. “After fighting against runaway spending here in Washington, D.C. over the last nine years, this crowd looks like the cavalry to me.”

I also asked Pence about all the shout outs he was getting from the throngs in attendance.

“We’ve had a lot of shout outs and a lot of encouraging waves,” Pence said. “It’s evidence to me that Americans are tuned into Washington, D.C. like never before. They’re aware of those of us who are fighting for limited government and they’re also aware of the runaway federal spending that has happened under Republican and Democrat administrations and I think they’ve had it.”

What does this say about 2010?

“I think that’s all up to the President and the Democrats,” Pence said. “They’re going to either get the message before the election or they’re going to get the message on Election Day. I really do believe this is not a Republican movement, this is not a Democrat movement, this is an American movement that wants to see American ideals and principles put into practice again here on Capitol Hill.”

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee was also on hand to address the huge crowd.

“It’s absolutely incredible,” Price told HUMAN EVENTS. “People as far as you can see. It’s just phenomenal. American patriots from all 50 states who’ve come to say we want our government back. These are hard-working Americans from all over, from all walks of life and it is incredibly inspiring. All they want is the government to listen, and if the government doesn’t listen, they’re going to take it back.”

And you’re here to listen?

“Amen,” Price said with a big smile.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), another conservative warrior, was very enthusiastic about the turnout and the message.

“I think the crowd has far exceeded the estimates that Capitol Hill police were prepared for today,” Blackburn said. “All the way from the White House to the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue is packed with people. To me, it’s exciting. It’s people showing up, defending their liberty because they care deeply about America and they are the ones making the sacrifices to be here this weekend.”

“People want to make certain that the message gets to Congress, that they are tired of the spending, they’re tired of the bureaucracy, they’re tired of Washington trying to run their lives,” Blackburn added. “I think this says that people are looking for a housecleaning in 2010 of people who got elected saying one thing and came to Washington and did another.”

I also caught up with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) in the crowd.

“This is fantastic,” Gohmert said. “This is America finally waking up and letting its voice be heard because for far too long the American people’s government has been taking power away from them. Thomas Jefferson said the natural course of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain. Government has gained so much and liberty has yielded so much that this is absolutely essential to get liberty back into the hands of the people -- which is where our divine Creator meant for it to be. But like any inheritance, you don’t get to keep it unless you’re willing to fight for it.”

“This cannot stop today,” Gohmert added. “It has got to carry through the election next year or people will continue to lose their liberties.”

Best sign of the day: “Can you hear us now?”

[MassExodus]

This is ONLY going to get bigger.

[sourcery]

The Tea Party movement's core purpose and motivation is opposing Tyranny and (re)affirming Liberty!

How to distinguish Liberty from Tryanny:

	Liberty	"Soft" Tyranny
1	Rights are inherent in, and unalienable from, individuals	Rights are granted/rescinded by the majority through the government
2	Fundamental rights are life, liberty, and property (absence of coercion)	Fundamental rights are food, housing, and healthcare (absence of necessity)
3	Property is owned by individuals who make decisions as to its use, improvement, and transfer	Property is owned by 'the public' with government officials making decisions as to its use, improvement, and transfer
4	Government exists to protect the rights of individuals	Government exists to plan and direct the resources of society
5	Government authority is decentralized in a federal system with limited and enumerated powers	Government authority is centralized in a national system with broad and necessarily intrusive powers
6	Government action is prescribed by rules fixed and announced beforehand	Government action is arbitrary and at the descretion of "czars" and planning boards
7	Economic activity is driven by a large number of small entities interacting according to simple rules	Economic activity is driven by a small number of large entities operating within the constraints of complex regulations
8	Effective innovation results from contrarian thinking, individual initiative, and the voluntary exchange of property	Efficient implementation of government planning requires conformity of opinion, collective action, and the coerced transfer of property
9	Standards of living for the many increase permanently as they utilize improved products and services conceived by the few	Standards of living for the many increase temporarily as they utilize property redistributed from the few
10	Altruism is using one's own resources in concrete acts to help specific individuals	Altruism is obligating the resources of others for broad-brush programs to help mankind in the abstract

Rights exists solely as a way to fairly decide whose will shall prevail in cases where two or more people disagree. They do not exist for the purpose of enslaving one person for the benefit of another (e.g., the "right" to free medical care.)

Liberty is the right to do whatever does not infringe the rights of others. Rights empower you to help yourself, free from interference by others.

Tyranny makes you a serf to be used by the elite to further their own power. Once upon a time, the nobility used religion to convince the serfs they had to serve the nobility. Modernly, the elite use good people's feelings of altruism to convince them to enslave both themselves and their neighbors. It's basically the same con game, just using a more sophisticated hook.

[NTHockey]

No, best sign of the day was “Don't make me come back with my militia”. Judging by the number of veterans I saw - and just on the left side of the Capitol (as you face it)- there were enough to form a good sized battalion. All services were represented; as well as veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[madmominct]

That’s right....I was there - what energy and fierce determination!!!! We are awake, paying attention and are NOT going away!!! The left are beside themselves trying to explain this away and are left with pulling out the race card. We’re all stupid racists being controlled by Rush and Hannity and Beck. So pathetic. Per Rush - 1.8 million - official DC Park Service estimate. Take that, Barack.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

So what was the “official” attendance? I’ve heard numbers ranging from 75,000 to 2 million.

[Art in Idaho]

This is ONLY going to get bigger.

Yes, this is just the beginning. I hope Obama keeps "rushing" his agenda to bring everything to a tipping point. If he does health care, then pushes for amnesty or comes after the guns, I think that will be it. .

[Help!]

The left is posting a picture I’ve never seen before then dissecting it saying it’s not from Sept 12, 2009. Saying “pants on fire.” Know thy enemy...and thyself...

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/sep/14/blog-posting/blogger-claim-photo-shows-millions-tea-party-prote/

“It was an impressive crowd,” he said. But after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol the crowd “only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street,” he said.

Yet the photo showed the crowd sprawling far beyond that to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets.

There’s another big problem with the photograph: it doesn’t include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth St. and Independence Ave. that opened on Sept. 14, 2004. (Looking at the photograph, the building should be in the upper right hand corner of the National Mall, next to the Air and Space Museum.) That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn’t show the “tea party” crowd from the Sept. 12 protest.

Also worth noting are the cranes in front of the Natural History Museum (the second building from the lower left of the National Mall). According to Randall Kremer, the museum’s Director of Public Affairs, “The last time cranes were in front was in the 1990s when the IMAX theater was being built.”

That makes the picture at least a decade old. (We’ll update this item if we find out when exactly it was taken.)”

saying those who posted it are “backing down”

[Gorilla44]

I was there and completely blown away. Here are a couple of my favorite pics. The smallest sign at the protest:

[La Enchiladita]

“Be heard, not herded.” I like that.

Glad you were uplifted by the gathering.

[Gabrial]

The efforts are burning up the search engines...

Number 7 on Google Trends right now is “9 12 march on washington”

[kennyboy509]

Especially if these A hole’s keep calling us racist.

We are not racist.

[MrB]

The one’s that keep shouting “racist”

are just a bunch of “racers”.

They have some sort of conspiracy theory that all opposition to their policies MUST be based in racism.

Just a kook conspiracy theory. Worse than any “truthers” or “birthers”.

[griswold3]

mark

[griswold3]

We needed a patriot riding a horse shouting:
“The ‘Progressives are coming! The ‘Progressives are coming!”

[21twelve]

The first picture with the horse poop reminded me of one of my favorites. A big old (live) dog on a leash wearing a sign that said: “I produce two shovel-ready jobs each day”.

[Shyla]

I was with her and our three kids. What an experience. I had to keep myself from crying at times.

[La Enchiladita]

Thankfully it was “cry for happy.”

[Shyla]

Oh yes. I plan to order from C-Span the broadcast they did that day, You can buy the CD for $20, That will go into my daughter’s “important milestone” box.

[Minn]

I haven't seen a single source (I'm sure there are some somewhere) claiming the crowd was anything other than huge. Dems in Washington are misguided, but not necessarily stupid. They know how to do the math about how many people would have been there if they could have been. Any rhetoric you hear from now one claiming this is some fringe or manufacturing thing will be purely spin.

Swing district Rat congress members know this is real enough to take them down. The next few weeks will be interesting.