9-12-09
American Patriot March on Washington, DC


One of the photos I took at the 9/12 march on DC focused on a women surrounded by protesters —her worried expression, yet defiant stance summed up the entire experience. The size of the demonstration has yet to be determined, but suffice it to say, it was BIG. One DC policeman (with more than 20 years on the force) said he had never seen a crowd of this magnitude. My guess is over a million of us expressed our disgust. All I can say is peaceful, but fed-up people kept arriving throughout the day. 

In addition to the size, was the feeling generated by this huge gathering. For me, it was like a huge family reunion but without the few self-pitying, angry, entitled uber-liberal relatives. 

Every state of the Union was represented. Individuals of every color, every sexual preference (believe it or not!), every political stripe, every age range (many, many young libertarians-disappointingly to me--they were all male,), every freedom-oriented organization, and every clothing style marched. They carried every funny and serious message you could originate, and many you probably could not. Most of the signs were serious. Some were funny. One of my favorites was, "A Village in Kenya is missing its idiot" with the letter "O" the famous Obama red, white, and blue symbol. American and "Don't Tread on Me" flags flew everywhere in every size. Many of the signs had to do with the administration and congress' disregard for Constitutional restraints. Mine did, too: US Constitution, Read it and Weep. The other side read, "Shrug, Atlas, Shrug." 

The speakers were difficult to hear. I was able to catch snatches of Jim DeMint and Dick Armey's remarks, but the cheering drowned most of them out. With huge government edifices surrounding the crowd, it was an awesome sight. Americans demanding their government repeal intrusion into their lives, and to refrain from passing additional rights-slaying laws. 

"Squash ACORN,"  "No Government Health Care," "We came unarmed (this time)," and thousands of more signs and banners passed before me. I stopped to read the inspiring mottos and poems carved in three and four foot letters on the surroundings buildings and thought, do the people who govern here ever read these before voting on freedom-usurping and initiative-destroying laws? 

Although literature was handed out through out the hours I marched, I saw very little debris. This was a march by people who had manners and respect for others. I heard no foul language, people helped each other. There were wheelchairs, baby carriages, walkers, canes, people who had probably not self-propelled that far in 10 years. All walked along in solidarity of principle, not concerned with the minutia of the details of their beliefs, knowing that if you follow the Constitution, it keeps the details safe from government interference. It keeps you safe from me, but most importantly, from the actions of a government seemingly bent on the destruction of this nation from within.

Yours in freedom,
Vivian

PS.
Something stuck with me from the subway because it was just one more poor "Washington welcomes you to your capital." The system that generates a ticket was confusing to most people, especially those who did not know the names of the trains, and the set up of the station stops. Some purchased tickets that cost them more than it should have, some bought tickets they thought was good for two people and had to go back and stand in line a second time. One woman, bless her, stood there after she figured out the poorly designed ticket purchase panel and helped more than a dozen dazed protesters get the right ticket and not hold up the line trying to figure out the magic formula. Then, adding insult to injury, the change generated was in the fake gold dollar coins that people mistake for quarters--As we stood in huge lines to get our tickets, I could not help thinking, "just like a government run entity, forcing us to take fake money in a form that was another government failure and that we all detest."