On September 12, 2009 something phenomenal happened in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers marched up to the White House to let their government know they have had enough. It was a rare spectacle indeed; Americans off the sidelines and in the game.
As you might guess the mainstream media has all but ignored them, and the radical left has taken their usual posture of denial and belittling.
By all first hand accounts, the crowd was civil, respectful, and orderly. Not a small aside when you consider crowd estimates range from 350,000 to 1.5 million. Whatever the actual count, the plaza could not hold the crowd, and the march had to start early just to make room for everyone coming in. Still, there were no stories of pushing or obscenities. One account contrasted this march to the inauguration, which was comparable in size, yet left their mark in trash.
If you can see clearly, you will notice that there are no visible high profile leaders in this movement; they are not coming to hear someone speak. They want to be heard, they want the powers-that-be to shut-up and listen.
Most came to Washington by privately chartered buses. Groups were organized by friends and neighbors. They are people who lead busy lives, they have jobs, and they are stable, respected figures in their communities. But what should worry congress more than anything: these are voters who no one will have to send a bus to get come next election.
They carried signs that read, “If you’re not outraged you’re not paying taxes,” “Congress pack your bags, you’re going home in 2010,” and then there was my personal favorite, “An angry mom is worse than an angry mob.”
People are angry alright. They are angry that their voices have been dismissed and they, the taxpayers who are funding the exploits of this administration are being characterized as Nazis and mobs.
Brian Ross of Huffington Post writes, “They are John McCain‘s people. His contribution to American politics. Yes, the white angst and anger that both the dyed-in-the-wool and the closet racists share was always there.”
Always the race card– not the fact that people are not happy with the fundamental change that’s occurring. No, its that he’s black. And anyone who disagrees with him is a racist.
Here’s the truth. Obama was elected because Americans were happy to elect our first black president. He was elected largely because he was black, not because of his policies (because no one really knew what they were, other than hope and change). Now that his policies are clear, his color is of no consequence. Crying race is nothing more than a shield to deflect any real criticism, a time honored tactic.
Ross goes on to say, “These are indeed Joe Wilson’s people – Ignorant 99% white Americanists who somehow feel that they are losing “their country.” They are easily manipulated. The GOP machine politicos who are organizing them want us to see a country in outrage against our black liberal socialist president.”
The GOP couldn’t muster up this kind of passion and protest if they wanted to. The GOP is on notice as well.
In true liberal hateful fashion Ross concludes, “What I see is pathetic: A rag-tag band of political puppets performing for unseen neo-con masters who pull their angst-strings, manipulated political Punch-and-Judys, dancing for the cameras with their placards and their angry white faces, screaming out childish cries like “Liar liar pants on fire” at yesterday’s “rally.”
Speaking of performing political puppets, all David Axelrod could say of the taxpayers concerns was, “They’re wrong.”
What the liberal elite simply can’t understand is that the folks who took off work to attend the tea parties, who drove for miles to attend a town hall meeting, along with those who came to DC in buses, are not beholden to anyone. They are simply tax paying voters. They are not activists; they are your grandparents and the guy who owns the hardware store, and they are off the bench.