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March on D.C., September 12, 2009
Melody Swenson
From: Melody Swenson
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 10:01 PM
Subject: Fw: March on D.C., September 12, 2009 - FORWARDED LETTER
Hello Everyone,
As most of you may have been aware, Steven and I headed to Wash D.C. to be a part of the TaxPayer's March down Penn Ave. It truly was the most incredible experience....as this was the first time for us to take part in such an event. The following letter, that was forwarded to me from another that was there, will express our sentiments and articulate exactly what we felt too!
In love & light,
Melody
*******
(FORWARDED LETTER FROM MELODY)
Hi all,
As many of you know, Hobie, Lucy, Penny and I drove to D.C. on Friday to march in Saturday's tea party rally down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Upon our return to the hotel early Saturday evening, we learned from various television outlets that we had marched with either "thousands" or "tens of thousands" of other like-minded people. (Some outlets had reported 1.5 million earlier in the day, but then mysteriously dropped the number to thousands.) Several analysts constantly referred to our march as a protest against high taxes. We were supposedly ill-informed about what we were protesting and ignorant of the workings of the world. Our presence was the result of "manufactured outrage" - simple-minded people coerced and led like lemmings to Washington by various political action groups and right-wing hate organizations, remnants of the KKK, intent on fomenting hatred toward Barack Obama. We were the typical face of the Republican Party....old and white. We were angry and outraged that a black man is president and we were racists. (Before we even had breakfast Saturday morning, the Washington Post reported there would be lots of swastikas.) I was outraged and embarrassed for the media whores who could not bring themselves to just report what was happening. How do they look at themselves in the morning?
So, I am outraged, but more on that later.
I have never been prouder to be an American. And I was surrounded by like-minded people. Predominantly white, but - senior citizens, college-aged kids, young families pulling their children in wagons, teenagers, Asian families talking fast, old men struggling down Pennsylvania Avenue in walkers, three young women in Muslim headscarves, mothers being pushed in wheelchairs by their middle-aged children, Hispanic extended families with signage in Spanish, an older lady pulling her oxygen tank behind her, inter-racial couples and black families - people worried about taxes, but also about out-of-control spending, corruption in government, unapproved czars running a shadow government, the legacy being left to our children and grandchildren, loss of individual freedoms, an impending health-care debacle, and elected officials only concerned about winning their next elections. The discontent and disgust run deep, and it is bi-partisan.
Our day began with breakfast at the Hampton Inn in Springfield, VA. Most people were like-minded....from all the southern states as well as Utah, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, upstate New York. All people who had taken time off from work, taken children out of school, and had paid out of their own pockets to come to D.C..... young, old, Asian, black, white. One young couple sitting next to our table looked like radicals - the stereotypical leftist types - grungy clothes and long dirty hair - but, how can this be?? They were here to march too, all the way from Washington state.
We were bused to the Metro station by that vast political action committee bus, the Hampton Inn van, which had to make lots of trips as there were about 50 of us waiting at the door and more coming. The Metro station was jammed (thousands at this one Metro station) and the ticket kiosks were overworked. Finally the crowd overwhelmed the system and the security guards opened the turnstiles and let us through. On the ride into D.C. we talked with a young structural engineer from Tampa and his draftsman buddy.....but oh my gosh, the draftsman moved here from Cuba seven years ago. He was quite articulate about his concerns for his adopted country, expressed in his thick Cuban accent. Both of his grandfathers had been imprisoned by Castro; he worried that what he was seeing here was "deja vu" of Cuba in the 1950s - giving up our freedoms one at a time. He was soft-spoken, but his fear was obvious. A dad and son boarded at one station, and the boy proudly explained that today was his 13th birthday....and this is how he wanted to spend it. An "older" woman took a seat behind me, next to a 20-something boy, and both spoke passionately about why they were here. By the time we arrived at the station, we were packed in and had had to leave hundreds, maybe thousands, stranded on platforms waiting for the next trains.
In D.C., at about 10:15 am, we were herded out of the Metro Federal Triangle station, like lemmings, I suppose, in that we just followed the crowd. Our internet "instructions" had said that we would assemble at Freedom Plaza and begin marching at 11:00 am. But there were no leaders, no bullhorns shouting instructions. The march began earlier than expected because security said we had to keep moving; there was no room to stop because the crowds exceeded expectations. So, once out of the station, we began our march down Pennsylvania Avenue, joining a mass of protesters from all directions...an orderly, polite, congenial group, proud of ourselves for making a statement. We walked past elderly people seated by the curb, holding American flags, and leather-clad bikers sitting on Harleys, armed with flags and signs. We chanted radical phrases like "USA" and "vote them out," we waved our banners, we roared, we walked. We joked with each other about being "an angry mob" and talked about how dangerous we looked. We talked about how most of us had never protested anything prior to April 15th, and that it may take a while to get the hang of it. We even laughed about not being too well-dressed for Sen. Barbara Boxer.
As we marched, helicopters, including Marine One we later learned, flew overhead. We can only hope that Mr. President, on his way to speechifying somewhere, saw the crowd and did not have to rely on media estimates. We all waved.
We marched down Pennsylvania Avenue for almost an hour....it was slow going because of the crowd size. When we arrived at the plaza in front of the Capitol a enormous crowd was already in place. Near the Capitol, we sat on the ground and listened to speakers whom we could not see and could barely hear; we walked around the Capitol Reflecting Pool and looked at other signs and talked with people. We met more protesters from other states - Montana, Nevada, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Maine, Wyoming, New Jersey. We looked back at the Washington Monument and saw people as far down the Mall as we could see. I have never seen so many people in my life. We heard that all "57 states" were represented, including Alaska and Hawaii.
When we first arrived in D.C., I heard a D.C. security man tell a fellow marcher that they had planned for over one million people, based on area hotel occupancy figures. I later asked a policeman what he thought and he replied: 1.2 million. Meanwhile, more were still pouring in. We did hear later than one report described this as the largest march on Washington, ever. Reports by the media of mere thousands should be an embarrassment to the business of journalism; they also should be an insult to any thinking American.
Signage was amazing.....swastikas everywhere....well, not exactly. I saw one sign that had two swastikas on it but the message was "Never Again." I carried two signs: "Don't ruin the health-care that saved my life" with a pink breast cancer ribbon and "to PresBO: if you misrepresent, we will call you out." I guess the last one could be considered a threat, but wasn't considered that when the president said it. Hobie's signs were pretty extreme: "Stop the Spending" and "Cut the Bureaucracy." Most signs were home-made, as we can't afford those slick things used by the unions.
American ingenuity in slogans always amazes me. Some of my random favorites were:
-- a very artistic skull and crossbones draped in black: "He lied, Grandma died"
-- picture of MLK: "he had a dream".....picture of BHO: "we got a nightmare"
-- "czar strangled banner" - a "flag" with pictures of the 30+ czars on the field of blue
-- "even my dog has a birth certificate"
-- "ACORN: because every pimp needs a federally funded home" (if you don't understand this one, you've not done your homework)
-- "Democrats have ACORN; Republicans need to grow some NUTS"
-- "bankrupting America - one unread bill at a time"
-- "tell the czar the peasants are pissed"
-- "28 years ago I fled communism and now it is catching up with me"
-- "Obamacare = Rationed Care," held by a well-costumed grim reaper
-- a picture of a backbone, and the words "Republicans need to grow one"
-- "national health care is like a hospital gown - you think you are covered but you are not" - you can imagine the visual that went with that.
-- "Congressional pink slips - coming soon"
-- "Stop bailing - you're drowning my kids"
-- "Truly toxic assets - U.S. Senate and House...stop whining and start resigning"
-- "seniors should not become shovel-ready projects"
-- "we are here to give corrupt public servants end-of-job counseling"
-- "get your hands off my private sector"
-- "what about transparency?"
-- "under Barack, America will go Ba-roke"
-- "I love my country but not this government'
-- "Bankrupt America?....yes we can"
-- "pucker up, Nancy...kiss my astroturf" (again, if you don't understand...homework time)
-- "Save the Constitution"
-- "Will the real Barack Obama please stand up?"
-- "stop, think, read, vote"
-- "Bush Republicans bankrupted America - Obama socialists are destroying what is left"
and my personal favorite,
-- "Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant." - James Madison
Interestingly enough, Rep. Joe Wilson was the man of the day, garnering more references than Obama or anyone else. Lots of signs indicated that, although he said it in the wrong place, the sentiment was correct. Not just about the president, but about most politicians.
Universally, throughout the day, people were polite, cleaned up after themselves, did not scream, scuffle or use profanity, and articulately and passionately explained why they were there and what issues motivated them. Each person had a hot-button, and each could articulate his/her thoughts pretty darned well. There was a lot of hugging and smiling among people who would never meet again.
We stayed near the Capitol until about 3:00 pm, then walked to F street for a drink and food at an Irish pub, full of like-minded people. We chatted with and marveled at three elderly nuns, in full blue ankle-length habits (with sensible black shoes), who had traveled from Chicago to join the protest with their yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags.
Sunday morning, at breakfast catered by the Hampton Inn, we again talked with our new buddies about the events of the prior day. Our little group was approached by a quiet young woman who had been lingering near our table as we talked. Her story evolved: she had grown up in a blue-collar family, she was heavily tattooed, she had always voted the democrat ticket, she was a lesbian with a child and a job, and she was sick of the goings-on in Washington. She told about what a difficult decision it had been to come alone to D.C., the reprimands and ridicule she faced from everyone she knew, and the loss of friendships. She talked of friends telling her that Obama could provide her with everything she needed. She explained that her parents had raised her to work for a living and that she didn't want Obama or the government to always provide for her. She apologized for still being on government assistance, acknowledged that it was our money, and thanked us. We didn't have much in the way of advice on how to answer her friends' arguments, but we could congratulate her on her courage. It made our 10-hour drive look pretty lame. Her story is not one you will see in the media. But I digress...
So I was outraged, upon returning to the hotel Saturday evening to find that we were only a few thousand warped, small-minded homogenous malcontents out to lynch Barack Obama. And I am beginning to understand that the true danger to this nation is the distortion of information provided to the public. As long as the main-stream media controls the news and manipulates their reports to conform to their agenda, this country is in danger, in my humble opinion. What I saw reported, for the most part, bore no relationship to what I experienced. And this has happened before, at the April 15 tea party in Atlanta. So there is an undercurrent of anger among the people, and it is because the politicians and the media refuse to acknowledge us. They manipulate and misrepresent our events and our views. No one likes to be dissed, as the phrase goes. We were all mild-mannered and congenial at the march, but I suspect that our little group of four was not the only one yelling at the television when we saw the coverage. There is something about living the truth and having to witness a lie that is un-nerving.
I am outraged and saddened, and embarrassed for the media, but I am proud as punch of the people I met Saturday and Sunday, and the untold numbers whom they represent. I wouldn't trade Saturday for anything.
I have attached some of our photos, beginning when we boarded the train at the end of the line and continuing until our camera battery died near the end of the day.
Also, there are several websites that will verify attendance numbers if you are interested. The following is good because it includes a schematic that was used by USAToday to estimate the crowd at the 2009 Inauguration:
Best wishes to all and, trite as it may seem, God bless America.
(Forwarded Letter from Melody)