Buckeye Firearms Association volunteer recounts his time at the D.C. Tea Party Express on 9.12

By John Litle

Joining forced with supporters of individual liberty from across the nation, and from across the spectrum of political issues, second amendment supporters descended on the nation on September 12, 2009. This is just one "astro-turf tea-partier's" experience.

Like most people joining the Tea Party Express in Washington, D.C. this past weekend, I'm not a member of any organized protesting group. I am a Buckeye Firearms volunteer, but it wasn't through Buckeye Firearms that I chose to travel to D.C. Instead, on Thursday I thought, "You know, I'm not doing anything more important this weekend than going down to D.C. and taking a stand for this country, so why not?"

That must have been a common sentiment among the hundreds of thousands, even over a million other people at the event. At the hotel where we booked the night's stay, the manager apologized for being understaffed. "We thought it was going to be a dead weekend," he related.

"We weren't even half-full [of reservations] Thursday."

Robert Gibbs, the President's press secretary and chief propagandist, insisted on Friday that the President wasn't even aware of any march occurring in D.C. the next day, and that he would be out of town promoting his health care agenda on Saturday.

So it is with real grass-roots events - no coverage or notice necessary.

Washington's Tea Party didn't have the benefit of wall-to-wall media coverage for weeks ahead of time, like Louis Farrakhan's "Million Man March." But more people attended. The traffic reports on local D.C. radio Saturday morning, before we left for the march, reported that due to a crowd gathering for a triathlon, there were traffic slowdowns near Freedom Plaza.

A "triathlon." Well, maybe that was accurate. There were people gathering en masse to protest a whole host of issues - at least three. Big spending government with no respect for individual rights. Tyranny through dependency. An entrenched national media wholly devoted to pushing one political agenda.

Is it any surprise then that the Metro was running with normal light weekend trains, and that local residents couldn't comprehend why they had to wait, along with the rest of us, for the second or third trains in order to fit on one? Our hotel was outside the beltway and we had to wait in a sea of liberty-minded, patient and polite people for forty minutes to even cram on a train.

Arriving at Federal Triangle stop, the march was already happening – in the station. The platform was full, police helping to guide people away from the escalators at the top because of how many people were jammed into the station. No one was rude. We were singing God Bless America. I read about the singing in the New York Times the next day, and I can confirm for all doubters, the Times was telling the truth, I was there.

Exiting the subway it was immediately clear that we would not be making it to Freedom Plaza. There was a wall of people as far as the eye could see in the direction of the plaza, and then again down Pennsylvania Avenue. We just joined into the moving crowd, a sea of people armed with their own homemade signs and a desire to see something better from their government.

The signs were generally entertaining and clever. Of course there was a few of the apropos Obama Joker signs, signs about Nancy Pelosi, some that made reference to the difference between Astroturf (the dismissive derogatory term with which the current administration refers to Americans who oppose it's big government ways) and real grassroots, which, if the Left ever recognized, they would refer to as astroturf. "Grandma isn't shovel ready." "You Lie!" "Come and take it!" (with an AR-15 below). "I’m 9 years old and $33,000 in debt." "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy." "Stop spending." "Read the bill." Blown up copies of the Constitution, George Washington, etc.

Walking the long walk down Pennsylvania Avenue was entertaining. At the Newseum, where the First Amendment is emblazoned on the outside wall, the crowd cheered "Read that wall! Read that wall!" A block or so down the road, there was a group of fifteen counter-protesters and, you guessed it, the first news camera seen at the whole event, pointed right at them. In some ways it makes the blood boil.

Arriving on the west lawn of the Capital, our group made headway to the front, where the U.S. Parks Police were running a one-in, one-out policy as to actually getting onto the lawn. We waited our turn and took our place just out of range of seeing the stage. The speakers at the event were mostly unknown. Perhaps familiar to people in their hometowns, they all had an opportunity to speak out, and they did.

One of the most inspiring speeches came from a coal-miner. He readily confessed his lack of comfort speaking to such a crowd, but continued on to deliver an impassioned plea against the nation-defeating cap-and-tax legislation that Congress seems poised to foist upon us. He spoke for coal, but also for industry and for the families who will be shouldering the burden of a 15% tax hike should cap-and-tax pass.

Of course, what little coverage of the rally made the news made reference to Sen. DeMint. Mike Pence of Indiana spoke of the rally participants being the cavalry in the fight against wasteful spending and dangerous government growth in Washington. The more moving speakers were those arguing against intrusions into personal liberty, threats to the second amendment, and the danger of being seduced by easy money into dependence upon the government.

One speaker proclaimed that he was a life-long Democrat, but as he watched his party drift away from fiscal responsibility and respect for individual rights he had become disillusioned. Upon reflection, he stated – to loud cheers – he wasn't even sure the republican party was conservative enough for him. And that was the general theme. Not anti-Obama, not anti-Democrat. Anti-Congress. Anti-bloated government.

The protest in Washington had about as much to do with race as Jimmy Carter has to do with current domestic policy. That is to say, nothing. After waiting in line for the bathroom for slightly over an hour, I returned to Vance Venom and Hi-Caliber doing conservative rap, and the crowd dancing along. If anything about the rally had to do with race, it was in confirming stereotypes regarding the rhythm of white people.

So, how many people were there? It doesn't matter. It is indisputed that there was a complete glut of people. More people than any authorities, and even the Tea Party Express people had thought there would be. Certainly well more than appeared to see our Dear Leader in Minnesota on the same day. I could see more people from my low perch than you see in the horseshoe at an OSU game. Probably twice as many. Certainly enough to send a strong message to Congress that we aren’t messing around. We're not fake. We're not getting paid to do this. The SEIU isn't bussing us down here. ACORN isn't going into nursing homes and confusing us into signing a petition. We've spent our own money to drive across the nation to make a point.

That point is, whether the media wants to cover it or not, as was oft repeated by speaker after speaker: Do the right thing or, We. Will. Fire. You. We have the numbers, the motivation, and the means.

I hope Congress was listening.