The 9-12 March On Washington!

Your blogger attended his first protest march yesterday.

At the initial musing of my friend and business partner, a co-founder of Newstex, the distributor of this blog, I agreed to join him at the Capitol for a rally of then-unknown size, as part of Fox News' Glenn Beck's 9-12 Project.

It was an amazing and energizing experience to be part of a 1.5MM strong, non- and bi-partisan peaceful gathering focused on restoring lost liberties, stopping the tyranny of both parties via their ignoring our Constitution as they swell government to heretofore unimaginable size and power over our individual lives.

Signs were everywhere, and they weren't bought or mass-produced. Not most of them, anyway. The creativity of the protesters was simply amazing, and spanned many, many topics and perspective. But all of these expressions shared a desire to restore lost freedoms and liberty.

Despite arriving downtown just as the march was getting underway, we were able to work our way very close to the Capitol steps and speakers' platform.

From that vantage point, however, we were only able to see a fraction of the protesters. Looking around the Capitol grounds and out over the nearby streets and intersections, we quickly realized, and confirmed with nearby attendees, that there were at least 100,000 people gathered within sight of our position.


We were present for Dick Armey's speech, but found it disappointing. He didn't initially use the microphone, and, when he did, his talk was brief and, frankly, not memorable. I've seen him far more passionate, articulate and detailed on CNBC or Fox News.

Later, South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint and Indiana Republican Representative Mike Pence gave more eloquent and rousing, if brief, speeches. The crowd responded enthusiastically to both.

9-12 Project flags with the Revolutionary War-era 'Don't Tread On Me' snake were everywhere, as was this creative, rattling stuffed snake.

When one of the speakers announced that even ABC had publicly declared the rally to be about one and a half million strong, the assembled throng roared its approval. Many hand-made signs thanked Fox News for giving voice to the movement, while castigating the major networks and NBC-owned cable property MSNBC for turning a blind eye to the recent Tea Party movement.

The protesters were very amicable and polite. Many conversed with strangers, as the nearby picture illustrates. That's me exchanging views with a fellow attendee who was standing near us for most of the rally.

My friend shot a brief video clip with his iphone to capture the flavor and sounds of the rally. It appears below.

I spoke with a friend this morning who cautioned me that, despite our effort yesterday, and those of the assembled multitude, and our passions for this cause, we won't make any difference. She doesn't believe any of this will affect what Frisco Nan, Wonderboy and Harry Reid will do in the coming weeks and months.

Respectfully, I countered that I did not expect this rally, or the 40-some other 9-12 rallies held yesterday, to influence those three.

However, as my friend and I discussed on the three-hour drive back from the rally, we do expect the 9-12 Project rallies to seriously change the views of Democratic House Members in districts won by McCain or Bush. Those moderate Democrats, some unofficially known as "Blue Dogs," whose tenure in office will likely be ended next year if they continue to support the ultra-liberal objectives of this administration and the current Congressional leaders.

Furthermore, one hopes that the Republican contestants for those seats, and others, will be more serious and honest about being Representatives of their districts, not, as our First Rookie and his minions have claimed, simply being given the power to vote for whatever they personally feel like. Or whatever will accrete more power to Congress and the administration.

One and a half million people clogging the streets of Washington, D.C., on a late summer Saturday is not something to be ignored.

My friend doesn't think Frisco Nan or even Wonderboy are capable of being other than in denial about this anymore. Maybe he's right. But we both believe that many of the 534 other Congressional members are doing some soul-searching today, in the aftermath of yesterday's powerful, spontaneous outpouring of so many ordinary citizens. Including many older, concerned voters who will be going to next year's polls, and taking a lot of their friends with them to unseat current members of Congress.

It's difficult to capture or convey in text, or even pictures and limited video, what I felt from the crowd gathered yesterday on the West lawn of the Capitol building. I'm probably not alone in that. But as I mentioned to my friend, nearly everyone in sight on the march and at the rally had a cell phone camera, and/or a digital still camera. Many had video cameras, too.

This event has been captured and communicated by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, some in blogs like this. I believe this phenomenon will help keep the momentum of the rally alive and growing.

Of course, time, and the November 2010 elections, will tell.