In case you haven't heard, The Tea Party Express national bus tour is hosting a series of tea party rallies all across the nation from California to Maine. It's a 16-day, 35-city tour rallying Americans to stand up against out-of-control government spending. WATCH 2-minutes of national news coverage of the Sacramento rally here:
The effort actually began today in Sacramento, California and will travel eastward, building momentum as the tour reaches its final destination: the big 09.12.09 Taxpayer March on Washington D.C. At each stop, the tour will highlight the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher taxes, more spending and greater government interference in the lives of American business and families. The tour will end with a rally in Washington D.C. on September 12th when Congress is expected to be moving health care legislation through the House and Senate. The primary focus: health care legislation that many fear will further erode many of their personal freedoms and further cripple an already fledgling economy.
Our family attended the Tea Party Express event today in downtown Sacramento, and we were among thousands of other Americans gathered together to voice our peaceful opposition to the excessive size of government, the idea that government is making decisions that it shouldn't have a role in making about people's personal lives, including healthcare decisions. You might recall that I also wrote briefly about some of the specific local issues that are facing Californians in a recent blog posting...you can backtrack to that posting by simply clicking here: http://ashley-twinsanity.blogspot.com/2009/08/government-is-not-solutionit-is-part-of.html (Many of these issues that I highlighted in this previous blog posting were under discussion today in downtown Sacramento.)
At the end of the day, I suppose I would sum it up this way: Today's event, much like the explosion of the recent townhalls taking place across this country, featured a participatory democracy with a wide cross-section of Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life from the young to the old, despite what the cynics and the critics (of which there are many) might say, this participatory democracy is showing itself to be as robust and as alive as ever. A few pictures of the event we attended are below...
Our family - just 1 family, 4 individuals - among a gathering of thousands of other families and individuals.
There was even a little hobnobbing with politicians. This one may just be one to watch...he's got his eye on a contest with Nancy Pelosi for the Speaker of the House seat. And, I met him!!! Aren't you just a little curious to know who he is?????
A view of the lawn in front of the state capitol building.
From this vantage point, we were about 50 to 60 rows back from the capitol steps.
In this moment, talk radio personalities Armstrong & Getty were on stage at the capitol steps rallying the crowds. Can you tell I was rallying?!
I didn't make any homemade signs myself this time, but borrowed a friend's sign for a while. The message of his sign reads: "RECIPE FOR DYSTOPIA - 1 Part Stimulus Bill, 2 Parts Cap & Trade Energy Bill, 3 Parts Government Motors + ObamaCare"
A view of the coast to coast tour route for the Tea Party Express (graphic courtesy of http://www.teapartyexpress.org/index.html)
