I am quite pleased at the Tea Party Protest March On Washington turnout yesterday (September 12, 2009). I’ve always been a fan and a lover of the protest and demonstration. I’ve been involved in many throughout my three and a half decades of life, the largest being the Million Man March (MMM) on October 16, 1995. There’s a certain beauty about a protest. Everyone with a singular purpose and expressing themselves. Just a wonderful thing.
But enough of my “protest love”. As we all know, one person’s civil protest is another person’s “collection of nutjobs, losers, racists, and ignoramuses” (note those were words used to describe Million Man March demonstrators and were used by various new media folks about the D.C. Tea Party demonstrators as well). And of course, all mass demonstrations have collections of wackaroons that the media loves to single out. I remember at the MMM a guy had a sign that said, “The Black Revolution Has Started! Repent Whitey!”. The guy (about in his early 50s) holding the sign was all decked out in military fatigues, beret, boots, etc. He looked and sounded SO ignorant. Many of us told him to put that sign down but he was a strident character and we left him alone. Sure enough, some guy from SOME paper was talking to him while he spouted out some serious insanity. Funny that even though I was still entertaining my own black nationalist thoughts that day, I found him ignorant.
Fast forward to yesterdays D.C. Tea Party Protest. I saw plenty of pictures of bigoted signs, racist t-shirts, and general insanity. And of course old and new media latched on to that. This is America and we love a good show. And who puts on better shows than the loopy, goofy, and nutty. Also it fits the narrative that the Republican Party is fueling the Fringe Right to derail anything President Obama does. But the following photo via Michelle Malkin is what I feel the general takeaway from yesterdays demonstration should be:
The Party of Hell No. The way I have been voting since I was 18. It says so much and I love that a regular guy just wrote it. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up. Each motivated by their own ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. But the general thought is hell no. And it’s your right as an American to say and peacefully display your “hell no” when you want when you disagree with the government. I respect that even if some (and I emphasize “some” so don’t get it twisted) of the protesters out there don’t respect me because of my somewhat caramel brown complexion.
So the aftermath is a win for the Republican Party and conservatives in general. They have shown up en masse to say “hell no” to President Obama, his administration, and Congress (particularly Democrats). What happens now? Who knows. But a large segment of Americans are saying “hell no”. That doesn’t mean that President Obama has to totally submit to them. But it does mean that the President needs to respect that and chart a more even course. We’re all Americans and like it or not, we’re all in this together. That’s not a socialist or communist statement. That’s reality. And keeping things as even as possible is a win-win.
I’m not complex. Don’t have time for all that. And all that complex stuff bad for the stomach. Just color me simple and plain with a twist.