Steve Buyer learns about The Apollo Alliance

Who writes the bills? Who is the Apollo Alliance? A high school student asks Congressman Steve Buyer – if HR 3200 passes, and salaries for physicians are capped, what motivation does he have to enter med school?

 

Danville, IN, Town Hall with Rep. Steve Buyer (R)

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Part 2:

Part 3:

 

Dear Senator Bayh

They are stealing THEIR MONEY!

Dear Senator Bayh,

In reviewing your voting record over the past few years I was brought to question your current “Nay” vote on the 3.5 trillion dollar budget. In the past politicians (note I do not use the word statesman) in this country figure their constituents look at the last year of their voting record (if at all). You are a smart man. You realize Hoosiers are really a pretty conservative bunch of people who by nature want to work hard and be left alone. Here is my beef with your “Nay” vote on this budget… it comes across as disingenuous when you look at the fact that you are the supposed leader of the “blue dog democrats”. If you really felt that this budget was yet another step in bankrupting our country I would think you would have used your influence to join up with the GOP and at least created a filibuster to this atrocious, socialistic, illogical, spending bill. Do not get me wrong sir, I believe the GOP is at much fault as anyone for this progressive idea that growing the government is a good idea.

You are a professional politician. I am dedicating myself to see you unseated in 2010. I will work as hard as I can to bring a statesman to power. Someone who will not pull punches or waste any influence they have. As you thumb you lapels about how “smart” you were to simply vote “nay” on a bill you knew would get passed and then garner the vote of the conservative Hoosier, know this, there are many like me who are ready to see your kind lose their power over “We the People”. “We the People” are waking up. I attended the April 15th Tea Party at the State Capitol. It was the first political rally I have ever attended. I am now helping organize a July 4th rally. I wonder if your fellow Democrats and our President will continue to make fun of Americans who participate in these events failing to realize that this is not a GOP event, not just republicans, not just libertarians, not just democrats, not just “right wing extremists”, but rather angry Americans who still believe that they have a right to earn a decent wage and keep it for themselves and not be forced to share it with someone who has made BAD choices. These are people who realize that this is punishing good behavior and rewarding bad behavior.

On November 3, 2010 when you wake up wondering what just happened you might want to save this letter and put a note on it that reminds you to “Read me if I lose in 2010”. I might be dreaming that someone as powerful and manipulative as yourself can actually lose with your long history in the state. Rest easy, I am sure you will be fine and I am sure this is just a rant. I am sure you succeeded and fooled all the Hoosiers with your “Nay” vote. You and all the incumbents are going to be fine. Americans really are happy with how things are going. The GOP is not even going to back a candidate in any significant way in Indiana in 2010. They have basically already conceded defeat. It is doubtful that there really is an undercurrent of anger that is brewing and could boil over and wash away many of the politicians who have gotten America into this mess. The funny thing is people keep on talking about how the GOP needs to be rebuilt and how the democrats are on the right track. I find this funny because it seems to me that you all are in the same bed with big business, big lobbyists, and each other in many respects. I find it funny because I (and I pretty sure I am the only one who thinks this so rest easy) have been thinking that both parties need to be scrapped. The players must be replaced. Our liberty must be restored.

So maybe a “thank you” for your “nay” vote on a bill so heinous and destructive that it has the potential of driving our country into a ditch is in order. I for one will withhold my thanks realizing that it was rather easy for a “Blue Dog” in an election year to push the “nay” button knowing that the success of the bill was a foregone conclusion. I have to run and let Mr. Lugar know what I think of his “nay” vote. My sentiment is the same. Once again rest easy… all is well… you are a shoo-in come 2010.

Regards,

Jeff Petersen

 

From Doubt to Hope to Excitement

Only a few people are going to show up

They seem happy with how things are going

I work from 6 am till 2:30 pm. I drove from my job up on 75th and Binford Blvd to downtown. After a small stop at the leather supply shop on South and Illinois, I drove down to the Circle Center Mall’s parking garage on Illinois. After parking, I walked the long way down Maryland and came at the State House Lawn from the southwest. I was almost sad at the few people I saw as I came with in the view of the state house.

“It’s still early,” I told myself, “There will be more people.”

I walked around, some. I saw a homemade coffin leaning against a tree just south west of the steps. There was quite a bit of writing on it complaining about what has happened in the country. That was about the time that I heard the first horn. “Oh, gods, please say that we don’t have people out blocking traffic during rush hour.” Must to my relief, when I looked, it was just people driving by and honking their encouragement to this line of people standing on the edge of the state house lawn on Washington St. Where the people had come from I don’t know. One minute there was no one there, next, there’s people out on the edge of the lawn.

I finally made my way around to the medical area to say hi to Lori and reassure her that I had no intention of catching fire and that I didn’t even bring any matches. When I missed her the first time and started another “orbit” of the stage, there were more people. “Wow, its going to be a pretty good turn out.” (At this time, I had not quite noticed that people were coming in from the south east corner of the lawn.)

I walked around the lawn again, looking at some of the people, getting some pictures of the statues and people there. Gotta say, there were some pretty hot looking college girls there supporting the cause. I did hear some guy saying how Obama was going to repeal the constitution and declare martial law. We were all doomed. This guy just seemed like he was interested in talking to his friends, not pushing his beliefs on everyone else.

Then the music started. I found myself singing along with all of them. (Much like everyone else was. I have to say that the Wright Brothers were very good. I wish I had heard of them sooner.

It seems like I blinked and there were more people. I stopped to get pictures of the reinactors. One of who told me, “That will be a dollar, capitalism and all,” I responded, “Sorry, I am broke.” Another guy spoke up, “I know where you might get a loan.” There was laughter all around.

Once again, I actually looked at the number of people. There were people all down the walk to Washington street and all down the walk to Washington & capitol streets. The noise was getting louder and the people were starting to get excited. And the temp suddenly dropped.

I made two or three more orbits back and forth looking at the people there, reading their signs shaking my head at some of them, laughing at some of them, seeing others as “acorn plants” and wondering what the rest of them were thinking. Flags were being handed out (I still have mine as well as the don’t tread on me flag that I bought which will get put up in my van eventually).

I ended up almost in a line from the stage to the south west corner of the lawn as they called for everyone’s attention. I listened to Laura and Richard speak, applauding and waving my flags every so often. Then they announced the immigrant from Pakistan (a naturalized American citizen) who was going to give the invocation. I noticed that quite a few people were stunned when they heard him talk, till he started talking about Jesus and his experiences in American and his love for the country. I could feel the crowd warming up to him in an amazing way. When he actually started the prayer, I bowed my head. (While I am not Christian, I still believe in showing respect if nothing else to the founding fathers that were Christian and would have bowed their heads as well.) The prayer was very moving and I could tell that he greatly cared for his new home country and the religion that I am pretty sure he was not born to.

A young girl was next up and she led the Pledge of allegiance. It reminded me of every day in elementary school and middle school, the pledge would be read by one student at random each morning over the p.a. system at school. I think this is the first time I have taken the pledge of allegiance in nearly 25 years I think.

Mr. Garrison spoke after that. I listen to him once in a while in the morning (when time and work permit). I agree with what he said and enjoyed listening to him. I have to say that I was worried for a moment that he was going to turn it into a political speech but he really didn’t.

More people spoke, I am sorry I don’t remember them all. I had started walking again moving around the crowd getting pictures again and looking at the crowds. When “Thomas Payne” began to speak it was quite in thrilling. I agreed with him entirely. The crowd also seemed to love him as well. Other than one small group encouraging everyone to get their lifetime gun permits and get their guns. I think they were trying to get people to rise to action but I missed some of what they were saying as I was trying to get closer to the speakers to hear Mr. “Payne”.

Once his speech was over, I decided to head out. I needed to go to my parents and do a few things there before I went home. It was funny though. On my drive out of downtown, I saw at least 1/2 a dozen people who either by carrying flags or just a look about them, that I could tell had been to the event. Maryland Street waving a huge don’t tread on me flag. It was good to see it and to see the reaction of people who were not at the event as they passed by.

If you made it to here, you are way more patient than I would have been. Just my thoughts and time at the party.

Shawn B.

 

Beck, 912, and bandaids… oh my!

I’m a Beck fan and have been since long before it was “trendy” to do so. I jumped on the “We Surround Them” movement and sent my picture to Beck for what became a mosaic of thousands of faces. I helped Laura and Richard the day of the viewing of the 3/13 reveal of Beck’s The 9-12 Project. My part was small…I dragged family members to attend, brought some signs Laura asked me to make and agreed to help sign people up for “Tea Parties” during the event. Confession time now….I really didn’t have much interest in the Tea Party deal…I wanted to promote the 12 Principles and 9 Values with Beck. But Laura and Richard were genuinely nice people and when they asked me to attend the planning committee meeting for the Tea party, I went just put in my 2 cents and didn’t plan on continuing with the whole “Tea Party deal”. Well if you haven’t had the pleasure to meet and work under Laura and Richard then you might not understand but they are “infectious” when it comes to their enthusiasm! So I kept going to the committee meetings and sign making meetings and I volunteered to help co-ordinate people who wanted to blog to promote the Tea Party. By now I had been “converted” as I saw Laura and Richard recruiting more and more people that felt the same way I did about the direction of this country. As the Tea Party came together there were high hopes and a few disappointments (I had hoped Beck would choose to do his show from Indy on 4/15) but due to Richard and Laura’s leadership it was growing into a real “professional production” pulled together with nothing but dedicated volunteers who knew “people” who “knew people”. There are so many other volunteers that I never met that helped get the word out on the event, namely the printers who at their cost printed fliers, signs that said “Enough” and the handouts with info on how to stay active after the Tea Party ended. We had no idea how many would attend our little Tea Party and hoped we wouldn’t have more volunteers at the event then attendees. Just to cover our bases though we felt it necessary to have a medical response team so Wes and I recruited two other R.N.s and another volunteer “recruited” her husband who is an MD. We had a meeting on the Friday before the event at the Capitol with the security team volunteers and the rest of the committee. We closed the meeting with an incredible prayer offered by Jeff while we stood on the Capitol building steps. The day of the Tea Party I arrived a short time after the other volunteers who were already setting up hospitality tables. My husband helped me set up the first aid tent. While putting the “patient” cot together he pinched his finger in the tubing and started bleeding everywhere. It took 3 bandaids to get the bleeding to stop. I thought…this isn’t a good sign if the volunteers become “patients”before the event even begins. Medical superstition says “If you don’t have something…you will definitely need it. If you have everything set up and ready for an emergency…the emergency will never happen”. Ask any medical person who has been in the profession for a while and they will tell you it’s true. So since we weren’t able to find a loaner AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) I went into the Capitol building to locate where they were in case we would need one later. (I was certain someone would have a heart attack during the Tea Party). We won’t go into all the bloody details but lets just let it be said that if you plan to have a heart attack…DON’T have it on Capitol grounds. After being sent to 3 different offices, and talking to no less than 3 police officers and many, many people…no one seemed to know what an AED was or where one was kept. There might have been one in the Governor’s office but that office closed and would be locked at the end of their work day which happened to be the same time the Tea Party was to start. I debated in my mind if I had the courage to break in to the Governors office if someone had a heart attack. I gave up on the AED and said a prayer for the health of anyone that might show up for the event. Back outside people were beginning to straggle in. I took it as a good sign people were arriving early but still wondered if we would get much of a turnout. Then as it got closer to the time to start the Tea Party people started arriving at ever increasing rates. It became clear we were going to have a HUGE turnout! The signs were incredibly creative and just about everyone had one. People lined the sidewalks holding their signs for people passing in cars, trucks and buses to see. The tooting of horns and shouts of agreement and thumbs up signs from the passengers driving by was music to my ears and to my heart! From the first aid tent I couldn’t see the stage or speakers but I could hear and it was inspiring especially our own medical team member Wes R.N. who was a Soap Box speaker. Everyone who spoke was incredible in a different way but incredible nonetheless. Since I couldn’t see the stage I watched the reaction of the people in the crowd…they were totally focused on the message even the kids! Everyone knew this was something important, something great and we were UNIFIED! It was an inspiring event to say the least…from beginning to end! We volunteers were amazed at our sucess, pulled together entirely by “amatuers”. But the day wasn’t over, after clean up and tear down we met for pizza with Richard, Laura, Dr Basso (Thomas Paine). We all agreed we were in awe of how flawlessly the event had gone considering the huge number of people who attended (I credit our excellent security crew headed by Jeff and Paul). Dr. Bob Basso told us that our jobs weren’t over tho. Clearly we had started something BIG and we needed to keep it moving forward so he shared with us what he thought we needed to do. He is an amazing man and had our full attention. So now, under the excellent leadership of Laura and Richard, with the talents of the committee, and the infusion of new people with new resources we will go forward…us and more than 12,000 of our new best friends! We Surround Them!

Lori

 

A view from the loo

I am a worrier. I have always been and probably always will be a worrier. I worry about EVERYTHING. It is my nature. Some may consider this as negative, I consider it a gift, for it is those that do not worry, that do not see what has slowly been happening to our country. I have been concerned about our nation since Nixon resigned. I was only a pre teen at the time, but I knew it was huge. I actually paid attention to what Carter was doing and I think I was the only kid at my school who let out an agonizing scream when I heard we were just giving away the Panama Canal.

On the night of April 14th, 2009, I could not sleep, I was sooooo nervous and excited about the coming events. In my mind I saw everything from a huge turnout to a half a dozen people, including the volunteers and speakers. I pictured everything that could possibly go wrong and everything that could possibly go right. Unlike most of my fellow patriots, this was not my first rodeo. Pictures of past rallies and protests flashed before my eyes. The latest homeland security report referring to us as domestic terrorists played over and over in my imagination, i fought off the moments of panic. My mind was spinning out of control, finally, about 3am exhaustion overcame my busy mind.

When I woke on the morning of the big day, I hurried to dress and be on my way. I couldn’t eat, the nerves were still in the pit of my tummy. I raced out the door and took about two steps before I turned back. I couldn’t go like this, my patriotic tee shirt was just not going to be warm enough….emergency wardrobe change. I put on my warmest sweater, which was about as far from patriotic looking as possible and grabbed a waterproof jacket. I was hoping that this was not a sign of things to come.

Things began to look up as I made the drive to the rendezvous point where I was to meet Lori who had agreed to give me a ride so that I did not end up at the Chicago party by accident. I only got lost twice, WOW, things were looking up big time. I arrived a half hour early, ( I had given myself plenty of time to get lost, I have a lousy sense of direction) and pumped myself up with patriotic music while I waited. I was getting all tingly inside, for a moment, there was no doubt about the success of our party.

We arrived about 9:30. I was amazed to see the number of people who were already there, working hard to set things up. Lori began setting up the Medical tent and I located the security leader, Jeff. I had volunteered to be the token female officer. There I was, a middle aged woman surrounded by a bunch of great looking men, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Then we were handed our assignments, with trembling hands I adjusted my bi-focals and looked at my position. I was given section “E”, the streets. I paused for a moment and wondered if it was merely coincidence that the ONLY WOMAN was assigned a street walking position? hmmm

When we dispersed, I headed down to check out my “territory” that is when I discovered what my real job was, my territory included the dreaded but needed porta potties!!! Yes, I was sent down to guard the loo!!!

I then returned up front to help my fellow patriots set up. In my mind, I was 20 again, I joyfully pitched in to show that I could work as hard as any of the guys hauling up boxes of books, setting up canopies, and any other manual job that needed done. It was at this point my body began to whisper the truth in my ear, I was no longer 20 or 30 or 40 for that matter. I did not let a little thing like being middle aged and out of shape stop me, I forged ahead, ignoring every complaint my muscles made.

By noon, I was regretting not eating breakfast, I was starving. Then it happened, at first I thought it was a hallucination caused by my hunger, but it was real!!! A young man came by with a cooler full of fresh hot Chic Fillet sandwiches just for me! (OK, the rest of the volunteers too). Then to make things even better, they handed me a bag of chips and a BROWNIE, you heard that right, CHOCOLATE!!!! Oh the pleasure!!! Once again I was super woman. I tore into the best tasting sandwich of my life and raced to the medical tent. No, I was not sick, but that is where I had left my drink.

By now it was 12:30 and I noticed that while I had been taking care of my needs, people were already beginning to arrive. By the time we had our 1:30 security meeting where we were given our radios I knew that my fun and games time was over. I would say we already had at least 200 guests at that point. I decided it was time to begin my career as a streetwalker. While there I spoke with an older gentleman who said he was a disabled Korean War vet and was sick about the direction this country was going. I spent probably a half an hour speaking with him and felt he was genuine. You will hear more about him later.

By 2:30 I finally decided I had no choice but to check out the interior of one of the porta potties. I stopped in amazement when I opened the door and turned to the grounds, at least a thousand people had miraculously appeared in the few moments I was detained. I double checked the time, it was only 2:33. By 3:30 the view from my corner was obstructed by a sea of red white and blue. Pride swelled up inside at the site of the rapidly growing crowd, there were old people, young people, white people, black people, tall people, short people, people in wheel chairs, skinny people, cuddly people, well dressed people and yes, those who you could tell shopped at wal mart and the second hand stores. All, regardless of where they came from, were joining as one people, Americans.

Then it happened, the band started playing. By the time they played Neil Diamonds “America” I knew I had a problem. Here I was, I supposed to be security and tough enough to handle any situation, standing on a corner, next to the loo, crying. Yup, I was doing well. I tried to control the tears, but the pride and love for my country kept the tears flowing. After wrestling with my emotions, I managed once again to appear to be professional. This lasted until the second note in “the Star Spangled Banner”. Then Niagara falls began again.

My job was boring for the most part, THANK GOD. Two people who were unaware of the “no stick” rule had to be sent over to the atta boy stick removal van, but other than that, things were going well. The crowd was so thick, no matter what I did, I could not see the stage, or anything close to it, so I gave up trying and just walked up and down my section. That is when a character caught my eye. He looked like the carny in the “Wizard Of Oz”. Complete with gold colored turban. In his left hand he held a full headed mask on a stick. I went closer to investigate the situation. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. This spectacle was no one else but the kindly, patriotic sounding, Korean vet that I had spoken to at length earlier. I asked what he was doing, he just looked at me and said “things can change on a dime” and “you just never know a person by what they appear to be”. He was not causing a disturbance, and was staying on the sidewalk, so we just left him alone. Yet I will carry his lesson with me for a long time. We need to be careful because the people around us may not be what they appear to be.

I did my best to listen to the speakers, the radio, and watch my area. Right before the keynote speaker, the wonderful “Thomas Paine” portrayed by Dr. Basso, a small group with a blow horn began walking our perimeter. They were distracting the people in back from being able to hear the speaker. We were told by State Police that there was NOTHING we could do about this situation. THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE WERE NOT PART OF OUR GROUP!!!! By their own admission they did not support what we were doing. They were yelling rhetoric about how it is too late and calling people to arms. THIS WAS NOT AND IS NOT OUR MESSAGE!!! They angered me so greatly that I forgot about all of the previously whispering muscles who had been yelling at me for the past hour.

When the event was over, people left in a cheery, upbeat, determined to win, and orderly fashion. I had volunteered to help with cleaning up the trash on the lawn, this took about two minutes. The only trash found anywhere on the grounds was one gum wrapper, one discarded sign, and three cigarette butts. That was it. NOT A SINGLE PIECE OF OUR LITERATURE WAS TOSSED ON THE GROUNDS!!! It was then that I made a horrible discovery. I am old. Without the adrenaline keeping me standing, my muscles were threatening failure. I hurt in places I was not even aware that I had.

I was in great physical pain as I limped over to the after party gathering where we were given pizza and nachos. It was worth every ounce of discomfort my body was giving me. Listening to Dr. Basso talk about where we should go from here inspired me in a way that I can not recall ever feeling inspired before. I was a sponge soaking up the wisdom he was sharing with us. I can honestly say that this was a life changing experience for me. Just recalling our party is once again causing my eyes to blur with patriotic pride. The coming months and perhaps years will not be easy, but for once I am not worried, at the end of the day we WILL GET OUR CONSTITUTION BACK.

This was a wonderful event with well over 10,000 AMERICANS joining as one. I will never forget it. A special thanks to Richard and Laura Behney for all they have done. Until next time

Cathy

 

Noblesville Perspective

Hello! Yes, I was there……and because I was going downtown from Noblesville and anticipated no room in the parking garages, hard-to-find parking places on the street etc., I took a cab. From Noblesville, this was a considerable expense, but I didn’t care: being there was the important thing.

Arriving on the lawn at 3:00, I was excited to see quite a crowd gathered already, balloons, flags, signs, etc……one whole hour and a half, before the event’s official starting time. As people gathered, rapidly, from 3:30 on, I was interested in the composition of the crowd: it was truly a cross section and transcended every demographic. This is in direct contrast to what I heard in Nancy Pelosi’s blathering official comment on the tea parties, i.e., that they were the brain child of “rich people” and attended mostly by people who wanted to retain the tax breaks for the “wealthiest Americans.” What a riot! What planet is she from, anyway?

Standing about five rows from the front of the crowd, we couldn’t see how big the crowd was, but we could feel it, because we kept getting pushed closer and closer together – it was wall-to-wall people, for sure. And what a well-mannered, well-behaved crowd! I encountered people from all over this state, as well.

The speakers could not have been more outstanding or more inspiring. And the Wright Brothers……what a treat!
They are the best. All in all, from my point-of-view, it was everything I had anticipated and more. Kudos to everyone who contributed to this huge success!

Lydia

 

A view from the steps…

My View From the Steps

I was one of the thousands, and contrary to what the local news media had to say I DO MEAN THOUSANDS, of people who attended the Indianapolis Tax Day Tea Party. I was there with my husband and my two oldest children. I have come home energized and hopeful, for the first time in 6 years, about the future of my country. Let me tell you why.

We arrived at 10 that morning because my husband was helping with the setup. The girls and I were mainly observing the commotion around us. I have done this sort of thing MANY times in the past and I can say unequivocally that this particular group was VERY well organized. Everyone who was present had a job to do and there was a delightful and surprising lack of ego involved. What struck me after observing for an hour was this: It was increasingly obvious that this was a group being organized by people who KNOW how to organize EVERYDAY LIFE. As someone who has been around those of a political ilk for a long time it was so refreshing to see the EVERYDAY American stepping into his/her role with the efficiency that has made America so successful. There was ingenuity, a common desired goal, and willingness by everyone there to make the event successful aside from personal glory or gain. There is normally a nauseating jockeying of position and desire for name recognition that drives these sorts of things, but not yesterday. It was run by a dedicated and capable group of everyday Americans: business owners, nurses, blue collar, white collar, managers, and retirees who all came together with a passion for their country. This jaded political observer was very impressed.

The rally was to start at 4:30 and by 2:30 people were beginning to trickle in. You could tell that there was concern on the parts of the organizers that the event would not be well attended but I was noticing the TYPE of people who were arriving early and I had a very good feeling about it. When a group of this type is able to tap into the angst of the common man, you WILL achieve a crowd. There is a common saying “Beware of stupid people in large groups” and that most certainly has a large element of truth. However, what our government has taken for granted for so long is this: “Be even more careful of the fed up, everyday common American who suddenly feels that he is on the verge of having nothing to lose”. This country was founded by a group of intellectual men who UNDERSTOOD the power of the common man. Our current “intellectuals” have forgotten that power. What I saw yesterday, as they began to trickle in by 2:30 and were starting to stream in by 3:45, was the beginning of the harnessing of the awesome power that can be achieved by the common man. This was not a showing of “stupid people in large groups”, this was the life blood of America coming out of the woodwork to protect their liberty. These people were not there hoping that the “government” would pay their way, correct their mistakes, or magically hand them the “American dream” on a silver platter. No, these people were there because they believe they have the RIGHT to pay their own way, correct their own mistakes, and achieve the “American dream” by their very own bootstraps. The thought that went through my head repeatedly as I watched from my perch on the Capital steps was this “Dear Government, welcome to the first real view in a very long time of the true heart and soul of our country. Welcome to the Heartland”.

Our rally got off to a late start for the very best reason in the rally world: people were still streaming in. Now, the local media reported that there were around 2,000. If that is the case, then they were the slowest walking group of people in the history of mankind. There was a STEADY STREAM of people coming to that rally for 2 hours. That is ALOT of people! The band who was playing, the Wright Brothers, were willing to accommodate the late start by playing longer than originally intended so a big thank you to them. While this was not a strictly Christian rally, the organizers were certainly not afraid to let their religion be know. Good for them! Christians should not have to hide who they are in this country and I was happy to see that they did not hide behind the PC adage “afraid to offend”. I truly enjoyed hearing the speeches delivered by the 3 common, everyday Americans who told the crowd why they were there for the rally. It was the call out the common man that is so often missing from these sorts of things. Mr. “Thomas Paine” was great, but hearing from 3 people who live in the state of Indiana and being able to truly understand WHY they were there was a powerful thing. The all to often unheard voice of the everyday American from a fly-over state was the HEART AND SOUL of why we were there yesterday. The roaring swell of the crowd as they heard from the common man was telling, to me. We are tired of being preached to by condescending politicians who only court our opinions in election year. We are tired of being ignored in the spirit of Political Correctness. We are tired of being the bad guy because we are responsible enough to take care of ourselves and our families. We are tired of being told that our hard work is selfish. And we are CERTAINLY tired of being told that we are arrogant and derisive! We are America and the speakers yesterday were a representative of who we are, not who the politicians WISH we were.

As the rally progressed, I paid close attention to as many signs as I could see (and there were MANY signs that I could see). Hand written political signs are a great way to judge the mood and tone of a rally crowd because they are a window to the political soul. I counted only 4 anti-Obama signs from my viewpoint, which certainly went against the tenor from the mainstream media that this was an anti-Obama rally. The VAST majority of the signs were aimed at the government as a whole. The most common theme, “the government works for me”. The most prevalent sign, “read the bill” in varying forms of anger. The second most common sign was along the lines of, “stop spending my childrens/grandchildrens money”. I did not see ANY signs supporting either democrats or republicans. When it came to the current politicians, the message was clear, start listening to the people or WE WILL VOTE YOU OUT. And you know what, I believe the crowd yesterday actually meant it.

Once the rally was over, I was struck with how orderly the area was cleared. People left in a none combative way and, they left no trash behind. I have NEVER been to a rally where no trash was left behind. What that says about the people attending the rally is this: they truly do believe in taking personal responsibility for their actions. That is a more powerful statement about who these people are than anything the media will EVER catch on to. Way to go Hoosiers!

There was a follow up with the committee of the rally after everything had been cleared away and the RESOUNDING theme was “what next”. We talked to the men who were there for ICaucus (www.iCaucus.org) and the organizers of the Indianapolis Tax Day Tea Party do not believe that their work is done. Hoosiers, we are not finished. Fly Over States, we are not finished. AMERICA, we are not finished! There will be more to come…….STAY TUNED IN AND STAY FIRED UP!

Esther Petersen

 

TODAY… It starts

Many are dismissing what will be happening today. LET THEM. Many who will be attending Tea Parties today STILL DO NOT understand the gravity of the situation. For those of you who read this blog prior to attending today I ask that you be BOLD with what I am about to say.

Those of you who do understand that there is a full assault on conservative values must be prepared for the next steps. I will certainly be authoring some material on concrete next steps. You also need to be ready to… OK not ready.. you MUST talk to people around you today about these next steps and the NEED for their involvement. We have been out maneuvered by the liberal left with how they have used the internet and communication strategies. Direct those around you to conservative blogs and meet up groups around your areas. Let them know that a march on Washington DC is coming and that they need to be ready to take action. Let them know starting sometime later this year we will be gearing up to usher out our non-representing representatives. WE CANNOT do this without a massive outpouring of volunteers.

Your job today is to recruit concerned citizens to help us take back our country. Today is not the climax of our movement but simply a humble yet fiery beginning. The fight in front of us is daunting… but we hold to truths that are so self evident that many before us have been willing to give their very lives for these truths.

What will happen in the coming months will take many by surprise. Do not worry about not being taken seriously. Think about those who are involved with groups like ACORN. Those who have put this Tea Party together have more passion, talent, and intelligence than that ship shod operation. Most importantly WE have the TRUTH. Much will be required in the coming months. Come out today and bring many with you. Today we get fueled up for the REAL battle to come.

Congress… Your time is coming

2010… PREPARE TO BE REPLACED

JP