I can truly say that this was my first ever protest rally!  There comes a time when talking is not enough; reading is not enough; lying awake, worrying, is not enough.  

Although the past several years have galvanized my attention towards political corruption, hypocrisy, ineffectiveness and destruction it is only in the past few months that I have become almost dumbstruck by the roller-coaster, helter-skelter rush towards socialism in this country.  

When G.W. Bush (whom I admired in some respects but despaired of in others) announced, last Fall, that he had gone against the fundamental tenets of capitalism in order to save it, my anger and despair, I thought, were complete.   This, in addition to all the fears raised by the rise of Obama and the total collapse of journalistic and media integrity, was enough to drive the proverbial sailor to drink.

As a former British citizen (I lived in the UK from 1947-1996) who has watched, over the years, as the land of my birth has been destroyed by multiculturalism, political correctness, smarmy politicians and an apathetic citizenry, I could not sit back and watch the same thing happen here – in the land where “Freedom” has been the battle-cry of the nation.  My snapping point came when the Healthcare Bill was announced – ENOUGH!  Having witnessed, first hand, my aging in-laws, in the UK, being denied vital medications “because they were too old” I could see the writing on the wall.  Sarah Palin was correct…

And so to the 9/12 March.  Having gathered a party of eight we hired a car and sallied forth to DC.  None of us had protested like this before and I suspect most, if not all, shared a similar trepidation to my own.  As soon as we joined the throngs on Pennsylvania Avenue, however, any fears were quickly dispelled.  The crowd was gigantic and so was the determination of all concerned.  The camaraderie was palpable and the civility admirable.  Regardless of background (variable); age (mostly older but plenty of young ones, too); ethnicity or gender we all shared one goal – to restore America to it’s constitutional foundation.  

My little group stood in front of a family from South Carolina – they had traveled overnight by bus and were returning the same way; 2 full nights without sleep.  People had come by road, rail and air.  All were well-informed and deeply conscious that something is very, very awry.  We talked to a father wearing a T-shirt with an “Atlas Shrugged” motif.  It transpired that he had not yet been able to persuade his young son, who accompanied him, to read the book of that title (by Ayn Rand).  I would like to see that man again and tell him that he has inspired me to re-read the book!  He and all the other participants (and I lean towards there being a million) were truly an inspiration.  The signs they carried were witty but meaningful; handmade and held aloft with pride and determination.  

When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of the UK in 1979 she wrote of  ”a feeling of helplessness, that a once great nation has somehow fallen behind”.  She also quoted, with admiration, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.  How better can I end my little story:

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.  Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that their nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

 It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”