I expected more. And I don’t know why.
Today was a day of passionate rhetoric. Speeches were inspiring in their call for a bipartisan voice to be heard in Washington beginning on a local level. Illegal immigration, overspending, and the stimulus plan were some of the issues protested on the west steps of Denver’s capitol building where several thousand people gathered.
Maybe I expected more because it was my first time attending any kind of political demonstration. But today reminded me that change takes time and it has to start at… the beginning. Today marked that beginning.
Jon Caldera of the Independence Institute, State Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, and Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck got loud. The crowd chanted back in solidarity.
The message was clear. A self-employed couple said what many Americans have been feeling strongly, “I’m pissed.” Their 16 year-old son has been diagnosed with brain cancer and their younger son suffers from Muscular Dystrophy. They don’t expect any handouts. They want fair taxation. They want affordable health insurance. They don’t want to be penalized for being small business owners.
Issues apart from those highlighted during the rally also have many Americans worried. Although preferring not to conduct a videotaped interview, Stephanie voiced her own concerns. “He’s (Obama) misrepresenting the country by telling them we’re a non-Christian nation. I’m not a Christian, but this country was founded on those principles and to say otherwise is not true,” she said. “He would let America be a Muslim nation, anything they want us to be, but that’s not what we are. Its the principle that we have freedom of religion, which is very important. He is intentionally undermining the United States.” Which may be a prediliction for a conflict of interests in the very near future, including the United States’ relationship with Israel.
There were, however, displays of national pride that broke the tension that comes with such sense of purpose. The family band Bubbafly Barney were front and center performing patriotic songs. Their depression-era image sweetly reminded me of a more inward focused United States. They were encouraging, too. The first time our country faced such difficult times, we had no guarantee of brighter days yet to come.
