George Rebane
The scene that greeted us on the west lawn of the Sacramento Capitol was a little spooky. We got off the bus with our signs and camping chairs, and the first thing we saw was a phalanx of mounted police in the shade of some trees. It kinda reminded me of the scene from ‘Doctor Zhivago’ when the czar’s mounted police quietly prepared to charge the peacefully marching communists coming down a cold winter street. Nearby and through out the park-like setting were groups of two or three armed law enforcement officers making themselves very visible to the arriving people. It sure appeared that they got the Department of Homeland Security message about all of us right-wing extremists fixin’ to foment right there on the steps of the Capitol.
Fortunately the folks pouring in from all directions pretty much ignored the fuzz, and we all crowded closer to the stage set up on the steps. Those of us with canvas chairs set them up and unlimbered our signs. Everybody brought signs that they had obviously spent some significant time and effort noodling up and then making with their marking pens. The content of the signs was remarkable in their depth of understanding the issues of the day. These people didn’t just copy one of seven baseless slogans like those evident at most demonstrations you see on TV. Some of them even had a paragraph of history or of recent events that made you ask them to keep the sign still so you could read the whole thing.
Jo Ann and I along with two neighbors boarded the two busses on the Broad Street bridge at 10AM. The hour and a half ride was comfortable, and from the talk heard up and down the aisle, it was obvious that this group of extremists were first timers. We felt right at home. There was some apprehensive mention of what Acorn was rumored to have up their sleeve for this rally, but no one was worried too much. It turned out that some Acorn members did show up, but everyone behaved themselves. From the looks of the general disorganization of the Tea Party, the Acorn people must have had a few giggles at the amateurs who conducted this political demonstration.
Things started cracking about 12:30 with speeches from Representative Tom McClintock, Michael Reagan, and (for me) a new comer AlfonZo Rachel who gave one hell of a speech and got the crowd worked up. Mr. Rachel has an interesting website and here’s an example of his copy which obviously does not make him the darling of the black (or pick another color) entitlement crowd. We all cheered and clapped and hollered at the right times whether we heard the finer points of the speakers’ arguments or not – it was a mood festive enough that after a while it was clear that the cops had taken their horsies back to the barn.
Everyone shared the common ground of believing that our government was too big and getting bigger, we were headed toward socialism, our high taxes were about to get much higher, and that Washington was well on the road to spending the country into the poorhouse.
We spent part of the time taking more pictures with our iPhones and sending them to Russ Steele who was putting them up on NC Media. That was a piece of work which we will try to get down better when we again alert the apprehensive attentions of the DHS people. I can hardly wait to see what kind of report or bulletin gets issued then. Isn’t it strange that the DHS had to send out a warning to the nation’s law enforcement people and the White House claimed to know nothing of it?
Jo Ann pointed out the demographics that surrounded us – over three quarters of the people were young and in their productive years, there were a lot of teen-agers who knew exactly what kind of future was being fashioned for them. It was heartening to see that the people there were anything but the “fat cats” which the socialists have labeled as anyone who thinks they can spend their own money to better benefit than the feds. Being tucked away in Nevada County, many of us have come to fear that we may be alone. Seeing all those other folks with similar leanings was truly uplifting. The joy was tempered by recalling that over half the people in the country don’t pay federal income tax. And now the polls are confirming that about 47% of our citizens believe that government is not too big and could be even bigger. That statistic ties well with the overall Peter/Paul fraction.
About 3pm it was time to pack up and start heading back to our bus. I had climbed to the third floor of the Capitol to get a better look at the crowd, and I estimate that there were at least 5,000 people there. When all started saying good-bye and heading out, it was good to see that people were picking up trash, no one there wanted to leave behind the scene on the Washington Mall after Obama’s inauguration. All in all, it had been a beautiful day in Sacramento; everyone could wave their signs and feel that there are still some freedoms left in our over-regulated society. We saw in the young that our beliefs still had legs into the future. And on the way back on the bus we talked about the need to maintain the momentum that was started today.
Meanwhile the MSM either totally ignored these nationwide tea parties or disparaged them as a radical right-wing flash in the pan. And the President’s office claimed not to know anything about the over 800 of these events across the country. Apparently they have not checked their mail lately, because there they will discover that never again will they ever have to buy another teabag.
rebanesruminations.com 
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