Tale of Two Rallies

There were two rallies in Washington, DC this weekend. The Tea Party/Glenn Beck ‘Restoring Honor’ of about one million was in stark contrast to the Reverend Al Sharpton’s rally. That crowd had about 3,000, or less than 1% of the Tea Party rally.

My wife, who attended the Tea Party Rally, reported that Sharpton’s group marched from a High School across town to the Lincoln Memorial as the Tea Partiers were leaving. The Tea Partiers, who once again were peaceful and left the grounds impeccably clean, clapped as the Sharpton group passed by, but received no response.

At the Beck Restoring Honor rally, Martin Luther King’s niece, Dr. Alveda King gave a positive, more religious than political, message of hope. Sharpton’s message was negative. It focused on skin color, oppression, demands and a lament that Martin Luther King’s dream had not been realized. That we have a black president seems to have escaped him and his other race hustler speakers.

The Tea Party movement is about traditional moral values, less government interference in our lives, personal responsibility and passing on the principles of our founding fathers. Our Constitution was the foundation that made the USA the greatest country that has ever existed.

There was a lot of liberal media hype about the division between various Tea Party groups, principally between Beck and Freedom Works. Beck spoke at the Freedom Works Convention on Friday night to dispel that nonsense.

The dominant Liberal media are having a hard time finding a leader of the movement to demonize as they did so successfully with George Bush. One day they claim it is Rush Limbaugh, another it is Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity or Dick Armey or Sarah Palin. But none of these people are elected officials.

So who is in charge of the Tea Party movement? No one in particular, but 35 million people identify themselves as Tea Partiers. They are upset, not just at Democrats who most realize are all about power and controlling our lives, but also they are mad as hell at Republicans who do the same. Most Tea Party followers are not looking to start a third party, but to get elected officials to follow the Constitution and laws of our country.

This rally showed one thing. A staggering number of Americans are not happy with big government and our arrogant elected leaders. Last Friday I asked my Congressman, Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., why he has never had a Townhall meeting to allow his constituents to ask questions directly.  He replied that he was not going to “waste my time having people scream at me.”

The Tea Party movement is not going to go away any time soon. My wife said that being part of the perhaps 1 million people singing Amazing Grace in front of the Lincoln Memorial this past weekend was one of the most uplifting spiritual experiences she has ever had.

James F. Davis is the president of Accuracy in Academia.

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