Freedom Line Blog

This afternoon, thousands of protesters and activists marched on Capitol Hill yelling “Kill the Bill,” urging Representatives to vote against Speaker Pelosi’s massive $1 trillion government takeover of health care.  There are some reports that entrances to the Capitol are clogged with taxpayers waiting to get their chance to lobby Congress directly.

The rally was prompted by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), who labeled this week the “Super Bowl of Freedom” and called on the American people to join her in making a “House Call” to Members of Congress in opposition to ObamaCare.  With House Democrats set to vote on Pelosi’s 1,990 bill on Saturday, the turnout today for Bachmann’s “House Call” was phenomenal.

Hat tip to FreedomWorks, the staff of which took some great pictures of the event seen below.  

After our experience at the 9-12 March on Washington, there is a renewed push to turn that event into another way to persuade Congress that more government is not the answer to what troubles our nation.

If you have a message for your Representative or Senator, please send them here, by responding directly to the You Tube video.  This is a project of the National Taxpayers Union but the effort is shared by all taxpayers and all Americans concerned with runaway spending.

These messages will be burned onto a DVD and delivered to Congress during the current health care debate.  If Congress didn’t get the message during the rally, give it to them one more time.

Here’s another great video from the 9-12 march on D.C.  This is courtesy of our friends at Reason.

The 9-12 taxpayer rally was simply an amazing experience.  I arrived just before noon, having to endure a packed Metro ride full of taxpayers headed to the event.

It took about 30 minutes to walk from 12th and Pennsylvania to the Capitol.  Contrary to what some left-of-center pundits might say, the rally was not packed with crazies preaching secession.

The rally was full with ordinary taxpayers who drove thousands of miles for the rally.  I met a group from Georgia who drove through the night to attend the rally.  They planned to drive through the night again because they couldn’t afford to spend two nights in a hotel.  They weren’t paid off by anyone to come and this was actually the first protest they had ever attended.

This was not an AstroTurf rally.  The 9-12 rally was a legitimate expression of taxpayer frustration over reckless taxing and spending.  Estimates vary from 60,000 to 100,000, but whatever the number, the experience was amazing and the politicians in this city ought to listen.  As our friend Andrew Moylan noted, “Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer ignored.”

Here is some footage:

The official count, according to early news reports, is 60,000 people who have turned out for the 9-12 march on Washington.  But tune in to Fox News and I am pretty sure you’ll agree that it looks like a lot more.

Of course, House Democrats tried their hardest to diminish the significance of this event before it even started.  According to FoxNews.com, a House leadership aide penned a memo to fellow Dems warning that 2 million people could show.  The strategy?  Float a ridiculous number and anything less is failure.

These so-called leaders in Washington just don’t get it.  It is not a Democrat vs. Republican thing.  It’s not about which major political party can score the most political points.  This is about a bunch of ordinay people standing up for the principles on which this great country was founded. 

In addition to the 60,000 plus who have turned out in D.C., tens of thousands more are gathering in large cities and small towns across the country.  The more Washington politicians continue to play games and ignore the voice of the people, the larger this grassroots movement gets… and rightly so.

The taxpayer protests must be working because the left is angry …  so angry that they called in a bomb threat to the offices of FreedomWorks today, forcing an evacuation.  FreedomWorks is the lead sponsor of the 9-12 rally in D.C. tomorrow (CFIF is also a co-sponsor), and they have even received death threats to their office.

I don’t think that the felon who phoned in this threat realizes his call only strengthens our resolve to fight harder against elements that obviously can’t tolerate dissent or alternative plans for health care, taxes, and regulatory reform.

The march will go on tomorrow and it will be a success, despite the radicals calling in to threaten the lives of people in their 20’s and 30’s working solely to limit the size and scope of Uncle Sam.

Today, we remember the fallen heroes of eight years ago and their enduring legacy for our country.

Tomorrow, taxpayers and citizen activists will be marching on Washington for the 9/12 taxpayer rally.  The Center for Individual Freedom is a proud co-sponsor of the event and we hope that you will be able to join us as we march down Pennsylvania avenue.  Here is more information about the event.