Catherin's View Of 9/12

There may be some repetition here, but please bear with me. An earlier email with four photos either dropped the photos or didn't go through at all. I'm doing my part to let as many people as I can know what the great march in DC on 9/12 was like.

These are the photos from yesterday's march in Washington DC. I wasn't able to get high enough to adequately photograph the completely filled West Lawn, but I did manage to claw my way up onto a wall to get a couple of good street scenes. Once at the Capitol area, the loudspeakers for the most part carried the speakers' voices to us out by 3rd Street.

News reports of "tens of thousands" are woefully inadequate; the number is more accurately "many hundreds of thousands", perhaps as high as 2 million as reported in British press online.

Let's just say for the sake of my argument that there were 2,000,000 people there. I can think of a dozen like-minded friends and relatives of mine who couldn't be there. If everyone there had their own unduplicated dozen, then there are 24 million of us! That is an astounding number. And there were some local tea parties for supporters who couldn't come.

I am very glad I went -- it was an incredible experience. Despite the fact that no one at the White House would admit to knowing that this march was taking place starting a block away, and that Marine 1 landed and then left with the president who traveled to Minnesota to give a speech about his health care plan, between one and two million Americans -- old, young, native English speakers, accented English speakers -- paid their own way to stand up and be counted. A policeman stationed on Pennsylvania told us that they had severely underestimated how many people would be there. But there were SWAT guys on the roofs of several buildings (that I saw).

The young and very animated Fox reporter who had crossed the country with the Tea Party Express closed an on air news report last night with the observation that this looked like the beginning of a political movement. Pity the parties, because these marchers were not Democrats or Republicans, they were Americans, Americans angry about the ongoing willful deconstruction of the economy and the deliberate dismantling and circumvention of the Constitution, Americans angry about the nefarious stripping of God from public venues and discourse, and the demotion of 9/11 from the equivalent of Pearl Harbor Day to a national service day. And socialized health care, and the deficit, and cash for clunkers, etc., etc., etc.

There were signs throughout the multitudes of people -- large, small, witty, serious -- and state flags for the 45 states represented. It was almost an open air political art exhibit. (Unlike the recently uncovered plot by the National Endowment for the Arts to enlist artists to make art to support presidential policies (Nazi Germany? Mao's China?). Marchers stopped to read and photograph their favorites, or BE photographed with their favorites. You name the issue and there were signs commenting on it.

As people passed the Fox News uplink, they chanted "Thank you Fox!" These were smart, informed people of all ages who had more facts at their fingertips than I think all the 535 senators and legislators put together, judging by legislators' performances at town halls last month. Not for nothing were there lots of signs expressing support for Rep. Joe Wilson.

People were unfailingly helpful and polite. The man next to me on the bus home likened the atmosphere in DC yesterday to the pervasive atmosphere of good will in NYC on July 4th, 1976. My mom and dad had said the same thing (Gary, Andrew, Mercedes and I spent that July 4th in an old hotel in Lybster, Scotland (on the North Sea) singing the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful and other such songs with a collection of Scots, Brits and one lone Cornishman.)

And "our" property -- the West Lawn around the Reflecting Pool and the Mall -- was left free of litter because people took the time to pick up, unlike inauguration day when the Mall was left shamefully trashed.

So, enjoy the photos and don't believe what you may see in the press. If you have any questions, email me!

Cathy

You are invited to view Catherine's photo album: 2009 912 DCmarch pub

For those who missed it - CSPAN Channel 1 feed coming from the massive 9/12 Rally in Washington D.C. Tune in now: http://www.republicmedia.tv