Tens of thousands of Americans from all over the country descended on Capitol Hill Saturday for the Code Red Rally to demand redress of grievances from their duly-elected representatives. Feisty crowds chanted over and over and over, “Kill the bill!”
I talked to folks from all over the country at the rally who are tired of being ignored by their representatives. So they came to Washington to make their point in person.
Wes Whitby drove in from Minnesota with four others he had just met through the Tea Party movement.
“I’m from the Twin Cities Tea Party Patriots, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota,” Whitby said. “We drove, five of us got in a car - we don’t know each other - but we had the feeling that we ought to be here so we just drove. It took us about 12 hours. It’s that important to me.”
“I won’t pay a fine on something when the government mandates I have to buy a good, product or service,” Whitby said. “I will not comply with that fine. I’d be willing to bet that a good number of other Americans aren’t willing to do that either.”
So you drove all the way from Minnesota to deliver that message in person?
“I’m here because of Representative Keith Elison,” Whitby said. “He doesn’t listen to us. He won’t meet with us. I came here to see him because I’m tired of him avoiding us.”
Shiela Jackson, Norma Woodrum and Charlotte Bird travelled from Ohio.
“We rented a car,” Bird said. “We want Charlie Wilson and Zack Space to know that if they vote for this health care bill, they’re out of office.”
Louisiana, California, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia, Florida - the names changed but the stories were the same. We don’t want the government to run health care.
Sandy Jackson, came in from Florida.
“We flew in from Jacksonville to talk to Corinne Brown,” Jackson said.
When I asked what she wanted to tell Brown, Jackson’s eight-year-old son Eric chimed in, “Kill the bill!”
Eric gets it. Of course, his will be the fully-enslaved generation footing the bills.
I asked actor Jon Voight his thoughts on the arm-twisting and backroom deals being cut in the building behind us as we stood in the crowd in the glorious sunshine and had our little chat.
“There’s an awful lot of funny business going on - there’s a lot of bullying, a lot of bribing, and there’s a lot of things that the Founding Fathers would be quite upset about,” Voight told HUMAN EVENTS. “The only people who seem to understand that are the American people, and they’re trying to influence their representatives to get us back on the right track.
“We have got a long way to go, there’s been some damage done,” Voight said. “I’m very glad to be here and very honored to be here among these freedom-loving Americans. It is amazing. I look at these people and say ‘This is America. This is America.’ It is a tremendous portrait.”
In his speech, Voight had a special message for members of Congress.
“I pray that each and every one of you finds the will, the strength, the courage, to turn your back on this destruction of America,” Voight told the roaring crowds.
I also spoke with a HUMAN EVENTS favorite, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a former Texas appellate court judge.
“I think that my soul is blessed to see this many Americans come out on such short notice and stand here to try to make sure their elected representatives hear their voice when they’re not hearing it back home,” Gohmert said.
“We got the news yesterday that there’s about 17,000 new jobs in the bill for sure - even though we may lose five million - but unfortunately those 17,000 are IRS agents who will be watching everything we do, they will make sure every American is buying the health care policy that the government is demanding,” Gohmert continued. “This is hard to believe it’s happening here in America. This is the kind of stuff that happened in 1973 when I spent the summer in the Soviet Union.”
“I thank God these people are coming out here to let their voices be heard to reclaim this country for those who believe in the Constitution and stand firmly with the Declaration of Independence,” Gohmert added.
The American people are wide awake and fully engaged. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide for these members of Congress.
The American people do not want this government takeover of health care.
Without a doubt, those seeking to buck the will of the people they represent will find themselves in the unemployment line come November.
