From Madison, With Love
I've just returned home to the Chicago-land area after a day spent monitoring the on-going situation in Madison, WI, and I am happy to report that Americans are still capable of exercising civility when it comes exercising their free speech. No gang-rapes, Molotov cocktails, or roving bands of looters (at least none that I was a party to).
It was a remarkable, exciting day. I've actually been to a handful of Tea Party rallies and town hall meetings here in Chicago before, but I've never seen anything quite like what I witnessed today. The totals in terms of how many people were there are, of course, all over the place. My best guest would put the Tea Party rally attendees at about 10,000. Probably twice that were there in support of the teachers' unions.
This was truly an event for the people, by the people. Both sides were represented by many blue-collar workers. It was much more of a "dudes with mustaches and women wearing mom-jeans" type of crowd than the hippies and hacky-sacks of an anti-Bush, anti-Iraq War rally circa 2003.
I saw a lot of Packers paraphernalia, regardless of political affiliation. Pockets of University of Wisconsin students peppered throughout the crowd (almost all of them pro-union).
Andrew Breitbart brought the house down at the Tea Party rally. The slick patch of ice I wasn't paying attention to brought me down (to the ground). The Tea Party people I encountered were happy, upbeat, and almost too-polite. There was an unmistakable electricity in the air, and I sensed a real confidence among the conservatives I spoke with in the audience. A confidence that things may be changing for the better/saner, even in a state like Wisconsin.
I plan on posting a more detailed description of what I saw and heard (and, if you're lucky, ate) tomorrow morning, but I couldn't be more exhausted and so for now (before I pass out) I wanted to offer the Ricochet family a YouTube montage of the day's events.
I have many more details to share with you all tomorrow.
God bless.
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Comments :
Feb '11
Re: From Madison, With Love
Your montage of the days events does not work, do you have another link? Other than that, great to hear the tea party put on a civilized rally in support of Walker, and someone from Ricochet was present; especially after seeing the cacophony of hypocrisy from the union protesters.
Edited on Feb 19, 2011 at 11:27pmSep '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
This feels like a seminal moment in the fight. It reminds of Reagan's fight with the air traffic controllers in the 80s but that was when the President was on the right side. There must have been many losing battles prior to that one that I was less aware of. If these people who seem to believe their "rights" extend to the forced stagnation of our economy and imposition of eurosclerosis on the US are victorious my sons will grow up in a far less prosperous world.
Oct '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
I read somewhere that the Tea party crowd was smaller than that of the union supporters, so I'm glad you say otherwise, but are you confidant of that? In any case, I'm anxious to hear more when you're rested.
Oct '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
Confi-DENT. Must get coffee...
May '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
Hint: You can edit your own comments here. It's a feature I use more than I like to admit.
Jun '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
Nice job, RJ. Thanks for your efforts. I am glad to hear that what you saw was peaceful and respectful.
Dec '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
The video's working now! Sorry for the mix-up!
May '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
Even if the tea party crowd was smaller, remember that the tea party folks got there on their own, they weren't' bussed in.
May '10
Re: From Madison, With Love
Thanks for posting, RJ, and am glad it was a peaceful demonstration. Speaks well for the people of Wisconsin.
Edited on Feb 20, 2011 at 6:48pm