Well they did it!
The People took to the streets today in droves in protest of goofy taxation.
I did not attend because I have a job (still) and that is the biggest reason that you don't often see a lot of people protesting things like high taxes and regressive economic policies - because the people that are against those things are too busy working to keep the country going.
But I am proud that it was a true grass roots effort, and I am proud of the people that attended... proud of those that sacrificed a vacation day; proud of the veterans who took a rare opportunity to speak out - when they fought to maintain the freedom for folks to do that; I was proud of the children and the parents that brung them (that misspelling is intentional).
I heard today, that in Springfield, Tennessee, the town held a Tax Day Tea Party and they wouldn't allow politicians to speak... when one tried, he was booed off the stage.
That's rich!
It put me in mind of a Frank Capra movie - Meet John Doe. I am using the occasion of that thought to launch a recurring series on Capra's America. You know, I am of the opinion that if we put the entire nation on a steady diet of Frank Capra pictures for about a month, we would see the whole nation turn around.
Anyway, in Meet John Doe, Barbara Stanwyck plays a street-wise reporter who is fired after a hostile takeover of her newspaper. She submits her last column but makes it all up. It's a story about a "John Doe" who is fed up with all the corruption in politics and the state of the world... he vows to leap off city hall in protest on Christmas Eve.
Well, as the story proceeds, she finds herself in the catbird seat and the newspaper is begging her to come back. She confesses the deception and convinces them to find a guy to be "John Doe" and play the story out.
Gary Cooper, a down-on-his-luck baseball player agrees to play the role of John Doe and using speeches written by Stanwyck about the glory of this experiment that is America - they launch a national campaign of John Doe Clubs. It literally sweeps the nation.
It's a wonderful story about community, loving your neighbor, and the American way.
In one scene John Doe finds himself in a small town courthouse, the people pour in to see him. The leader of the local John Doe Club tells numerous stories of how people began connecting and helping each other. And the mayor who is listening intently, chimes in - "well how come you never invited me to your John Doe Clubs?"... "no offense, Mayor," comes the reply "but we said from the start that we wouldn't allow any politicians to join."
I was reminded today, that that is the beauty of these Tax Day Protests - that they are strictly the people. Even though most of the national media - newspapers and network news outlets - ignored the story the protests went on.
Even though Mr. Obama's Department of Homeland Security released a strategically timed report warning law officials to be wary of "right-wing fanatical types" the Tea Parties continued.
Why? because it was the People that drove them.
And that's the thing that will keep America great - the People.
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