Listen to the People, Protestors tell Washington
Taxpayer
New Hampshire Union Leader
Daisy Hsiang-Ching Tseng
Boston University Washington News Service
Sept. 12, 2009
WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Washington Saturday expressing their dissatisfaction with government spending and what they called the intrusion of big government in their lives.
“We are not silent majority anymore,” said Tracy Bruen of Henniker, who came with her husband. “It’s very exciting to see I’m not alone.”
People from all over the country showed up at 9 a.m. at Freedom Plaza to march 14 blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue to the west front of the U.S. Capitol, shouting “U.S.A,” “You lie,” “Spend no more,” and “Can you hear me now?”
People waved American flags and handwritten signs that read, “Don’t tread on us” and “Obama lies, Granny dies.”
“You cannot be spending money and not raising taxes,” said Roger Wilkins, president of New Hampshire Advantage Coalition. “It’s all about spending.”
Wilkins said he thought no company could compete with government-run health care and that some innovative plans might be killed.
Speaking to the protestors in front of the Capitol, New Hampshire state Rep. Joel Winterssaid, “New Hampshire has no state income tax; New Hampshire has no general sales tax. And you know what? It works.”
Bruen’s chief concern, she said, was the national debt.
“I don’t have children, but I’m concerned for other people’s children,” Bruen said. “They’re inheriting tremendous debt. It’s not fair.”
“I want them to listen,” Bruen said. “I don’t want socialism; I don’t want universal health care; I don’t want big government; I don’t want corruption. I want them to slow down, and get realistic.”
“The government knows the message: listen to the people,” said Joseph Monagle of Manchester.
“One person’s voice may not count, but this group’s voice will,” said Joe Keenam of Hampton, who came with his wife.
“I’m blown away,” Rob Jordan said of the tens of thousands of people who turned out for the march.
“I didn’t expect anything like this,” said Jordan, vice president of federal and state campaigns at FreedomWorks Foundation, one of the sponsors of the march.
The rally has been planned since April, Jordan said, and they want the government to know that the people are serious about less government and they want the market to work.
“We want less government intrusion in our lives,” said Amy Kremer, founder of Tea Party Patriots, another sponsor of the protest. “We want to remind them that they work for us. They’d better wake up, because the election is right around the corner and we’ll flip the house.”
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