The March on Washington

It appears that my proposal to the teaparty movement was successful. Tens of thousands of protesters, according to Fox News, marched on Washington to protest government expansion. It is officially the largest fiscally-conservative protest that has ever been brought to Washington DC. If not the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time, it is the most promising. Activism always leaves a mark, and hopefully this time it will be enough.

Unfortunately, and perhaps intentionally, Obama wasn’t in town for the event, according to the LA Times. Barack Obama was rallying support in Minneapolis for his healthcare overhaul and the government health insurance program while the TEA Party’s rally was under way. Humorously enough, more protesters came to Washington than supporters to Minneapolis.

Given this and the fact that polls have been overwhelmingly against the bill, Congress may not have the guts to pass Obama’s healthcare overhaul. Things are brightening up.

Confidence in Washington Falling Considerably

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thirteen states now have double digit unemployment rates. As a result of the lack of improvement, many Americans are now questioning Washington’s ability to combat this problem. In fact, a new Fox News Poll indicates that a majority of Americans doubt that the Obama Administration has any clear plan for fixing the economy. The poll results also indicate that 73% of Americans doubt that Congress has such a plan either.

As of Healthcare, the poll indicates that most Americans don’t believe that major health care reform can occur without increasing taxes and the budget deficit. In fact, 64% of Americans would rather have their ailments treated by private health insitutions than by the federal government. Further, only 3% of Americans consider thier current healthcare quality poor.

What was perhaps most interesting about this poll was the last question:  “Do you think members of Congress should be required to read and know the details of legislation before they can vote on it — even if the bill is thousands of pages long?” The bipartisan answer was a resounding 92% yes.

So what does this all mean? It means that America has lost confidence in Washington. America has even lost confidence in Obama. Change has failed. Hope has backfired. What do we have left?

My Proposal to the Teaparty Movement: A “Salt March”

The original Salt March was the nonviolent movement of Gandhi and his followers across India to protest a salt tax. It drew attention to the Indian Independence movement from media across the globe.

Currently, the teaparty movement has been relatively small and overly ignored. It is primarily a conservative protest against the government economic expansion earlier this year. The July 4th teaparties were primarily uniting opposition against potential tyranny that has been proposed by Congress.

If significant political unrest occurs, it will become possible for this Teaparty movement to organize a nonviolent “Salt March”. Such a march would begin at multiple urban areas across the nation and then proceed as these groups march to the capital. Of course, as these groups get closer to the capital, they’d merge. Such a march would attract significant media attention that the Teaparty movement badly needs and will climax in a Washington with a crowd possibly larger than that of the Civil Rights March on Washington in the 1960s.

However, nothing has really happened to create significant unrest in a while. Cap and Trade hasn’t passed yet, and Universal Healthcare hasn’t passed either. Still, several events may cause such unrest:

• The banning of handguns

While the Obama Administration has shown no sign of actually banning firearms, such an act, or even such a proposal will allow for the organization of a Salt March.

• Cap and Trade

If Cap and Trade increases prices enough, then as with the original Boston Teaparty and the orginal Salt March, individuals would be more willing to protest. Seeing as how nuclear energy is currently the only major alternative to fossil fuels, Cap and Trade will certainly have a massive effect on energy prices and will possibly cause prices to increase to a level that people are willing to protest against.

• Universal Healthcare

While this may just get passed and be ignoredby the apathetic majority, it may cause significant backlash. Many Americans are rather afraid of National Healthcare, and it could be that such a thing could unite the conservative-libertarian movement enough for a Salt March to be possible.

There are probably other events that could make a Salt March an event with an impressive attendence, but this is clear: people will not get off of their butts unless they realize that they are sitting on a thorn.