The September 12 March Against Sanity

I didn't go to the conservative March on Washington this weekend, but I have an idea of the hyperbolic, hysterical atmosphere, since I attended a huge anti-abortion march in Washington in the mid-90s. I will never forget the feeling of being surrounded by people who would beat the crap out of me if they could get away with it. Approximately 300,000 anti-abortion protesters were assembled, most of them mad. They carried pictures of aborted fetuses. A huge clear balloon enclosing a pink fetus balloon floated over the crowd. An effigy of Bill Clinton was hung from a wooden pole and beaten, like a pinata.

A man in priest garb who resembled Patty Duke's father held a sign reading, "Chastity, Not Promiscuity." A clown passed out "Stop Abortion Now" buttons, while making animal balloons for kids and accepting donations in a hat. A fat, middle-aged woman wearing a pink tracksuit and a fanny pack, looking like she hailed from a middle school lunchroom kitchen, said, "Way-yul, ah oughta go home and put on muh clown suit, make me some money! Heh, heh, heh."

The whole crowd looked incredibly like the residents of Waynesville, North Carolina, a low-income and extremely right-wing hamlet near my hometown of Asheville. None of the Christians I was raised with would be caught dead at this gathering. These people were what my mom called "That holy-roller bunch from out in the country."

Then a young man passing out "Keep Abortion Legal" buttons passed by me. I said, "Excuse me, aren't you taking your life into your hands here?" He said, "It's OK, I know Tae Kwon Do if it gets dicey. Want a button?"

A middle-aged woman, her face twisted in a mask of rage and fury, marched up and started yelling at him. A quick shouting match ensued a foot from my face, and I said, "Whoa, keep it down, folks. Let's agree to disagree."

"THIS MAN IS A MURDERER!" the woman said, jabbing her finger at the guy. "HE'S PARTICIPATING IN GENOCIDE! HE DOESN'T CARE HOW MANY BABIES ARE KILLED!!!"

I said, "Come on, you don't even know him," thinking I could actually reason with this screaming harpy. She turned on me, spitting, "DON'T YOU THINK LIFE IS PRECIOUS?"

I said, "Well, I think it's cute."

She didn't get the joke. "ARE YOU ANTI-FAMILY??"

"I'm anti your family."

The woman screamed, "WHAT IF YOUR MOTHER HAD ABORTED YOU? WHAT IF YOUR MOTHER HAD ABORTED YOU?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Well, then, madam, we would be mercifully spared this boring conversation."

I recall that day -- and the nervous, almost pornographic feeling of anger and rage in the air -- as I watch coverage of the September 12 march on Washington against government waste, health reform, all things Obama, and sanity in general. The same hyperbole appears on the same homemade signs, but this time it's more threatening, and blatantly racist: "We came unarmed...this time." "Impeach the Muslim Marxist." "Pelosi -- you keep the Fascism, I'll keep the freedom." "Get out your guns -- you'll need them." "Keep your black hands off my white body."

The anti-abortion people would protest no matter who was in the White House. But isn't it ironic the September 12 protesters stayed quietly at home while the Republicans were in power, doing the very things they accuse Obama of, with much less finesse?

The people who sat idly by while helping to enable the crisis are horrified at what someone is doing to try to halt the crisis. The party of personal responsibility has become the party of no personal responsibility.

Now that she presidential shoes are on the other feet, deficit-spending conservatives have magically transformed back into fiscal conservatives, vehemently against adding more debt when they previously had no problem adding more debt, driving us into the ditch we currently occupy.

The crowd yammers on about "mortgaging our kids' future" after 8 years of supporting policies that long ago mortgaged our kids' future.

WHAT? ANOTHER TRILLION DOLLARS? they gasp. Gee, where were they when Bush was handing out money like condoms at a sex club? The national debt was ten trillion dollars before the Obamas even toured the White House. And, thanks to the bottomless pit that is Iraq, it will go up another trillion if not one additional federal dollar is used to buy a Twizzler.

What really steams these protesters is 1) they are not in power, 2) they blew the last 8 years and need somewhere to direct their rage, 3) the president is actually trying to follow through the promises he made in the campaign, 4) the president is a black guy, and 5) they couldn't define "Marxism" or "Fascism" if you held a gun to their head, which in this crowd could happen.

And lo and behold, people who couldn't tell supply-side economics from home economics are suddenly experts in the nuances of health care finance.

I'm all for protest. I'm all for Marching On Washington, and I plan to do it soon, in the National March for Equality on October 11. But when I march, I will know what I am talking about a lot more than the people in Washington on September 12 did.

Follow Jim David on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fabjim

Comments

[Ventoi]

I wouldn't want to return to 9/12

I was so fat that year...
people either thought I was pregnant...
or assumed I was a man.

[Ventoi]

China has restrictions on the number of babies born...

then again...

they are OVERPOPULATED...

anyone being shown a visual of China in a few years (or Los Angeles, perhaps)
might think we'd ended up in space...

with the domes they may soon need over the city to keep pollution out...
the flying electric/solar powered vehicles..
allowing ground space for housing...
entering through portals to the atmosphere around them...

while the rest of the world goes on living in the twenty first century

simultaneously.

[Ventoi]

We need to learn to look after babies...
the Catholic Church and the Anti-abortion leagues would look RESPONSIBLE
if they focussed on TEACHING people how to look after babies and children...

PUBLICLY...
billboards all over...
programs all over.

[wanttruth]

The anti-Obama admin rally was sad. These people should've protested the Bush Admin since the two wars and the economic collapse happened on their watch!

[pharmmajor]

You know, if any of you are interested, libertarian protesters at the Tea Party were pointing out that Republicans, as well as Democrats, are responsible for the problems we have with big government.

http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/libertarians-join-912-tea-party-march-on-washington-display-republicans-equal-big-govern

[demowithabrain]

I was there on Saturday, you will not find a nicer or more well behaved crowd. Mr Jim David you are not doing your job by "covering" this event by comparing this rally to a rally from more than a decade ago. Just ignore this crowd and you will be suprised in 2010 election !!

[sherbug]

No matter how you want to pretend this group was well behaved, they still had no basis for their argument except that this is an Administration that cannot be tolerated by a sector of our population.

The protesters rail against government run healthcare while they carry their Medicare cards in their wallets.

They return to their homes that have VA and FHA insured mortages. They apply for federal grants and student loans for themselves and their children. When natural disaster strikes then they cry out for FEMA.

They deposit their money in an FDIC insured bank and fully expect to be compensated by the big government they rail against should that bank become insolvent.

Those protesters employed by the federal government have government subsidized healthcare, yet they protest government subsidized healthcare.

I am afraid that 2010 will not produce the results that you are looking for. You may win in some rural areas but we are not turning our country over to this lynch mob calling themselves Patriots.

[hippie chucker]

Do we really have a choice on Medicare, and Social Security, since its forcibly removed from our pockets the day we enter the workforce?

Your "argument" lacks depth. How can I avoid paying into these programs, if I am forced to with the threat of jail time since I am self employed?

If I am forced to pay into it my entire life, I should not "use" the money I contributed my entire life at the threat of jail time?

[gparks]

You are Fanned!

[newpantaloons]

In my opinion, and the opinion of many, many others, 'nicer and more well behaved' is not what the rest of America saw. They saw a bunch of right-wing, fanatical terrorists who are threatening the MAJORITY of the American people with a 'domestic insurgency'. And may I say, that this 'faux outrage' is obvious and contrived. AND, furthermore, ignore the MAJORITY of the American people, who have a very clear view of just WHO RAN THIS COUNTRY INTO THE DITCH, and you rascist Republicans will be even more marginalized in the 2010 election!!

You all are being 'played' by the people who have much to gain by thwarting the 'public option'. They could care less about you...look what they did to this country, in which you live, too. They are just using you, and you are playing along, too dumb to figure it out. You should be ashamed, not only for your selfish faux outrage, but also for working against your own best interests. Simply Brilliant! The rest of America (and the world) is looking at you, and believe me, you look like a bunch of silly, foolish simpletons.

[gparks]

What you said! These "people" are being used by "people" that wouldn't let them in the gate of their gated communities. The very same Patriots who sent THEIR childern to die in Iraq and let their Grandmothers die (when Insurance Companies deny coverage) and transferred more wealth to themselves than at any time in human history (through Tax breaks, theft on Wall Street, etc). YET ... all this happens because a BLACK MAN is the President of the US! Their worst nightmares have come true ... "other" is in charge! Racism is stupid!

[edwarvir]

Run the Hillybillies are loose. ( lol)
There is nothing you can do with them but
run, No reasoning here!

[LCdruid]

I like the way Obama distances himself from the deficit problems. Doesn't anyone remember, he WAS in Congress, he voted for all the money from 2004-2008. Now he wants everyone to think he inherited the problem. He was one of the ones that caused it!

[jqcitizen]

LC-

When a one term Senator is elected to the Presidency and then not able to correct the problems of previous administrations and congress's, in a first year of office, we should not blame that single person.

All presidents inherit some burdens of their predecessors. But, thankfully, presidents are not dictators. Congress controls the nations wealth/budget, which includes the nations deficit and debt.

You are right, in saying, Obama was a member of congress that voted to increase spending, but there was 99 other senators and 435 house members that cast their votes, as well.

Remember, Kennedy was a young senator before he replaced Eisenhower, as president. Kennedy should not be faulted for everything that went wrong during his brief tenure. Some of it came with the territory.

[TheMellowFellow]

One of a HUNDRED senators. You're REALLY stretching your argument there.

[yliza]

Obama was against the Iraq war, remember? The biggest money sink next to the Bush tax cuts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0923153320070212

[timm0]

I am 100% with you - except for the list of things that steamed those protesters.

These people are probably clinically paranoid, or at least extraordinarily insecure. The intensity of their fears removes any compulsion for logic or reason. So virtually ANYTHING that is said gets them "steamed." And it doesn't really matter who delivers the "news" - and they are basically addicted to anything that can feed their rage.

Abortion is an easy binary (well, it's not really binary, but being completely anti- vs. any other nuanced position is as close as they can get) thing for their brains to handle in the perpetual siege mentality. But pretty much anything else will do.

[GrandpaLeaman]

In order for the racial wound to finally heal, the last of the pus must be drawn from the wound. I see the September 12 march as the pus.

[menmykoko]

I forgot to say how funny this was. Kudos!

[menmykoko]

I feel for the children growing up in such confusing homes. There's going to be an epidemic of ADHD, Fox induced hatred of others, and very rigid thinking.

[SeriousBlack]

That certainly is the saddest part. That's why it takes hundreds of years for such misguided mentalities to go away.

[tuningfork]

remember, you are looking at a few people that were chosen by your favorite networks to represent how many of thousands of people? There are many informed people at this march, Mr. David, as you will learn in time.

[timm0]

That's right.

YOU'LL GET YOURS, MR. DAVID!! HA!!

Tell him, tuney! Viva la revolution! Oh, I hope that's not French... French is socio-liberal crazy-buttons stuff...

[Cat401]

BEAUTIFUL...This post is on point.

That's the question I ask myself whenever I hear the word teabaggers. Where were your guys for the pass 8 years?

[MIvoter1231]

Sitting home enjoying their "my God is better than your god, my version of real American is better than yours, and if you're not with us, you're against us" sense of superiority.

[Peabodies]

If the Washington Post tomorrow doesn't find a way to point out the lunacy of what happened in D.C. today, all hope's is lost (meaning Naomi Klein's theory of the Shock Doctrine is now in full swing in this country).

I witnessed on a Metro platform, a reasonable-looking resident of D.C. bursting out in loud outrage at the signs and attitude of the "visitors", and this was at 7:30 A.M.!! (I was on my way outta town).