A unexpected minuteman force assembled in Washington DC on November 5th 2009 with the sound threat of “Don’t Make Us Come Back Again”. How far will we need to go?

Minutemen Descend On Moments Notice To DC

A Highly Mobile Rapid Response Force
They came on a moment’s notice from all across the United States by plane, car, bus, train (even on the financial failure called Amtrak) and on foot (from local office buildings) to oppose US Government take over of every American’s health and the radical loss of freedom to bureaucrats.

Months Planning 9/12 To Days for 11/5
The DC Tea Party rally on 9/12 took two or more months of planning at local levels for participants as well as a central level for the permits and speakers in DC. No one could expect that a ready force could muster an event in less than 72 hours with massive impact. And it may go unheeded for the House health bill! Yet such a nationwide rapid response is intimidating for any elected official in 2010.

American Revolution Minuteman Reinvented
The minutemen were among the first people to fight in the American Revolution. They were organized as a fast response to threats in the American Revolution. Folks showing up on 11/5 in DC would not think of themselves as these early patriots, but they are just that, a new minuteman militia armed with freedoms. They did not carry muskets. They came with a weapon won by fighters like the minutemen, the freedom of speech. They used it as powerfully and with the swiftness of the minutemen.

America Hijacked By Career Politicians!
The more I attend events, the more I hear that our Government under a single party rule is destroying the foundation of the nation, violating the Constitution and taking actions not to protect people and freedom but to preserve the Democrat party’s power. This is a hijack of America by career politicians.

The motive to preserve power is based on a power gotten under media populism and not under supportable principles. The Democrats know their ideas and programs are unsupportable, fail in colossal magnitudes and are easily defeated in open debate.

Nancy Pelosi Squelches Freedom Of Speech
We know Nancy Pelosi will not allow publishing  an over 2,000 page highly legalistic technical and oppressive bill for Americans to read. This denies the freedom to review for appeal to their representative any parts or all of the bill that they do not agree should be passed. Certainly the representatives need that input just based on the size and complexity of language.

[UPDATE: HR 3962 available to read at the 11th hour but besides its technical legal nature and cross references to existing bills like those for Medicaid and Medicare, it also does not include the IRS penalties and taxes you may need to pay if you do not comply. See "Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail".]

Many representatives admit they do not have the capacity to read and understand it. The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed this way and it failed to produce jobs. We have 10.2% unemployment and that does not count idled independent contractors and those who are now off unemployment roles or working in lesser pay or part time jobs bringing the number to 17.5%. Bad bills are rushed through so they cannot be aired – get it!

Will We Need The Right to Bear Arms?
This is an affront on the free speech and shows a fear to air unsupportable ideas and programs. Free speech is the first weapon people have in their arsenal against Government. If it is blocked or minimized, the next weapon is the right to arms. That talk has started because the most ostentatious effort to show that a majority of Americans do not want this bill or any like it is not being addressed by Democrat elected representatives. People only have one avenue left if future votes cannot remove those who oppose the will of the people. Don’t open that door, listen to this and stop the rush to political insanity.

Minuteman responding 5:30 am to Call To Go To DC

Lacking communication over pickup instructions, Flemington NJ Tea Party bus was beached 1 hour and 15 minutes on road delaying departure for the 9/12 DC Tea Party Rally. Swift action got the bus extricated in plenty of time to make the event.

Arriving early, 5:15 am, the driver of the chartered bus arranged by the Fleminton NJ Tea Party did not get the instruction not to enter the parking lot where riders would park there cars. Organizers worried that the entrance would not suit a bus and their prediction proved correct.

A few riders had arrived before the bus and I was one. As in all Tea Party activities you meet new patriots. This was no different as we stood near our cars making new acquaintances in the drizzly rain in the dark under parking lot lights.

The parking lot was a good 1000 feet back from the road down a dark entrance when we saw the lights of the bus and then heard the fateful sound of rubber spinning without traction.

Photo Story

As we  hurried towards the bus headlights down the drive thinking the unthinkable happened and it did. The bus was inextricably lodged with driver’s side caught on the driveway’s embankment border, actually flatting it into a muddy slide. The rear was tilted enough that the other side’s undercarriage was dug into the apex of the roadway. Moving forward the driver side wheels spun in the mud. Moving in reverse the other side’s wheels spun. So much for limited slip differential.

Early bus riders found wood along the road and used it to attempt a rescue only to be rewarded with the smell of burning rubber and wood. Meantime the many riders arrived and lined the road with their cars before the morning light. Their headlights shined in the light drizzle.

A muddy back road was found to the blocked parking lot and a decision was made to get the cars parked for safety and the optimism the bus would be freed. Riders drove their cars down a dirt road you might find on a farm with many large holes filled with water in a pitch black night. From SUVs to the tiniest of sub compacts slipped through the tree lined rutted path.

Eventually the State Police and a towing service arrived. With brute force the bus was dragged over the apex of the road surface and freed.

Riders already lined up along the unlit road with protest signs, chairs, ice chests, children and unbounded anticipation boarded within seconds of the freed bus.

Taking pictures I still had not unloaded my items from my car and made a mad rush back down the 1000 or so feet to get my belongings and was one of the last to board ahead of standby riders.

Standby riders stood in the drizzle and boarded finally about 6:30 am. It turned out the original reserved bus was substituted with a larger more posh bus, compliments of the bus company Transbridge.