9/12: The Revolution Has Begun

What began on the border in 2005 has spread to DC and every state in the union. The Revolution isn’t coming, it is here. Call it the Constitution Revolution. The genie is out of the bottle and there will be no putting her back in.

I spent all day yesterday up and down Pennsylvania Avenue with people from all over the Union. One guy I met had 45 autographs on his t-shirt from people from 45 states. He only needed 5 more to make it a day.

The mainstream media has reported the rally as anti-Obama or anti-government, both are partially true, but I believe that pro-Constitution would be much more accurate. Pro-Constitution and polite. This was more than a peaceful demonstration. I never heard so many excuse mes and thankyous in my life, and not a drop of litter to be found.

There was some anger yesterday, there was a lot of frustration, but mostly there was a multitude of Americans determined to have their voices heard. I am talking about people of all colors. I am talking about people with long hair, short hair, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, conservatives, cops, teachers,college students, grandmas, grandpas, great grandmas, moms, dads and kids.

The frustration demonstrated yesterday has been building for longer than nine months. What do the people want? They want the Federal Government to listen to the will of the people. They want the Federal Government to stick to the Constitution. They want the Federal Government to Keep the Czars in Russia.

When I filmed “Border,” I was afraid that the greatest threat to the future of our country was apathy. Those fears were completely swept away by what I experienced yesterday. But the fresh new hope that surged through all of us was tempered by the MSM media reports that we began hearing as soon as we left the Capitol.

I was hit with a nauseating wave of déjà vu. I had a flashback to when I was in Honduras, when a couple hundred Marxist revolutionaries and pro-Zelaya supporters demonstrated and the next day it was on the front page of newspapers around the world. But put one hundred thousand Constitutionalists in the streets of Tegucigalpa and it won’t make U.S. news at eleven.

When we first arrived at yesterday’s demonstration, CNN was reporting that 30,000 people were expected. By the afternoon FOX news was reporting 60,000. The Saturday evening newscasts all said that “thousands” of people had turned out. Later they updated to “tens of thousands.”

At the rally, at noon on Saturday, we began hearing that DC police estimates were 1.2 million. I could not confirm that with any of the DC police officers that I spoke with. However, I did speak with a retired NYPD Sergeant towards the end of the day, he had a significant background in crowd control, including the evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11. This Sergeant put the number between 1.4 and 1.6 million.

The London Daily Mail would later put the number at 2 million. For the better part of two hours we saw Pennsylvania Avenue packed with humanity walking towards the Capitol Building. For the longest time it seemed like an unending river of humanity. Fourteen blocks of streaming individuals!!

I ducked under police tape blocks away from the Capitol Building. Police officers immediately stopped me. I told them that I was press. The officers said that they didn’t care. I was told, “Get back. The venue is full.” They wouldn’t guess at how large the crowds were, but it was clear that they were stunned by the size of the turnout.

Where I stood, thousands of people were being turned back. I had to go around the demonstration to make my way closer to the steps of the Capitol.

I don’t know how many people were there. Maybe satellite photos will later give us an accurate count, but I would estimate that 90 percent of the demonstrators never even saw the event stage. Possibly 50 percent of the crowd never even got close enough to the remote speakers to hear what was being said.

No one cared. They didn’t come to hear the VIP speakers, they came to be with other Americans. They came because this is their house.

I couldn’t help but wonder what President Obama was thinking as he flew over us in Marine One on his way to Minnesota.

As I looked out down from the balcony of a twelfth story Pennsylvania Avenue apartment, our host told me that in all of her decades in DC, she had never seen anything like this.

Either the entire corps of the Mainstream Media are entirely incompetent or they are complicit in propaganda of the greatest proportions. Do not be fooled.

Robert Gibbs said on Friday that the White House was unaware of the rally… he didn’t know who this group was.

Mr. Gibbs, this is not a group. These are the American people, and they came here to remind you that you work for them.

All day long, I saw people pushing strollers. I saw people on crutches and in wheelchairs. But the image that will stick with me the longest was when I saw an elderly woman, possibly near 80 years old, lying in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. She was seizing very badly. She had walked almost a mile in the DC heat, but her body just couldn’t take it. Her elderly sister looked on as the paramedics worked on her. I don’t know if she made it, but she was a patriot.

I will put her courage and commitment up against the arrogance of the political elite any day.

There is nothing stronger on this planet than the united will of the American people. Yesterday this nation turned a corner. The American people have awakened, and they want their country back.

Photos taken by Barbara Auchter