The Conservative Soldier

A schedule conflict derailed my longstanding plan to travel to Washington this Saturday for the Mother of All Tea Parties. But disappointment eased when I navigated my way online to discover details about the Tea Party Express bus caravan’s eastbound journey. Day 11, Labor Day, would begin with a stop and rally in IL, where the Conservative Soldier resides in dangerous proximity to the Chicago political cesspool that spawned Barack Hussein Obama.

Impulsively, I jumped into my car on a sunny September morning to make a 30-minute drive to the town of New Lenox, Ill. This is authentic America, a.k.a. “flyover country” by the elite left wing media and members of the entertainment industry. In downtown New Lenox, cornfields literally back up to retail parking lots and the modern village square. My German import vehicle stood out in a sea of Fords and OM (Obama Motors) Chevys and Dodges. But I knew immediately that I was among kindred spirits.

Estimates are that more than 6,000 (and as many as 10,000) Patriots descended on New Lenox. This created a massive traffic jam out on Interstate 80. Cars were lined up half a mile from the exit ramp. Some motorists flew American and ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ flags. No one turned around. No one was discouraged by the snarled traffic, the lack of parking, or the fact that only one law enforcement official was assigned to orchestrate the surge of determined humanity. They came in waves. They parked blocks away and walked to the rally. They carried banners and flagpoles, and they pulled wagons and pushed strollers and wheelchairs.

In the crowd there was energy and passion. But there was no vocal hatred, no threats of physical violence, no profanity, other than a few well timed shouts of “Hell No”. The most senior in the crowd seemed to hoist the largest flags and most robust signs. Almost everyone made a sign, or wore a t-shirt, or clamored to buy and display buttons. The “NOBAMA” buttons seemed to be selling briskly.

Families assembled. Dogs milled about. The adventurous climbed on top of sturdy structures to secure a better view or snap a photo. Attendees were drawn to a giant traveling white board covered in signatures demanding lower taxes and government fiscal prudence. There always seemed to be space for one more autograph.

These are the “angry mobs”, the talk radio zombies, the Fox News crazies, the Rush Limbaugh loons, the Glenn Beck hecklers, the Sarah Palin hate speechers. Of course, those depictions are inaccurate and intentionally derisive.

These engaged, inspired Americans actually understand that the slogan Freedom Isn’t Free is not some cheap cliche; these are folks who get the fact that it is our solemn responsibility to protect liberty from tyranny and democracy from dictators, especially when both are threatened as never before. They are angry but not unruly. At least this was what I witnessed in New Lenox.

And so it was on Labor Day 2009 that they assembled in rural Illinois, for now far out of earshot of Washington, New York, Hollywood and the Presidential retreat of Camp David. Many will board buses, trains, airplanes and non-subsidized Ford trucks this weekend to join a traffic jam the likes of which Washington’s liberal Democrats and America’s new radical President rarely have seen. And one they’ll never forget.

They are determined, they are committed and they are serious. These are Patriots. And they are coming, Mr. President. They are coming.