The following letter was sent to me by Mrs. Judy Guthrie and is reprinted with her permission.  The sentiment is elegantly expressed:

On September 12, I joined not thousands, but tens of thousands of Americans on the national mall in Washington, D.C. for the 9/12 Tea Party.  The Tea Party movement has no central leader.  It is, rather, voluntary and spontaneous.  It brought to mind the Suffrage Movement and the marches for Civil Rights.  These are the manifestations of Americans whose hearts become so full that they are fairly bursting to be heard.

In leaving our hotel around 10:00 on the morning of the 12th, I turned a corner onto Pennsylvania Avenue and sucked in my breath at the sight before me.  There it was, a river of humanity spilling onto the streets and flowing like a slow-moving tidal wave toward the Mall.   As I joined this crowd, everywhere I looked I saw smiling faces, not anger, not hate, but smiles.  However, the air was fairly crackling with intensity.  Excitement, yes, but there was also a singularity of purpose, and that was to have our voices heard in Washington. 

The people were young and old, of every race, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Libertarians.  They came from every walk of life imaginable:  doctors, nurses, lawyers, government employees, nuns, farmers, miners, business owners, retirees, and musicians.  Mothers were pushing babies and even a few were pushing their dogs in baby strollers.  A-n-n-d they brought their signs.  The creativity and originality of those signs was exceptional.  Most were homemade, some were made professionally, some were comical, others were outright works of art and they became a type of “mouthpiece” for the Tea Party.  Without them it would have been like a birthday cake without the candles.

People came from every state in the nation.  Some came from as far away as Alaska and even Hawaii.   They filled the Mall as far as the eye could see.  From our ground level position, our cameras couldn’t capture the enormity of the crowd, but we later caught an aerial shot that gave us the real picture.  It jolted ones senses and was one of the most stirring sights I have ever witnessed. . . that this many people had come from such great distances, at great expense and tons of logistics to make this trip.  We heard of two buses that left Knoxville, TN, late Friday, drove all night, attended the rally, and drove back all night Saturday with no sleep except what they could catch on the bus.  That’s dedication! 

There were many, many speeches.  Some were quite eloquent.  Some were simple.  But to a one, they were sincere and from the heart.  They spoke of how our system of government is broken.  The common thread that ran through them all was the urgent need for us to return to the constitutional principles upon which our Founders established our nation; to go back to what is common sense and to return hope and pride in our great country.   

There were thousands who were so far from the speakers’ podium they were unable to hear them, but the startling thing was that even at the end of the day, no one was making any effort to leave early.  They just kept standing there in unison wearing their love of country. 

Upon reflection, I was so privileged to be a witness to this electrifying force that is the American spirit that is our Freedom of Speech and our Democracy at work.  I believe that this silent majority has finally come awake and can no longer be ignored in Washington.  It can no longer watch while their Social Security, their retirements, their businesses, their health care, and the future of their children, their very life’s blood, is being leached away as though they no longer count for anything.   The 9/12 Tea Party is a ground swell that is growing in this nation.  It is an awakening giant that will no longer be silenced.  Congress cannot afford to continue to ignore this Washington Tea Party and the many others held around the nation.  It was emblematic of a large majority of Americans, the voters who will be at the polls in 2010.  

I can comment only with pride about the stellar behavior and the overall courtesy and consideration of the people who were there.  A sense of camaraderie permeated the crowd, and dare I say, a shared hope that Washington will listen to us. 

It was an event that I was so privileged to be a part of, and one that I will remember for the rest of my life.  It was a beautiful thing to see Freedom at work.     

Judy Guthrie