Massive Gathering in Washington D.C. Protests Obama Administration and the Loss of Freedom

The Washington DC Fire Department estimated the crowd at 60 to 70 Thousand. The London Telegraph indicated that 1.5 to 2 million people were present.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - The Tea Party Express Came to Washington on Saturday, with Americans assembling on the National Mall.

They came from across the entire United States to speak against the proposed reform of our health care system, the stimulus package with has placed our Nation in economic peril and other approaches of the new Obama administration.

Estimates of attendance numbers for the event, however, are all over the map.

Several news organizations reported that "thousands or tens of thousands participated". ABC News reported that the Washington DC Fire Department estimated the crowd at 60 to 70 Thousand.

The London Telegraph, however, indicated that 1.5 to 2 million people were present.

Given that authorities at the Mall were taken by surprise by the size of the crowd and the impact on Washington DC traffic, some observers have stated that the crowd had to be at least one million strong.

As with other similar gatherings such as the March for Life, accurate estimates by park officials may never be reported. However, there is little doubt that this assembly represented an historic show of opposition to the Obama admisnistration's policies.

Organized by FreedomWorks, a conservative activist group led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, the Washington gathering was the culmination of a movement that has toured the country since last spring protesting tax policies, health care, government bailouts of the current administration.

However, this grass roots crowd included people who had never even heard of "Freedom Works." It also included people who were never involved in any public demonstration.Some indicated that they had responded to the ever popular efforts of Fox News commentator Glen Beck and his call for a "9/12 Project."

When asked about her attendance at the Washington Tea Party, Terri Hall, 45, of Starke, Fla., told Fox News that she felt compelled to become political for the first time this year because she was upset by government spending.

"Our government has lost sight of the powers they were granted," she stated, adding that the deficit spending was out of control and said she thought it was putting the country at risk. She was not alone. the participants were adamant in their opposition to many of the policies of this current administration.

Saturday's gathering is being called the largest assembly of "conservatives" in Washington's history.

Interestingly, many who attended may not have even have called themselves "conservatives" before this event. They would have said they were just Americans, tired of what is happening and dedicated to stopping the slide away from the values and prinicples which this Country stands for.

The "Tea Party express" joined with a number of other events, including August's Town Halls and the 9/12 Project launched by Glen Beck, as strong evidence that a large number of Americans are concerned with the direction the Obama administration is taking the country.

As with America's original tea party, these folks are objecting to "taxation without representation." They also represent a growing citizens movement, opposed to what they maintain is the increasing intrusion of an oppressive centralized government into their families and their affairs.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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