Tea Party On the Capitol

Thousands of protesters gathered on the lawn of the Capitol building on Thursday November 5 to voice their opposition to the House health care bill set for a vote on Saturday November 7. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn) had invited them to assemble a weak earlier during an appearance on Sean Hannity's Fox News program. The event was promoted as a Super Bowl of Freedom, a modern take on the Boston Tea Party. It featured fiery speeches by Republican leaders, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Republican congress members and actor John Voight. Following the rally, the protesters demonstrated in Speaker Pelosi's office. A similar event took place on Saturday, as the bill moved through debate and voting in the House.

Despite the questionable costumes, caricatures and slogans used by protesters, the sheer size of their turnout and their unity around the rallying cry for freedom demands attention. Their opposition to the bill appears to be centered in a belief in the individual's right to freedom from government and staunch opposition to the expansion of government. According to Slate Magazine, many protesters see the health care bill as part of a greater problem of growing government. They appealed to the Framers and the Constitution in their protests, questioning the right of Congress to impose on the individual. Their signs decried the health care bill as impinging on their freedom: "Hands off my Health Care" and "Don't Tread on Me".

The protesters' cry for freedom, in such large numbers, recalls the notion of freedom from government as a core American value. Painting themselves as "freedom-loving Americans" and "freedom fighters", their appeals to freedom as a fundamental American value are evidence in favor of Huntington and Kingdon's ideas of consensus values.

The event also highlighted the plebiscitary pressures on Congress. The protesters' demands to have their voices heard demonstrated a belief that the job of Congress is to listen to and act on the will of the people. While this group represents a minority, the turnout at town hall meetings this summer suggest that the principle of plebiscitary pressures on democracy, on which Thursday's protesters are acting, is widely shared. The meetings, like this protest, illustrated a strong demand by the American people to have their views inform and shape the acts of Congress.

Sources

Beam, Christopher. "Bachmania." Slate Magazine. 5 Nov. 2009. Web. 8 Nov. 2009.

Millbank, Dana. "No One Said Freedom Was Pretty." Washington Post. 6 Nov. 2009. Web. 8 Nov. 2009.