LiveWire

A post by Pat

The Smart Girls came to D.C. and Congress left town. A sign of things to come.

The SGP Summit provided valuable information to those who are new to activism. In addition to practical instruction, the summit infused a sense of power and purpose. Washington, D.C. was an appropriate venue to hold such a gathering at this time. The message is: we are coming to get you.

SGP grew from an idea to a nation-wide organization of 40,000 members in less than two years. The existence and growth of this and other grassroots organizations reflects the evolution in this two-year period from unease to alarm to fear about the direction of the country.

During the two day summit, the theme of the mother protecting her children was often repeated. The mama grizzly view of the world. SGP is not a for-women-only group or about “women’s issues”. Their issues are the fundamental conservative issues of liberty, individual responsibility and restraints on government. These values are certainly not the exclusive territory of women or mothers. Each of us approaches them through different perspectives based on our most profound understanding of our existence in the world and our place in history. There is a woman’s perspective. There is a mother’s perspective. It is not the same group-think clustering fabrication of the Left. It is naturally based. It isn’t superior to any other view and doesn’t diminish anyone else’s perspective.

For many women the grounding of their worldview is the experience of motherhood. Something bordering the mystical occurs when you hold that new life in your arms. You are awakened to an understanding of what it means to be a link between the past and the future. Your life is transformed forever. You will protect that new life even if it means giving up your own and woe to anyone who threatens your child. This is the motivation for battalions of women joining the ranks of these newly formed political organizations. The threat to our children is our own government.

During my stay in D.C I visited the National Archives. I wanted to be physically close to the Constitution. An unexpected image popped into my head as I took my place in line to view the documents. It was an image of people lined up in Red Square to view the Lenin’s body. What a contrast—venerating the preserved Constitution and Bill of Rights compared to paying homage to a mummified Dear Leader. It also occurred to me that the Soviet Criminal Code dealt severely with groups holding meetings. Tyrants don’t like people gathering unless they control the occasion.

A writer in the Soviet Union was put on trial for saying there was no freedom there. The judge said there was freedom in the Soviet Union therefore the writer was guilty of anti-Soviet slander and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. That’s how it goes when the government runs everything. Only enemies of the state would question the workers paradise.

Speaking of workers, the One Nation rally was happening the day I went sightseeing. I was out of the news loop because the events at the SGP were so engaging. I didn’t know something was going on until I arrived at the Smithsonian Metro station. There were a few IBEW shirted riders on my train coming in. I thought they were here for a tour. They converged with hundreds of other T-shirted unionists being herded at the station. They went one way. I went in the opposite direction.

The whole mall area was swarming with the union and leftwing groups all day. I saw the slogans on their signs and shirts. “We march for hope not hate” made me laugh especially since that slogan was amidst a sea of placards damning the rich in a variety of terms. Late in the afternoon when I returned to the Smithsonian station to head back to the hotel, the union groups were backed up in huge lines to enter the station. It would have taken at least an hour to work your way down to the train so I walked a few extra blocks to the next station on the line. I breezed through. The follow-the-leader unionists either have no sense to break away from their group under any circumstances or they don’t want to.

It was a day of stark contrasts between the Bill of Rights and the herded cattle, the genius of the past and the possibility of a mind-killing future. You needn’t have gone through the experience of childbirth to know which model is a preferrable future and be ready to fight for it. We are all caretakers. We are all responsible to a time when we will no longer be here.

The election is a month away. The lame duck Congress will return, perhaps with a frenzied burn and loot mentality. In January the 112th Congress will be seated. The Presidential election will be in 2012. Two years. How much can defenders of liberty do in two years? Ask the Smart Girls: Stacy Mott, Teri Christoph, Kristen Hawley, Rebecca Wales, Michelle Moore, Nansen Malin, Ashley Sewell, Jennifer Peter, Bridget Blanton, Jenny Erickson, Julia Hodges, Sue Colaluca, Marcia Chambliss and 40,000 more.