14 September 2009

Statement

There was a big protest against expanding government over the weekend. It took place in Washington D.C. and seemed to have around 500 thousand people. Not bad. This is a time-lapse video of the protestors.



The protestors and those sympathetic to their cause (like me) feel like much of what has occurred in the Obama administration has added to the unwelcome growth in government endemic to both Republican and Democratic administrations. This article looks at the use of policy czars, and Obama's expansion of that tool.

2 comments:

A.J. said...

Not that it is important, but I would not be so hasty to report any numbers... these estimates always seem to be off by large margins. My point in this post is to support my original claim that the Iraq war protests were me with more fervor, less attention by the government in power, and less controversial demonstrations as compared to some of these photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42448313@N03/sets/72157622224474669/

Jlowryjr said...

Thanks for the commen A.J.

I agree with the need to be cautious with the numbers. I think I was a bit high. This post looks at some accounts, including from the NYT and the actual number may have been 250-400k. Still pretty high.
http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=21884
As for the other issue, I'm still not sure I agree. At least comparing the protests is difficult. My impression of Iraq War protesters was that many of those are habitual protesters, and much of the "Tea Party" crowd are relative novices to protest. But I could be wrong.
As for the photos, there is no question that the left and right have their share of crazies. For every "Birther" there is probably a "Truther." Both are idiots. I do think the person who posted the Flickr pictures has a sampling that is not representative of the whole.
These link to similarly crazy left wing protests over the last several years, many of them more overtly threatening or controversial than the link you posted.
I think one difference is that you didn't see a lot of these people in the major media, perhaps because they too may have been smaller portion of the group?
http://www.zombietime.com/sf_rally_february_16_2003/
http://www.zombietime.com/iraq_war_fifth_anniversary_protest/