A Message From Dick Armey

Dear Friend,

The 9-12 March on Washington has concluded and by any measure it was nothing short of an historic success for the limited government movement.

The debate over how many people were actually there is now raging from one extreme to another. Some media reports have gone as high as 2 million, while liberal pundits like David Schuster have thrown out insulting low estimates under 50,000. I believe the truth is that our crowd actually approached 1 million, but you can judge for yourself as coverage of the March will air on CSPAN again tonight at 8 pm EST. No matter the actual number, the 9-12 March on Washington was far and away the largest gathering of limited government conservative activists in history and I want to thank you for helping to make it so.

Whether you were there or not, your support was key – your contribution, attendance at a local taxpayer protest in your own community, or your presence in DC is being felt today by the politicians here in the Nation’s Capital. Some may not admit it publicly, but I promise you that even the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barrack Obama himself now know the power that our side represents.

We are all exhausted, but it’s imperative that we keep telling the stories, and sharing the images, and connecting the people from all 50 states who spoke with one voice to petition their government. After all, we all worked so hard to send the message to our elected officials: “Silent No More.” To help document this monumental event, over the next few weeks, FreedomWorks will be putting together an online archive of the 9/12 March on Washington. However, if this project is going to be successful, we need your help!Here is how you can help:

Tell us your story. If you were at the March, watched it from home, or participated in one of the hundreds of other local taxpayer rallies that took place all over the country, we want to hear from you! Simply email your story to 912dc.org@gmail.com, and don’t forget to include your name (we’ll only publish your first name), age, and location! We will also be sure to get a hard copy hand-delivered to your Senators and Congressman.

Send us your pictures and video. Did you take photos or video at the DC March or your local event? If so, we’d like to post them on our archive. To do this, all you need to do is upload your photos to Flickr.com, and videos to YouTube.com, then include the tag “912dc” before saving them. If you have too many photos, or your video is too large, you can mail a CD or DVD to: FreedomWorks, 601 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, North Building, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004.

We need your help to get ready for the coming battles. The health care debate continues to rage and we expect the Left to continue their push for cap and trade and other items on the big government wish-list through the end of this year. We are working to build an infrastructure capable of conducting targeted research and issuing rapid-response calls to action that will make the difference in these fights.

In addition, our political battle plan for 2010 is already starting to come together. To give you a sneak preview, this includes another major event in Washington, D.C. and playing in the most high-profile Congressional mid-term races. All of this of course will take significant resources, but that’s what it is going to take to give limited government activists like you the necessary tools to affect change. Click here to support FreedomWorks with your generous contribution.

I think back to 1994. Then, true limited government conservatives saw the dawn of a new era where fiscal conservatives rose to power on the shoulders of the Contract with America and “threw the bums out.” While conservatives in Congress ultimately lost their way and thus the support of the voters, I believe that thanks to the grassroots uprising we are seeing now that lawmakers are getting the message and that 2010 could look a lot like 1994, if we keep it up.

So while I again congratulate you on the success of 9-12, I remind you that the battle goes on. We can take our government back, but as abolitionist Wendell Phillips famously said, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

FreedomWorks,

Dick Armey