"To be able to burn the kind of light bulb I want,"

One of the major purposes of the the Glenn Beck Rally.  This quote is from an editorial by Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post.  Here is the whole quote:

But among those in Saturday's throng, the linkage between faith and libertarian-leaning politics seemed obvious. 

"We've lost our morality. The country is headed in the wrong direction by removing God from everything," said Bob Erdt, a retired Ford engineer from Michigan, explaining his participation. Then, Erdt shifted seamlessly to the fiscal side. "We're spending way too much money that we don't have," he said. "Anybody with any common sense or honor or morality knows we can't be spending like this and not bringing the country to ruin."

Asked what had inspired her to fly to the capital from Colorado, Andrea Carrasco started with God and ended with light bulbs.

She came, Carrasco said, to "ask God to restore the country. Our freedom is lost. My freedoms are lost. To be able to preach anywhere we want, to have God in our schools, to drive any kind of car we want and if I want to drive a gas guzzler, I can, if I want to eat a lot of sugar and salt, and I shouldn't be forced to buy medical care."

Carrasco paused, but only briefly. "To be able to burn the kind of light bulb I want," she added. "The list goes on."

Even with that Ruth Marcus still doesn't get it.  She begins the article with this:

I left the Glenn Beck rally worried that I didn't have much of a story.

It was all revival meeting, no political fireworks. The news reports accurately likened the atmosphere to that of a church picnic -- and no reporter wants to write about a church picnic.

But then I realized: The abundance of religiosity was the news. Beck is offering -- and whatever the precise crowd count on Saturday, a whole lot of people seemed to be buying -- a new form of fusion politics, melding the anti-government, anti-spending, anti-tax fervor of the Tea Party with the faith-based agenda of the religious right.

And ends with this:

It's too early to know whether Beck's bridge between social and fiscal conservatism is sturdy enough to withstand the conflicting pulls. Already there is edginess among traditional leaders of the religious right about Beck's bona fides.
Another question is whether the linkage between the two wings risks limiting the Tea Party's appeal to independent voters worried about the deficit but at risk of being turned off by overt religiosity or hard-line social conservatism.

Beck's brand of messianic politics feels creepy to me -- but it is clearly compelling to thousands. Make that hundreds of thousands. This was one church picnic worth covering.

The religiosty was news to her, but she missed the biggest message of how many would turn out because they are so dissatisfied at the direction of the country over the past 60 years.  Read it all  here. 

More from the American Thinker Blog:
Barack Obama doesn't care what you think
By Drew Brown

Don't believe me? Just pay attention to the next two weeks. The organization Barack Obama developed to get elected and still leads, Organizing for America, is attempting to hold pro-healthcare rallies throughout the country right before Congress reconvenes. Said another way, the president who swore to represent you is sending his promoters to tell you to support his agenda. Americans, Obama neither listens to you nor cares what you think.....

What I am concerned about, and warning everyone about, is the media machine that uses these organized events to broadcast the agenda. Framed differently, these activities aren't meant to convince attendees that healthcare is good; these activities are meant to manufacture the news, spread propaganda tropes, and over-inflate the image of the pro-socialized healthcare forces. PR stunts. The Obama modus operandi is to make his goons look bigger than they are. These
are the people who will make a group of twenty conservatives appear diminutive with a far-away camera angle, and then give individual interviews to all three liberal attendees. It's just like a real estate agent photographing a small house from the best angle. Organizing for America is an illusion. It is the Wizard of Oz.

The operating methods are predictable enough. Health Care for America Now is the other group involved, and they've enlisted union leaders to send their grunts along. You'll recognize Obama-style unionists when you see them; they are good at getting media attention; they're frequently loud, make for good angry mobs, and get bulk rates from Kinko's on the signs their illiterate members carry. I'm just grateful many unionists aren't this way, and oppose this bill, too.

And you will see them. The operation will be simple; bus in supporters, give speeches, tell lies, and do not give any opposition an opportunity to speak. It's Obama's election campaign all over again, brought to you by Obama's own campaign committee. America, we have seen this tired strategy over and over, and here it comes again. I wouldn't be surprised if Green Day put on a free concert to get a crowd so they could record all those people listening to the local senator for the 30 second pause. Again.

Go read it all, realize what we are up against and start fighting for your place in the crowd.

What I found at Lucianne.com

I don't take the Caller Times so I can't claim I didn't see this in it, but this is from the Canada Free Press:
Stand Up Patriots
By Armand C. Hale

On Saturday September 5, at 1 – 4 pm in Austin,
Texas, a “Stand Up for Texas Rally” will give the Texas people a chance to voice their opposition to health care, cap-and-trade, and other D.C. atrocities.

Joe the Plumber will be the keynote speaker at this event. The rally is on the south steps of the Capitol, 1100 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX.
Patriots of freedom in general and Texans specifically must push our Congress to stop this federal power grab. Section 1221 (b) from H.R. 3200 legislation now ending in Congress would require doctors and hospitals to provide interpreters and translation services free
of charge to non-English speaking patients. This adds billions of dollars to health care costs and gives immigrants no incentive to learn English!

Read the rest here. (It is a letter from the President of Physicians for Reform)