OLDWICK - He drives a Ford Expedition with 240,000 miles on it, which he calls "Moose," owns a .16 gauge shotgun and a .30-06 - for deer hunting - and when he grips the hand of a supporter at his campaign kickoff at the Oldwick Volunteer Firehouse, the other man's face crinkles into a broad grin at the feel of calluses on the hands of David Larsen, owner of a windows and doors business, and a candidate for U.S. Congress.
Yesterday’s Rasmussen poll reveals what anyone who has been watching the news for the past year already knows — Americans are angry. They are angry at their government and its failures to provide solutions to the current problems. According to today’s poll, 75% of likely voters are “at least somewhat angry at the government’s current policies”. The poll also found that a whopping 45% of respondents were in the “Very Angry” category a nine percent increase from earlier this fall.
What the poll didn’t show was that many Americans are not just sitting in their houses stewing. They are getting out of their houses and getting involved. The rise of the Tea Party movement this year is a great example.
Take Tucson, Arizona, where a group of conservative activists took the city’s budget deficits head on in a creative video last month. The City Council has spent the past few months trying to figure out to deal with the shortfalls and these activists have a suggestion — cut unnecessary spending.
The video highlights a program that gave Priuses to each of the member of the city council as well as the efforts of Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik (who declined a Prius) to find other areas of the budget to cut.
The video is an effective example of how ordinary citizens armed with video cameras can argue for conservative principles and hold their government accountable. It also highlights how Americans are not just angry, they are also on the move.