The American political rally is making a comeback. Traditionally, rallies of huge numbers of citizens in American politics is a phenomenon that predates the advent of television and cable news. Presidential candidates and party organizations would turn out thousands to rally for their tickets.
With the advent of television, the political rally was reduced to an advanced, team-generated crowd for appearances by presidential candidates. Traditionally, crowd size grew as the election drew closer. Tellingly, a candidate’s inability to draw a large crowd – as in the cases of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden – is anecdotal evidence of their weakness.
But what we are seeing today with a growing number of grassroots rallies across the country drawing thousands of citizens in support of a cause and as an act of protest, is not only something new, but the direct outgrowth of the now-raging frustration of Republicans, conservatives, Christians, and free-thinkers. As the abject and baseless censorship on social media, as well as the de-platforming of anyone whose views are not aligned with the ruling D.C./Hollywood cabal, regular American’s are finding strength in numbers at these rallies.
It is vital to note that not only are thousands of people turning out for these patriotic and free speech-oriented events, but they are actually paying for the privilege of being there. Paying to attend a political rally is unprecedented in American political history.
In other words, average citizens are doing what they can still do – gather in a group and express their views and hear from leaders in the movement they support. More importantly, however, attendance at these mass events is a protest of the status-quo; the 2020 election results, the impact of lockdowns, the dangers of the Covid-19 vaccination, and the unconstitutional treatment of the January 6th detainees.
In the last several months, I have spoken at several of these rallies and can report that grassroots enthusiasm has never been this high. It is important, however, to say that attending and speaking at a rally that takes place over a several-day period, with a large cast of speakers, does not mean that I subscribe to the views of everyone who speaks. Despite the 2020 election having an extraordinary number of anomalies and irregularities, I have never believed that the results of the 2020 election would be reversed and know of no legal or constitutional procedure to even do so.
The early success of Clay Clark’s Reawaken America Tour has spawned dozens of imitators. Any time there is a successful “outsider” political movement, whether it be Ross Perot or Donald Trump, the effort will attract a disproportionate number of people who have never been in politics before. It will therefore bring a disproportionate number of grifters, self-aggrandizers, opportunists, and social misfits.
While some of these rallies appear to be “get rich quick” schemes for entrepreneurs daydreaming of large numbers of patriots paying hundreds of dollars to listen to speakers and share camaraderie all the while filling the cash register, I prefer to believe that this rash of imitators is a grassroots reaction to the stifling of free speech and the growing infringement of our Constitutional Rights.
The danger to this robust uprising of citizen participation is the growing restriction of both public and private spaces. Perhaps the Deep State will end these rallies the way they ended free association on social media. My advice? Attend one of these inspirational events while you can and make your voice heard.
