In Washington DC this morning, Glenn joined Mike Lee, Matt Kibbe, and leaders and members of the Tea Party Patriots and Freedom Works for a gathering on Capitol Hill.
The National Day of Service kicked off with a few short speeches, with Glenn delivering the last address to those who came out to pick up trash on The Mall. In his speech, Glenn focused on the lack of trust between the American people and the progressives running Washington DC, and he made a point to criticize both the Republicans and Democrats for causing the problems facing the country.
“It’s about being authentic, it’s about being real,” Glenn said. “That’s the problem with our country. Who trusts us? Our own people don’t trust us.”
Glenn wondered how anyone could even begin to negotiate a deal that would end the government shutdown when the President and his administration wasn’t acting in good faith. He pointed to reports that President Obama had “essentially rejected everything offered by House Republicans leaders in their proposal.”
Despite the tough times currently facing the country, Glenn said that things were going to be fine and that we were at a pivotal point in history.
“We’re at an amazing point. The whole world is going to change, the system doesn’t work,” Glenn said. “We’re not doing anything worldwide on principle so the West will reset.”
He emphasized that there was nothing to be afraid of as long as we all stick together, paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin’s “: We all better hang together or we’ll certainly all hang separately.”
Glenn then told the story of the origins of the Republican Party and the end of the Whig party. The old Whig Party fell apart over the issue of slavery, with a small group of anti-slavery members disrupting the Whigs and forcing many of the party leaders out of office. Many of the anti-slavery members ended up joining the newly formed Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln.
Today, Glenn argued, America is at a very similar point in history. A small group of principled politicians in the House and Senate are standing up for what they believe in, and as a result they are disrupting the progressives who are at the head of both the Republicans and Democrats.
“We have a virtual one party system,” Glenn said. “But it’s all coming undone.”
“Today I bring you good news. This things over,” he continued. Glenn said that the leaders on both side know that common sense is starting to kick in and people are recognizing the failure of leadership coming from the progressive.
“We have to be people who show the new way, a better way, where we treat people with respect,” he said. “Let’s live like free men. Let’s live like decent Americans.”
As the speeches wound down, the gathered crowd headed to the Mall to clean up the monuments. Since the beginning of the government shutdown, the Mall and the monuments have been closed to the public because the government cannot maintain them and pick up the trash that comes with tourists.
The clean up effort was inspired by South Carolinian Chris Cox who has been mowing the lawn and picking up trash around the Mall to keep it from falling into “a disgraceful state.”
Check out photos from the clean up below:
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