Operation American Spring 2014: Where Are You?

Sunday, we arrived in Washington, DC, and drove down around the mall.  It looked like DC was ready for a major war, with concrete barriers around all the monuments and tank trap barriers in every entrance around the Capital and White House.   Construction sites littered the capitol. 

Monday, we once again made our way to Washington DC to meet up with Operation American Spring (OAS) protestors.  We found them on the mall in front of the Air and Space Museum.  I have to say my heart sank when I saw so few protestors.  Where were the millions?  Or thousands even?  It looked to be about 200 people.  All the reports of danger and civil unrest were unfounded.  Reports suggested that drones could be used on protestors, or people would be arrested.  None of that happened and the protest was peaceful.  There were no problems with any government officials, and absolutely no signs of violence.   Operation American Spring is and always was a peaceful protest.  The main objective is to rid the country of corrupt politicians, and get back to the basic constitution.

There were only a few reporters there.  Drake Wiley of The Drake Wiley Show was among them, and he did his daily broadcast there on the mall lawn at OAS base camp.  It was said that Pastor James Manning had been there earlier.  The reporters there were united with the OAS in cause and purpose. 

On April 8, 2014, the founder of OAS, retired Col. Harry Riley, submitted Articles of Impeachment to every member of Congress, demanding the resignations of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Eric Holder, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner.  Once the protest began, it became known that Congress had lost the original copies of the Articles of Impeachment.  How can every member of Congress (a total of 435) lose his or her copy?   A group of OAS representatives resubmitted the Articles of Impeachment on Monday.  One protestor, a woman who went to Capitol building with the group, told me that the officials would not allow all the pages of the Articles of Impeachment to be submitted, and that they would have to be submitted in sections because it was too long.  Why would they not allow the documents to be submitted in whole?  This resistance seems to be just a ploy to not take seriously the articles of impeachment that the American public filed against the unruly and corrupt politicians.   Do they take seriously what Americans everywhere are asking and demanding?  It seems to prove that what has long been suspected is true: Congress is supporting the corruption of the Obama Administration.   Not one member of Congress cared enough to come down, send a message, or address the concerns of the OAS protestors.

The OAS group reports varied.  Members reported that some 2000 to 5000 protestors were present over the weekend.  They also claimed that many people had made reservations, but due to reports of possible government retaliation, many cancelled their plans to come to protest.  There were reports that a large group of National Guard members had plans to come but were given last-minute orders to training exercises that kept them from coming.  When I asked Colonel Riley if more were coming, he was confident that numbers would grow, and stated that the protest was just getting started.  He said he expected more people throughout the week and over Memorial Day weekend.  He also claimed to have the support of two million bikers and other groups that should arrive any day now. 

Despite the good intentions of the protestors from all over the country, there seemed to be a lot of confusion in the group over how many were there over the past weekend, and how many more were expected over the coming Memorial Day weekend.   One thing that there was no confusion about was that they all demanded the corrupt leaders to step down, and wanted the country restored to the vision of our founding fathers.

So many there questioned why so many had committed to coming, yet did not show up.  As the day was winding down, the protestors locked arms, in frustration, and ask the cameras present, “We are here, where are you?”