This is big

I turned on the TV and saw an enormous crowd at a protest in Atlanta. Organizers said the crowd was 15- to 20,000 strong. They were conservatives. Usually, conservatives don't protest.

The guy on the news interviewed others at rallies across the country, similar to the one in Atlanta (though Atlanta's was the biggest). Thousands of Americans angry about out-of-control government spending, bailing-out of failure, tax rates so high they can be described only as criminal, and unfathomable public debt took to the streets across the country.

Many held signs: "King George didn't listen to us either." "Read my lipstick, no new taxes." "I'll keep my tax money, you keep the change." "Socialism kills freedom." "You can't fix stupid — but you can vote them out." "I liked my old Uncle Sam better than my new Big Brother." "What would Reagan do?" One little girl wore a T-shirt reading "Stop spending my future." One rallier paid homage to Ayn Rand with a "Who is John Galt?" sign. (If you don't understand that, read Atlas Shrugged — you won't be disappointed.)

Tax Day Tea Party protests were planned in all 50 states. According to The Wichita Eagle, there were more than 30 rallies in Kansas alone.

The one that I found most striking was the one in my hometown of Lakin, Kan. Some 30 or so of our neighbors stood next to the highway holding signs cleverer than what I could write. My mom and I joined this group for a few minutes, but we didn't stay to stand in the bluster of Kansas like a lot of those folks did. God bless 'em.

As cars and trucks passed, many honked their horns. Reporters were present. Usually, conservatives don't protest.

I've heard of one protest in Lakin. Many years ago, a high school principal was (unduly) fired. Not everyone liked him, but most (including many of his students) respected him. Folks knew it was wrong and they met in the high school gym to make sure the school board knew they were mad.

It's taken this to get folks to rally again. Nine thousand asinine earmarks in a spending bill — passed by the Congress that promised earmark reform and signed by the president who claims to be the public's defender from it. Multiple members of President Barack Obama's cabinet (and some folks in Congress) that don't pay their own taxes. Eight years under former President George W. Bush when spending and debt went way out of control — and now three months under President Obama when it's only gotten worse. Seven hundred billion dollars to bail out banks for bad business — that's more than has been spent on the war in Iraq. (War is expensive!) Eight hundred billion dollars in "stimulus" garbage — garbage that nobody read until after it was written into law and money was spent. A tax code that is 60,000 pages long and entirely unfathomable by humans. A president that promised "95 percent of all Americans will receive a tax cut" ... "no tax increase" ... "not any tax" — and then signed an enormous tax increase on tobacco, and has promised new taxes on energy. Big-spending Republicans in Congress who can only be bested by bigger-spending Democrats.

Americans are not saying "Enough." We're saying "Way too damn much!"

The staggering numbers of protest-goers is a sign of something big. Conservatives have never taken to the streets in groups so large, so organized, so demanding that they be listened to.

This was historic.