FRESNO, California -- ATTENDING the Central Valley TEA Party here on Tax Day, April 15, was one of the most heartening, energizing and exhilarating experiences this writer has enjoyed in quite some time. There have been times in recent years, quite frankly, when I felt like a lone voice crying in the wilderness, warning of the dangers facing the United States of America not only from without but from within. But no more do I feel alone. Clearly, the American people -- We, the People -- have had MORE THAN ENOUGH of the heavy-handed policies of power-hungry politicians who are taking this country in a head-long descent into socialist-fascist totalitarian tyranny.

It didn't start with the Obama administration and the 111th Congress, nor is one political party solely responsible. The country has been headed in the wrong direction for quite some time, and I've been writing about it and sounding the warnings for quite some time. But the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate have been moving at break-neck speed to consolidate their coup, nationalize the private sector, silence their political opponents and make every person in America so dependent upon government largesse that a return to the foundational American principles they despise would, they hope, be impossible.

A lot of people used to think I was alarmist and paranoid, if not totally bonkers, when I warned about the dangers of these things happening. Now it has become obvious to millions of Americans, and people are raising their united voices all across the country to protest the government's systemic disregard for the Constitution and systematic destruction of our God-given rights and to demand that our elected leaders either put the country back on its proper course or step aside for new leaders who will.

One of the thrilling things for me about attending the Central California TEA Party on April 15 was the number of familiar faces I saw in the crowd. I think I bumped into more people there that I know than at just about any other community event I've attended. Many of them are people who, in the past, have been timid about getting into political discussions for fear of offending someone who might have a different take on the situation. Now they realize that standing up and speaking out is a matter of survival. It has suddenly become clear to them that if they don't, the America they know and love will cease to exist. When these good folks came to the TEA Party and saw so many of their neighbors there who maybe also hadn't said much in the past, there was instant camaraderie and a sense of empowerment. They no longer fear expressing their convictions because they know there are thousands of like-minded people in their home town and millions more across the country.

It was interesting to observe the expressions of surprise and delight on people's faces as they recognized others at the rally that they hadn't necessarily expected to see there. This, in itself, is one of the most important reasons for holding events of this type. It isn't just to send a message to Obama (who won't listen anyway) or to members of the House and Senate and to state and local politicians (who will ignore this movement at their peril). It is also to embolden ordinary real Americans through the realization that they are not alone and that they can join their voices with the swelling chorus of other real Americans and make themselves heard.

Let me clarify that there is nothing "ordinary" about ordinary real Americas. The American people are truly extraordinary. They do love their country. They do cherish their freedoms. They will rise to the occasion when they see those freedoms threatened. And I feel confident that the show of strength and solidarity we saw on March 15, in the Central Valley of California and across this great nation, was not a flash-in-the-pan. The Obamacrats and their Big Media supporters are trying to ignore the TEA Parties and to dismiss the participants as a few right-fringe radicals. How wrong they are!

The crowds attending the TEA Parties are a cross section of Mainstream America, representing people of every race and religion, all ages, all income brackets, all walks of life. Nor are we all from one political party. What we have in common is a love of freedom and a determination that the government created to protect our liberties shall no longer be allowed to trample upon them. The TEA Parties are a manifestation of a true grass-roots movement, and this movement has legs. It has momentum. It's not going away. It's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger.

It was very clear to me as I talked to people at California's Central Valley TEA Party that they know perfectly well just holding a bunch of TEA Parties across the country on one day is not going to have any influence on policy in Washington or in Sacramento. They know that the politicians in power will respond not by giving in but by digging in, and that only a sustained and ever-expanding campaign will route the political elites from their entrenched positions.

The elite political class regards ordinary Americans with disdain and patronizing condescension. They think we are so stupid and incompetent that we need to have the all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful Government do everything for us and make every decision for us. They will learn how wrong they are!

The American people -- the ordinary extraordinary American People -- are smart. They are savvy. They are resolute. They are strong. When times are good, they are so busy going about their business, enjoying their lives, and lending a helping hand to their neighbors that sometimes they don't pay much attention to what goes on in the halls of government. They tend to trust their elected leaders to do what they elected them to do. And having good hearts, and a great love for their country as envisioned by its Founders, it is hard for them to imagine there could be other Americans who don't feel that way, It is difficult for them to conceive that any fellow-American whom they elect to office and who takes a solemn oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic might actually betray that trust, might actually prove to be an enemy of the very Constitution they are sworn to uphold.

But when it becomes obvious to the American People, as it now has, that the overwhelming majority of those in elected office have succumbed to the corrupting and seductive allure of the power to which they wrongly believe their elected office entitles them, make no mistake, the American People will set them straight. The American People will remove them from power and replace them with leaders who clearly understand this core principle of Constitutional American governance: Elected leaders are the servants of the People, not the rulers of ignorant and incompetent masses.

We will not be subjugated! We will not be tyrannized! We will not be enslaved! We will not be stripped of our God-given, Constitutionally-guaranteed rights!

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California's Central Valley TEA Party in Pictures

A Photo Essay by JoAnne Green