Glenn Beck Rally Field Report

Today, I volunteered for the Restoring Honor rally hosted by Glenn Beck. Unlike the other rallies, protests and tea parties I’ve attended, this event was quite different.

Last week, while I was lying in the hospital, I caught Glenn Beck on the O’Reilly Factor. Beck explained that this event would be non-political and very, very different.

“Yeah, right.” I thought. “I’m supposed to volunteer for that. There’s no way the tea party crowd will be apolitical.”

I was completely wrong.

Volunteer Training
Yesterday, I attended a volunteer training at the Hyatt near Union Station. Upon my arrival, I noticed a conference of black teamsters and Women of Faith were at the same hotel, which made for interesting people watching. Nothing happened, and everyone was polite to each other.

At the training, which was led by Capital Services, Inc., a vendor contracted to plan the rally and the upcoming 9/12 March, three things were emphasized:

1. Do NOT wear any political or partisan attire or carry signs.

2. Do NOT engage with hecklers. Be polite and smile and step away.

3. Help pick up trash.

Word had some how gotten out to not wear political items, so the volunteers wore all of it to the training session. It was like Christmas Eve when all the grandmas wear every single holiday item they own because they won’t be able to wear them for another year.

Groups had on matching t-shirts. One woman had on a glittery cowboy hat and matching boots emblazoned with the American flag. Some people were already sporting their fluorescent orange Restoring Honor tshirts that had “Marshal*” written on the front and back. Another woman had on a sequined Glenn Beck logo tshirt. Sequins! A number had on Beck’s “faith, hope and charity” shirts or the Restoring Honor t-shirt.

During the training, one man asked if he could wear his Sarah Palin pin written in Hebrew. That one shocked the other volunteers and a murmur went through the crowd. Sadly, the man was told he could not wear his volunteer t-shirt with Hebrew Sarah Palin pin. (I’d really like to see what it looks like.)

Early Morning
My volunteer shirt started bright and early around 6:45 a.m. I was assigned to help direct people from Metro Center to the Mall. Volunteers picked a Metro Center exit when they arrived, so I stood at 12th and F.

Once the Metro opened, attendees came in waves as trains arrived. I stood at the top of the escalators and gave directions as groups exited. Most people were overwhelmingly kind and thanked me for spending my Saturday volunteering. Several people asked to take my photo, so I posed with a number of random children. I felt like some type of Glenn Beck mascot. Wearing a volunteer shirt really didn’t make me any more special.

Hecklers
Because of the Metro schedule, people came in waves. There were long stretches without anyone to direct, so I stood there quietly. Around 7:30 a.m., two black men in suits walked toward the Metro. They looked to be my age. They saw me and asked what I was doing. I politely explained I was volunteering for the Restoring Honor rally and helping to direct attendees from the Metro to Lincoln Memorial.

This apparently made one guy snap. He looked at me and asked, “How many homeless people are you going to feed.”

“Excuse me?” I replied. I was confused.

“How many homeless people are you going to feed today.” He repeated. This time he sounded angry.

I shook my head, smiled and walked away. Heckler guy and his friend continued toward the escalators, continually shouting at me, “How many people are you going to feed today?”

Newsflash liberals: all signs point that conservatives donate more money and volunteer much more than the left. DO NOT get into a “Who cares more?” contest with me. Unless you are a missionary or a Peace Corp volunteer, I will win every time. Each year, I spend hundreds of hours volunteering. I donate significant portions of my income to charitable causes. In college, I was in a service sorority, and then I served as a VISTA for two years. In terms of dollars and hours, I probably care more than you.

Don’t think that you are better than me because you lean left. I guarantee that I do more to help our fellow man. The heckler’s entire argument was based on the stereotype that all conservatives are selfish, white people. Grow up. Yelling at me only makes you look like a jerk. The left continues to prove that they are the ones perpetuating stereotypes. As much as I wanted to inform hecker dude of these facts, I was bound by the Restoring Honor rules and disengaged as soon as I sensed they wanted trouble.

A little later, I noticed a grouchy lady get off the escalator. As soon as she saw me, she scowled. It was a busy moment, with several waves of rally attendees huddling near me to get directions. I noticed the woman stand off to the side and then stroll around the escalator in circles. She waited until the crowd had thinned out, when she “casually” walked by me, stopping long enough to say, “No one cares about your stupid directions for your dumb rally.”

Mature. Real mature for a woman in her late 40s. I loved how she stuck around until the crowd thinned out so she could drop her amazing cut down. My feelings were hurt…

The Rally
Around 11 a.m., the steady stream of attendees stopped, so I walked towards the rally. As I got nearer, I noticed that this crowd was different. Many people wore Glenn Beck t-shirts or Christian t-shirts. Some baseball player was speaking about being a Christian. I walked by street preachers. This rally seemed much more religious than patriotic or political. It was immensely different than any Tea Party event I’ve attended.

Everyone was on the quiet side or subdued. Most were there with families and sitting on lawn chairs or blankets. The crowd seemed peaceful. Quite contrary to how the left paints the typical Beck viewer!

I walked around for about 45 minutes and realized I wouldn’t get very close to the Lincoln Memorial. I walked from the Washington Monument, through the World War II Memorial up to the Duck Pond. There were scores of people huddled under the shade in the trees between the Reflecting Pool and the Duck Pond. You couldn’t see much, but you could hear the rally.

Overall, this rally was much more faith-oriented than anything else. I’m not complaining. I’m a Christian and heart Jesus, but this was not what I expected. I work with a number of organizations that focus on freedom of faith and restoring our Judeo-Christian heritage. This event easily could have been sponsored by one of them.

I did miss the first two hours due to my volunteer station at Metro Center and only stayed for a little while, so the portion I saw was very limited.

Crowd Size
I took a few photos, but my cell phone is not cooperating and uploading them to the web right now. It’s always difficult to estimate sizes. The National Park Service stopped doing it because event organizers of all kinds of events would get upset at their estimate. Hard core devotees will inflate. Detractors and enemies will deflate. The truth is somewhere in the middle.

Some folks on Twitter claim between 500,000-1 million. I could be wrong, but that seems high. I would venture between 250,000-400,000. Between the Lincoln Memorial down through both sides of Reflecting Pool and the areas next to them, to the World War II Memorial, crowds were densely packed.

Between the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument, the crowds were much more scattered. Folks were spaced far apart and sitting on blankets. You could walk through the crowd. It was impossible to walk through the crowd between the WWII Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial.

It seems as though 1 million people would require the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and past the Washington Monument to be packed in tightly. However, I’m terrible at estimates. That’s my honest attempt to describe the crowd as accurately as possible.

Reactions
This rally proves the phenomenal power of Glenn Beck. Love him or hate him, you should respect his influence. He’s hardly my favorite pundit (too much emotion and emphasis on conspiracy theories), but he’s gotten the American people to read and study the roots of the conservative movement. Not even Buckley or Rush have been able to do that. Beck has found a way to bring conservative intelligentsia to the masses. I can respect that.

*Marshal is the National Park Service term for volunteer on the Mall. It’s dumb. Blame it on some bureaucrat.