Wednesday, January 31, 2024

A Tale of Two Rallies

 

A slice of the Freedom Rally

 

By Gretchen Garrity

Groups of citizens from Christian County, including the Missouri Freedom Initiative and Grassroots Patriots of Christian County, traveled up to the Capitol to attend the protest organized by grassroots activist Catherine Dreher of Rogue Politics. Dreher threw the event together quickly after Sen. Caleb Rowden and Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin attacked members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus in a contentious few days in the Senate last week.

When we arrived we heard cheers and applause coming from the rotunda. It could not have been the rally, since that wasn’t scheduled for a couple hours later.

Instead, it was a gathering of well-organized activists from groups like Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, Vote.org, a contingent from Jobs With Justice, and the United Auto Workers.

 

Some of these groups claim to be nonpartisan. I really hope people understand the current narrative that is being pushed by these leftist groups. They are anything but nonpartisan. Don’t fall for it, whether it’s Jobs for Justice or United Springfield PAC.

Really, the “voting rights” rally was a perfect foil for the protest in support of the Missouri Freedom Caucus. From the photos below you can see that a generous guess of attendance was about 150, if you count the chairs (which had been mostly filled at the height of the rally) and those standing on the edges, including the media.

News coverage of the event followed along the lines of this article from the Columbia Missourian. Notice how the pictures are framed in the linked article. Notice that the article does not provide links to the organizations mentioned in the article (doing a little digging would out their far left agendas). Notice how Rep. Dean Plocher is given the last word, as if he was the Republican hero trying valiantly to get IP reform passed. Eye roll.

Here are pictures I took of the event. A different perspective.

As the other rally finished up.
 

Side view during the organized rally

Lots and lots of signs

GRASSROOTS IS REAL

Enjoy the videos:

Let’s move on to the grassroots-organized freedom protest. In just a few days, Dreher and her compatriot Kirby Lane, also of Rogue Politics, put the word out and the people came. Packed into an upper hallway on the second floor, about 400 citizens from all over the state made the trek to support senators Bill Eigel, Denny Hoskins,

Andrew Koenig, and Rick Brattin and the rest of the Freedom Caucus and to call for the leadership resignations of senators Rowden and O’Laughlin.

Besides senators Eigel and Hoskins, speakers included native Missourian Doug Billings of The Right Side podcast, Sen. Andrew Koenig, Sen. Jill Carter, Rep. Justin Sparks, and several more. The rally lasted over an hour and was interspersed with prayer, song, and deafening cheers.

 

Although the RINOs in the state legislature are doing their best to blame their perfidiousness on the Freedom Caucus, Missourians know that legislators like Plocher, Rowden and O’Laughlin are the ones who have stood in the way of IP reform and other legislation important to citizens.

After the protest, members of the Missouri Freedom Initiative conducted a Knock And Shock, visiting as many legislators as possible to encourage them to support the following bills in the House and Senate: SB735, SJR61 and HB1955.

Grassroots is real.

And it’s growing.




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