From the Washington Post, “‘One Nation’ rally draws unions, progressives to Mall to counter tea party“:
Tens of thousands of people gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, part of the “One Nation Working Together” rally – an effort by progressive activists hoping to serve as a counter to the conservative tea party movement and energize the electorate amid fears that the Democrats could lose control of Congress.
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The four-hour event was the culmination of months of planning by civil rights organizations and labor unions. More than 400 supporting groups signed on for the four-hour rally that kicked off around noon and featured speeches, poetry and musical entertainment. The rally drew participants from the Washington area, but also from New York and Detroit.
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The groups behind the march – including the National Council of La Raza, the NAACP, the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, USAction and the U.S. Student Association – hope to make a political statement in response to conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s rally in August. That gathering partly filled the Mall with tens of thousands of his supporters, and tea party groups across the country have held anti-tax rallies. But fewer people than in August gathered at this march.
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Many of the groups involved in Saturday’s event stepped outside their usual parameters. Socially conservative African American church groups joined with marchers that supported equality for gays and lesbians. A miners union endorsed the rally along with several environmental groups.
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In putting together the rally, the “One Nation Working Together” groups focused on three issues: jobs, justice and education. They define those in a set of principles that also laid out a list of causes largely supported by liberals, such as ending discrimination in the criminal justice system, protecting Social Security, spending federal money to create jobs and improving public education.
Right now this story is at the top of the “Most Read” box. There’s also a photo gallery. (And 1,170+ comments, which I have no intention of looking at, because I’m not gonna spoil my good mood.)