This report explains:

Conservative activists from around the country are gathering in Washington on Saturday, seeking to continue their momentum in shaping the national debate on everything from health care to White House staffing. The demonstrators, who plan to march up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, are drawing their passion not from Bush-era fights over terrorism or gay marriage, but rather from Reagan-era debates over big government programs. The event comes on the heels of antitax events, dubbed tea parties, in April, and a series of congressional town-hall meetings nationwide last month that elicited angry criticism of health-care proposals favored by President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies.

Just as they feigned ignorance of the April 15 tea parties, the administration claims it is unaware of the horde descending outside its gates:

White House officials on Friday professed to know nothing of the planned demonstrations. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs queried reporters about the planners and their issues. “I don’t know who the group is,” he said with a shrug.

And we all know how ignoring or denigrating a huge populist outpouring worked this summer, so we can expect the White House’s indifference won’t do much to quell the protestors’ enthusiasm. But most significantly, the message these protestors bring is one very likely to resonate with independent voters and even some conservative Democrats: “The Obama administration and congressional Democrats are spending too much money on programs that insert government too far into people’s lives. And Washington, they say, ignores or vilifies those who object.” Well, they have new evidence for the last item, don’t they?

The long-term consequences of this and the preceding populist gatherings are hard to predict. We may see a more libertarian Republican party. A huge turnout for 2010 may result. New, real outsiders may enter politics. And, of course, these protests may scare the dickens out of lawmakers. But while everyone is decrying the collapse of civility and the resulting harm to the country, it is worth noting that we are witnessing a grassroots outpouring of support for limited government, the rule of law, fiscal sobriety, and generational responsibility. That must be heartening to conservatives, but more than that, it is a tribute to the vitality of our democracy and the energy of its citizenry. And that is a very good thing indeed.

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