Posted on 04/28/2010 7:36:05 AM PDT by iHikeinGodsCreation
MACON - On the eve of President Obama's visit to Macon, not everyone is rolling out the welcome mat.
More than 1,100 people attended a rally Tuesday night in opposition of Obama and his policies.
The Missouri Republican Party and the Macon County Patriots tea party group organized the protest at O'Laughlin's Inc. just down the road from the Poet Biorefining plant where Obama will speak Wednesday morning.
"What people wanted to do was get together and express their thoughts about President Obama and the administration's moves toward taking away freedoms," Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party Lloyd Smith said.
"The concern is our country is going in the wrong direction," Cindy O'Laughlin, co-owner of O'Laughlin's Inc. and self-proclaimed conservative activist, said. "Our freedoms are disappearing, our money is going to be confiscated through higher taxation and regulation."
Government spending, health care and taxes were among several issues people came to protest about.
"We disagree with some of the policy changes that have been made, and wanted to let them know that rural America has some different feelings and just let them know that the fly-by states don't want to go unheard," said protester Andrea Rice, who came to the rally from Salisbury with her husband and two children.
Protester Judy Biondi's health care insurance rose 20 percent on Tuesday and she blamed the Obama administration because she said it has never happened to her before.
"I believe our freedoms are being lost every day," Biondi said. "Freedom of speech. Freedom to chose how I spend my own money. I'm losing that very freedom quickly."
Carrying homemade signs and waving American flags, protesters listened to speakers voice their opposition to the Obama administration and what they called an overreaching federal government.
"What I'm hoping is people see, 'OK we can take a stand, we can do something,'" O'Laughlin said. "Maybe we can't change the world overnight, but we can start changing the world and we can start now."
President Obama's visit to Macon Wednesday will be closed the public. Only employees of Poet Biorefining will be able to attend.
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