Protesters rally at Capitol against big government

When Cherilyn Eagar looked through the fence between Guantanamo Bay and the rest of Cuba, she said she saw the difference between freedom and socialism, and doesn't want to see the same happen to her country.

She was one of about 200 Utahns who turned out on Capitol Hill to protest the growth of government, most recently through proposed health-care reform and the cap-and-trade bill. The gathering was meant to maintain the momentum of their fight against big government, initiated during their tea parties months prior, said Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman.

"It's not Republican or Democrats," Wimmer said, but anyone opposing government that tries to take the power away from the state. He and the rally attendees say President Barack Obama is doing just that with universal health care and by preventing Utah from auctioning its energy leases.

"The inmates are running the asylum, and we're going to do something about it," Wimmer said. He announced that come next general session, Utah's lawmakers will consider a bill outlawing affirmative action and government's encroachment on the workplace. He also said that even though the Obama administration has told them what to do with their energy leases, they're going to auction them off anyway.

Eagar, speaking to a crowd of American flags, rally signs and families, proposed more tax credits instead of government-run health care. The rally's crowds made it clear they don't want anything to do with Obama's health-care reform, touting signs referring to it as socialist, communist and insane.

Dave Lambson of Holladay will have none of it. The power shouldn't belong to Washington, D.C., it belongs with the states, who know their own needs better than any bureaucrat, he said.

And the rally crowd didn't mind sharing some of the blame with both sides. Big government is a trend that Wimmer said started years ago, when former President George W. Bush introduced No Child Left Behind — which put government in the classroom. He isn't about promoting fringe right-wing politics, he said.

Julie Davis of South Jordan, holding one end of a "Don't Tread on Me" flag, said their rally isn't about politics — it's about exercising a citizen's right to protest, no matter what government that may be. She bemoaned that the small political groups have a way of controlling the country.

e-mail: mmcfall@desnews.com