Day of Action - Nicholas W. Sometime in late May I received an invitation by mail to become a member of the American Civil Liberties Union. I thought hmmm. Why would they send me this? Could it be that I gave money to the Democratic Party? Hmmm. Somehow, in a maybe from being labor union for so long, I’m not sure, I believed that the A.C.L.U. was lawyers supporting causes to drum up lawyer business. After reading the literature I knew I had the wrong idea. “Because freedom can’t protect itself.” I felt proud to be a card carrying member . Lack of action by the Democratic Party, our freedoms eroded and my desire to be a activist once again motivated me to take that bus trip for that “Day Of Action”. My name is Nicholas W., my friends call me Nick, I am a retired U.A.W. member Local 974 East Peoria, Illinois. Always a active member, worked at Caterpillar Inc. for 30 ½ years and living in Springfield, Illinois at this time. June 25, 2007 I left Springfield, IL at 1a.m. to catch the bus in Davenport, Iowa at 4a.m., I did not want to be late. The bus was right on time and we were on are way to Chicago. We got to Chicago on time, but left a little late waiting on stragglers due to traffic problems. We made ample number of stops along the way and both bus drivers were very accommodating and seem to be interested in our causes. We arrived at our motel close to 1 a.m. Wednesday. A Wash. D.C. A.C.L.U. staff member was there to greet us and get us settled in our rooms. The 26th was a long day. After some rest the majority of the participants were up by 9:30a.m. and ready to go to Capitol Hill. We arrived at Union Station and the volunteers provided us with rally t-shirts, snacks and bottled water. We then were directed to the capitol hill rally point. I was familiar with the majority of the speakers and they did a great job giving us all inspiration in addressing our issues on civil liberties to our congressional leaders. Also you could tell they truly wanted our help in demanding that social justice and fundamental rights be restored once again. After the rally we all went to lobby our assigned congressman. Of course Senator Durbin and Senator Obama were with us on the issues, They both think it would go best attached to some defense authorization bill. July seems to be the month to get it done. It all went well in D.C. On the long ride back home I felt good about what we had accomplished and it gave me hope . After it is all said and done hope is what is most important. Hope lets us visualize how it should be and hope gets you to your goal. My goal is to restore law and justice.