Convoy protesting federal policy rolling through Wyoming on second trip to Washington D.C. – Oil City News

CASPER, Wyo. Though diminished in number from the previous cross-country venture earlier this year, a convoy of commercial trucks, cars, motorcycles, RVs, and a school bus is making its way through Wyoming en route to Washington D.C.

After staying overnight at the Casper Speedway, they will roll out at 5 a.m. to their next stop in Cheyenne at Big D Oil Company.

Right now, as small as we are, were powerful, organizer Marcus Sommers told Oil City on Sunday. The groups extensive outreach on social media, including livestreaming and YouTube updates, means they are as connected to the media as they are to their supporters, Sommers said.

The immediate concern, said Oklahoma trucker Tom Overwright, is to end the ongoing declaration of national emergency related to COVID-19 pandemic.

Some language in the groups brochure attributed to the National Emergencies Act of 1976 was actually from a 1973 Senate subcommittee report describing the powers in aggregate. The Brennan Center published a report in 2018 parsing the each the 136 powers granted, many of which require Congressional approval.

Nevertheless, the long-term aim is to reverse a perceived consolidation of powers from states to the federal government, and the concerns range from energy policy to the Second Amendment.

The mandates are just the straw that broke the camels back, said Trucker G. He wants President Joe Biden to open up domestic energy production, saying the average American is being squeezed by high gas prices.

Fuel prices go up, I have to charge more to haul these loads. I charge more, food prices go up, which means your wages go down, he said.

Sommers describes the group as apolitical: We have left, right, Christians, Pagans. At some point in time, throughout the convoy, theyve all been with us.

Former Platte County trucker SweetBits agreed: Its a kaleidoscope of society, which is great, and thats what draws me to it.

Sommers said the group has no plan for its arrival in D.C.; the trip is about maintaining visibility for the cause.

Its not fun, Sommers said. I havent been home in four months. In addition to financial support, he says theres more that able-bodied people could be doing to support the cause, even if they dont participate directly.

We need more people that get involved in school districts, townships, county positions, whatever it takes, Sommers said. Get in your local political field, whatever is available there.

The group aims to have chapters in every state, and SweetBits and Overwright said the long-term plan is educating their supporters on how to effect change in representative republic.

People are too distracted, Overwright said. They got their football games, their basketball games, they got their work. People dont know whats going on with their government, and everybody Ive talked to said theres nothing they can do to change it. Because they were never taught how to change it.

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Convoy protesting federal policy rolling through Wyoming on second trip to Washington D.C. - Oil City News