Frewsburg's Patsy Lydell could not believe what she was watching on the nightly news about what was happening to the country she calls home.
Knowing she had to do something about her concerns for the future of the country, she said her husband encouraged her to "be the change you want to see."
She spoke to some others, and soon a local group, True Americans Restoring America, grew.
Mrs. Lydell said the group seeks to educate people about the U.S. Constitution and why its members do not believe lawmakers are following what the document says.
Two constitution classes are being held; the group has hosted town hall meetings and meet the candidates nights, including one from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday when gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino visits the Frewsburg Fire Hall's Auxiliary Building. In addition, two trips to Washington, D.C. are being planned.
On Friday, people from Lockport to Pennsylvania joined the group when 153 area residents loaded buses for a trip to the nation's capital to join the "Restoring Honor" rally. Mrs. Lydell said it is being held to honor service people, with all proceeds from the rally going towards the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which takes care of fallen service people's children.
An article by The Associated Press, however, touts the Glenn Beck rally, being held on the anniversary and at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream speech" as a political one, which Mrs. Lydell says it is not. Although Mrs. Lydell said this week's rally is to honor the troops, she said the local group will visit Washington, D.C. Sept. 12 for a more political rally called "Take Our Country Back."
"People in Washington ... do not understand real America or what real Americans want," said Mrs. Lydell, who raised concerns leaders are trying to get the country to go in a socialist direction. She said if people are not educated about what the constitution states, they can not realize whether it is being followed.
"People in Washington don't pay any attention to the American people. That's not right. They are there to do our bidding," she said.
"It's our own fault," she said about a direction she thinks the country is going in that the group opposes. She said people are so busy trying to raise families and be good citizens that they have failed to notice their constitutional rights diminishing. For instance, she questions the use of executive orders being used, which she alleges are done to bypass the U.S. Congress, adding the orders are not to be used for a president to get his own way.
Mrs. Lydell said people may say the constitution is an old document that may needs tweaking to meet today's problems, but, she said, it does not.
"If you really, really study it, it would be the perfect answer," she said. Coming from a patriotic family herself, Mrs. Lydell said she believes the United States is "the greatest country on this earth."
"We have more freedoms than any place else," she said, adding the United States is "a beacon of light," adding that is why those from other countries want to come here. She fears that could be lost.
"If we don't take a stand now and try to turn it around, my grandkids won't know the same freedoms I knew growing up as a child. We are the last best hope. If we fall, it's over for the whole world; it's time we fight back," she said.
Mrs. Lydell said by attending the Washington, D.C. rallies, the group will "keep the pressure on" for its fight.
"The true heart of America is awoken now," she said.