ASHTABULA — Barbara Hollister had ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, War of 1812, the Civil War and World War I and World War II.

And her sister lost her husband and a brother-in-law in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

With that kind of heritage, Hollister is not about to sit at home and be a spectator to what she believes is the takeover of her beloved nation.

“I can’t stand by and let this stuff happen without doing what I can,” said Hollister, 64. “That’s my heritage.”

Hollister was one of several Ashtabula County residents who boarded a bus in Orwell late Wednesday night and traveled to Washington, D.C., for a hastily called citizen protest against “Obamacare.”

The bus was sponsored by the Orwell TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party group and was organized in response to a nationwide call from Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Minnesota) to protest the Democrats’ health-care plan. Bachman has characterized the plan as a government takeover of the U.S. health care system.

That strikes a chord with Hollister, who said she’s motivated by “fear for her country.”

“We’re afraid our government is going to eliminate our liberties, our freedoms, our way of life,” Hollister said. “I think we are going to have to do the same thing our forefathers did when they rebelled against the British.”

Hollister wore a Second Revolution shirt to the event. The design is by Al and Tammy Roesch of Kingsville Township, who wanted to provide TEA Party participants with a wearable message and conversation starter.

In Washington, the shirt’s revolutionary message seemed to catch the attention of the Secret Service, said Hollister.

While walking with a group of three other women from the county, Hollister was stopped by a videographer who asked them to comment on the meaning of their T-shirts. The video ended up on YouTube (www.youtube. com/watch?v=MOOPN_2m7jk).

Hollister said it’s all about realizing how dire the situation is and how little time we have before Americans’ freedoms are taken away by sweeping legislation, appointed czars, bailouts and nationalization of core industries.

“It’s critical for all Americans to start getting informed and keep writing to their senators and congressmen to stop these insane bills and payouts,” she said.

“We don’t want to lose our country or our freedoms,” said Mary Tucker of Ashtabula, Hollister’s sister-in-law, who also made the trip.

Hollister said Bachman spoke at the rally but she did not get an opportunity to talk directly with the U.S. representative. The local contingent did call upon their senators in the Hart Senate Office Building to express their displeasure with the direction the nation has taken under Democratic control. She said the administration is “out to destroy this country.”

“Everything they have done is going against the Constitution,” Hollister said. “Congress is not doing what it should be doing, which is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Hollister supports the Get Out of Our House (GOOOH) movement, which seeks to do a clean sweep of the House of Representatives in the mid-term election next year. All 435 House seats will be up for grabs, and the grass-roots GOOOH group wants to fill the House with citizens who will truly represent the wishes of their constituents.

“We need to try to get elected officials to realize that they work for us,” Hollister said. “It’s an honor for them to be there. Their arrogance is pretty bad.”

She said the nation is going the way of a socialist nation with the trend toward nationalization of industries and health care. That’s not the kind of America Hollister wants her children to live in, so she boarded the bus at 3 a.m. Thursday and rode for nine hours to the rally.

Hollister was in Washington earlier this year for another march, held Sept. 12. That one drew a crowd of at least 1.7 million.

Thursday’s march was more specific in its focus, but the message was the same: Government is out of control.

“Health care needs reformed but not the way they want to do it,” she says. “I don’t believe our government needs to be nationalizing everything.”