More than 10,000 people turned out Monday night for a North Houston Tea Party Patriots gathering to protest proposed health care reform and big government spending.
Crowds packed the field at the Sam Houston Race Park and cheered loudly as speakers called for the people to take control of the American government. Wearing slogans that said “Don’t Tread on Me” and T-shirts stating, “I am a Tea Party Patriot — I will defend our Constitution,” those attending the event enthusiastically showed support for more constraints on the government and more personal freedom.
The organizers who brought the Tax Day Tea Party to cities around the nation this spring encouraged thousands of protesters Saturday afternoon to anti-health care reform rallies staged in front of at least 100 Congressional district offices.
Attendance was spotty, but at some sites, hundreds of protesters marched for hours waving American flags, holding signs that said “Don’t Stick Me With Your Health Care” and sending live Twitter feeds from their locations.
The event, called the National Recess Rally, was meant to counter efforts at town hall meetings held by members of Congress and by President Obama where lawmakers have tried to generate support for the reform during the summer recess.
On August 6th, 2009, the New York Times published an Op-Ed piece by Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, about whom I’ve recently written. In this Op-Ed piece, Paul Krugman postulates that the tea party movement is racially motivated.
Krugman writes:
There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting titled “Freedom of Speech,” depicting an idealized American town meeting. The painting, part of a series illustrating F.D.R.’s “Four Freedoms,” shows an ordinary citizen expressing an unpopular opinion. His neighbors obviously don’t like what he’s saying, but they’re letting him speak his mind.
That’s a far cry from what has been happening at recent town halls, where angry protesters — some of them, with no apparent sense of irony, shouting “This is America!” — have been drowning out, and in some cases threatening, members of Congress trying to talk about health reform.
Some commentators have tried to play down the mob aspect of these scenes, likening the campaign against health reform to the campaign against Social Security privatization back in 2005. But there’s no comparison. I’ve gone through many news reports from 2005, and while anti-privatization activists were sometimes raucous and rude, I can’t find any examples of congressmen shouted down, congressmen hanged in effigy, congressmen surrounded and followed by taunting crowds.
TEXAS Magazine has a very positive and eminently fair article about the 20,000 strong who turned out at the Alamo on April 15th:
On April 15th, “tax day” in America, an estimated 20,000 people from all over Texas and other parts of the nation attended the San Antonio Tea Party. Why did these people of all ages and incomes, representing Democrat, Republican and Independent voters, come together in front of the Alamo? Was it to rock out with Ted Nugent, protest high taxes and socialism, learn more about Constitutional principles, or just see TV host Glenn Beck? To find out, Texas Magazine randomly asked a cross-section of patriots a simple question: “Why are you here”?
Johnny and Betsy Wagner, Columbus, TX
Johnny, a veteran CPA, said he was fed up with “seeing how much my clients are getting ripped off in taxes” year after year. And the situation is worsening. “It’s gone to extremes. We can’t afford to let this happen anymore.”
Betsy shared her husband’s concerns. However, she was more worried about how–in just a few short months–our society has changed for the worse in ways that could affect generations to come. “As a teacher for 30 years, I always told my students they were masters of their own destinies. But that’s not true now.” Instead, she said “Washington wants to tell us how much we can make and who can have certain jobs,” and make the educated people who earn the most money pay all the taxes for those who fail to educate themselves.
In late 2008 the couple’s oldest son left for his third tour of duty in Iraq. “When he gets back at the end of this year,” said Betsy with sadness in her voice, “I’m not sure he’ll find that all the freedoms he’s been fighting for will look the same.”
Recently, along with some of the other organizers of our local Tea Party, I was invited to participate in a radio interview in which we could submit 10 possible questions to be asked. What a rare opportunity!
Additionally, we were interviewed in a round-table fashion. And, we accepted call-ins. Patrick Munro of Northstar Financial Advisors was pleasantly supportive of our efforts as the inevitable tax increases from the unrelenting big spending in DC impacts his clients.
The following is my list of questions and possible answers. Actually, the answers were too long for a quick interview. Anyway, I’m posting this on the blog because it may offer some small smattering of assistance to others in a similar circumstance and/or to those who simply want to reflect on their recent Tea Party.
Q1. How did these recent Tea Parties get started?
On December 16, 1773 a small group of ‘radicals’ demanded “no taxation without representation”. This Boston Tea Party ignited a series of events that led to the American Revolution.
These current rallies began with bloggers in Seattle, WA, who organized a demonstration on February 16. Word spread quickly with protests in Denver and Mesa, AZ spontaneously organized for the next day. Then on CNBC (February 19), Rick Santelli called for a “Chicago Tea Party” on July Fourth.
Many folks, however, didn’t want to wait that long to express their anger toward trillion dollar budgets, 10 trillion dollar deficits, ever-expanding government, and the inevitable, massive tax increases to pay for it all. A few dozen more rallies were held in March.
Then … without any involvement from any political party or any central authority, Tea Parties began to organize for Tax Day through word-of-mouth and Internet communication.
Q2. Are these current Tea Party protests partisan in nature?
These Tea Parties are not necessarily about political parties. They are, first and foremost, a protest against wanton government spending and against ‘non-representing representatives’ who are resolutely defiant of the overwhelming will of … WE, the people.
There are many folks across our great nation who are fed up. These protests are representative of a large segment of our population who have, in fact, been the silent majority. We are no longer silent. We SHALL be heard.
If you are a politician who voted for these bailouts and earmarks, consider these Tea Parties YOUR going away party.
These Tax Day Tea Parties are part of a nationwide initiative to protest Big Government Spending. The rallies began with bloggers in Seattle, WA, who organized a demonstration on February 16. Word spread quickly with protests in Denver and Mesa, AZ spontaneously organized for the next day.
Then on CNBC (February 19), Rick Santelli called for a “Chicago Tea Party” on July Fourth. Many folks, however, didn’t want to wait that long to express their anger toward trillion dollar budgets, 10 trillion dollar deficits, ever-expanding government, and the inevitable, massive tax increases to pay for it all. Several more protests took place in March. More than 4,000 each attended the Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Orlando Tea Parties.
Despite this growing grassroots message to our federal government, the MSM refused to cover the scores of events. Then, without any involvement from any political party or any central authority, Tea Parties began to organize for Tax Day through word-of-mouth and Internet communication.
Join us for one of our Tax Day Tea Parties for 2009. We have six locations around the state: Charleston, Columbia, Isle of Palms, Myrtle Beach, Simpsonville, and York. Together we will make a difference.
Many will stand together … across our great nation … with one voice. We’ve had enough!
The second wave of Tea Party Protests is rapidly approaching. Currently, more than 2000 Tax Day Tea Parties are scheduled for April 15th, in cities large and small, coast to coast. These patriotic gatherings will range in size from a few dozen to as many as 10,000 in larger cities.
While many of us are beginning to plan the day and make our signs, a lot of folks are looking for ideas for their slogan. We’ve explored every nook and cranny of the world wide web culling through endless photos of signs from the numerous protests in March to bring you some of the very best slogan ideas.
In OPEN defiance of the OVERWHELMING will of the people, DC continues to ignore US about ending the ongoing bailouts using OUR money, about ending the countless earmarks using OUR money, about protecting OUR borders, and so on. And, now they want to run the banking industry, the energy industry, the health care industry, AND the automotive industry. President Obama just FIRED Rick Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, a few days ago.
This is the SAME government that runs Social Security, Medicare, Amtrack, and the Post Office … ALL at year-after-year financial losses. This year alone, the U.S. Postal Service faces more than SIX BILLION dollars in debt.
It’s time STOP the wanton spending sprees in DC with OUR grand-children’s money! And, it’s time to STOP these ‘non-representing representatives’ from attempting to take CONTROL of business after business in OUR country.
As an unsettling discontent is swelling across our great nation, I’m reminded of the closing words of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
His resolute celebration of liberty has come to symbolize the very definition of democracy itself. Yet, who among us today could muster the fatuous optimism to rally truthfully that this founding creed is practiced by our elected representatives in DC?
Shouldn’t government authority be derived from the consent of the governed? Shouldn’t our elected representatives … represent us? Some issues that confront us as a nation transcend political parties. (read this entire post…)
Do you wonder which direction our country is headed with all of these bailouts, handouts, and loans to big businesses from our representatives in DC?
Isn’t it time that government authority be derived from the consent of the governed … from we, the people?
Are you aware of the hundreds of Tea Party protests taking place around the nation and the ones planned for April 15? Are you aware of Glenn Beck’s ‘We Surround Them’ movement? Every day, more and more concerned Americans join these constructive activities.
We are so inspired by these patriotic Americans and so disappointed with the ongoing disregard for its citizens that our federal government is displaying that we started a monthly newsletter.
Common Sense 2020 is an entertaining expression of what Thomas Paine, the Father of the American Revolution, might discuss if he were around today. He might even call many of these folks in DC today ‘non-representing representatives’.
The articles inside our premier issue include:
+ We, The People, Take Our Nation Back
+ Who Wants Gun Control?
+ Who Was Thomas Paine?
+ New Tax Exemption?
+ What is an American?
Take a few moments to enjoy this new FREE publication. Email it to friends and family. You can also print it for those who don’t have a computer. (read this entire post…)
March 21 1685 Johann Sebastian Bach 1869 Florenz Ziegfeld 1960 Ayrton Senna 1933 Lord Michael Heseltine 1935 Brian Clough 1936 Roger Whittaker 1946 Timothy Dalton 1958 Gary Oldman 1962 Matthew Broderick
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Posted by LukeAmerica2020 on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm 
