On 4-15-09 my wife and I attended the Phoenix Tea Party. It is estimated that the crowd was in excess of 5,000. It was a peaceful energetic crowd. The signage was brilliant and creative. The signs told the story. It wasn’t about taxes. Sure, taxes were a big part, but it was far deeper than that.
In front of us were a middle aged couple speaking Russian. Their sign said: Left Russia because of Socialism, Came to America to get away from Socialism, Socialism has followed us to America, Where do we go now?
The crowd was particularly hard on Janet Napolitano. She was the former governor. She left behind a deficit of $3 billion and the state is struggling to find ways to cut expenses. The State Treasurer spoke and he said the bank account went red today, over $200 million. The state is out of money and time. Yesterday Napolitano’s office issued a bulletin that suggested that everyone at the Tea Party was a potential terrorist. This was played up by all the speakers.
The essence of the mood based on the signs I saw was too much government. Too much spending. Too much regulation. Too much distrust. Vote them all out and term limits were big with the crowd. Taxes were issue one. But, in all forms. Local, state, and Federal.
People came out because they are frustrated that their voices are muted. They write letters that get form letter responses or no responses. There is anger, but so far it’s controlled anger. There is no representation from elected officials. The new president was elected by New York, California, New Jersey, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Washington, and Oregon. New England. Arizona does not want to be like any of these states, broke. Following the recipe cooked up by democratic leaders in these states is the formula they see Obama baking. The results are very obvious in these states. The Tea Party attendees see it. Even in California they see it.
This isn’t going to go away. The groundswell will grow even if the mainstream media sweep it under the rug. Even if Obama and his minions call the people who went unkind names. The people who attended in Phoenix were young and old, white and non-white, working folks and white collars, and everything in between. People you felt comfortable being with in a big group and people you could count as friends. No kooks, hairballs, or nuts. None that I saw.
Mainstream America. Not mainstream Chicago, mainstream Detroit, or Mainstream Maine. Not Washington state or Oregon. Not California, not Minnesota, the state that sent the guy from Saturday Night Live to the senate. Your neighbors, your golf partners, your old classmates, and your relatives. Good people looking for real change.
Today Nancy Pelosi, the wicked witch of the West, went on record saying” this was not a grass roots gathering. It was an AstroTurf gathering funded by the very richest people in America.” I never say any evidence of any funding by anyone,let alone the ultra rich. This statement is central to one of the reasons for the Tea Parties. Lying. America is tired of lying politicians. Pelosi rates very high on that list and she validated the reasons. No one is challenging Pelosi to come up with any facts to support her claims.
Obama chooses not to acknowledge there were Tea Parties. President Obama you gag us, but you won’t silence us.
Obama, the mainstream media, and much of the administration can say it was a non event. But, my guess would be that every Representative up for election in 2010 did not ignore the events. They are in the sights of the attendees who want to vote all the bums out of office, Democrat and Republican. This is far from over.
I’ve been searching the web, seeing if I can find anything that provides an estimate of the total number of participants in the tea parties held across the country (brought to you by Fox News). It seems as tho about 250,000 people participated in lots of cities throughout the country.
Seems kinda puny when you think about it. What were there…. almost 2,000,000 people in Washington for the inauguration? More than 200,000 people gathered in Grant Park on the Election Night. Maybe that tells you something about why the media, outside of the title sponsor, didn’t provide more coverage of the tea parties….. fringe movements don’t warrent much coverage.
Finally, I’ll say this: I’m a middle-aged white guy in the suburbs trying to raise my kid the best way I know how… but since it’s suburban Chicago and not suburban Phoenix, I’m not "mainstream America"? Some NYC cop or firefighter who risked their life to try and help others escape the burning WTC towers…. they don’t live in "mainstream America"? Some UAW member in Detroit afraid of losing his job at one of the auto companies or their suppliers or some retired steelworker in Pittsburgh isn’t "mainstream America"? I think you might want to take a look at your definition of "mainstream America". Most Americans, whereever they live, whatever they do for a living, whatever their political beliefs, whether they worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or Allah or Buddha or nobody…. all of us together are what make America great. We are all "mainstream America".
You are definitely Mainsteam America. The part of Mainstream America that thinks you can spend more than you can ever collect. So far your Mainstream America has all the power.
I am a part of the Silent Mainstream that disagrees with all your Mainstream America believes. We have only yet begun.
Someday your son will thank us for preventing the destruction of his country.
No estimates have been published about attendance at Tea Parties. In Arizona alone it was at least 15,000 with more stll scheduled. With all 50 states involved it will add up to far more than the nutballs in Texas protesting the Iraqi war had when she and they were on the news every night.
Keep drinking the Kool Aid, Chris.
Bill