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4/21/2009
Burri: I think I hear the water boiling...
Enormous rallies, thousands upon thousands of people. Signs, both purchased and homemade. Marches. Speakers. Costumes, jokes, parodies. But mostly people. Lots and lots of people, exercising their rights of speech, of assembly, of petitioning their government.
And so what if they were sponsored by vast, billionaire-funded partisan organizations? So what if major media outlets promoted them under the guise of “reporting?” Those thousands upon thousands who came out, dressed up, brought the kids, painted signs, took time off and paid their own way did so because they believed.
Sure, critics called them all sorts of names, but the protests made a difference: Across the country, people saw others who shared their beliefs; who were willing to publicly state those beliefs; who demanded that their government pay attention.
Say what you will. We’ve seen a lot of successful anti-war protests over the past several years.
Oh, you thought I was talking about last week’s Tax Day Tea Parties? No: I was talking about post-9/11 anti-war rallies. But, since you brought it up:
The Tax Day Tea Parties. On April 15, over half a million people nationwide came, dressed up, brought the kids, painted signs, took time off and paid their own way…because they believe
. And the critics? The rallies were “promoted by Fox News.” They were coordinated by billionaire-funded organizations – there’s no grassroots action here. They’re rednecks, racists, ignorant reactionary fools too stupid to see how they’re being manipulated.
The liberal counter-protest here in Madison – a whole three people – said the Tea Partiers were all about tax cuts “for the rich.” The Democratic Party of Wisconsin said the Tea Parties were “bankrolled by special interest groups desperately fighting to protect the Bush tax cuts for multimillionaires and big corporations.”
More ridiculous, even: David Axelrod, a senior Obama advisor, is “bewildered.” “This president just cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people,” he said.
Look no further than immediate gain, you idiot rednecks. Look! A bright, shiny bit of money! That’ll distract those dumb crackers!
Funny: average people aren’t as stupid as you’d like them to be.
I’ll admit: Americans for Prosperity is a special interest group. Their interest is the taxpayers, now and into the future. Their interest is economic liberty. Their interest is seeing to it that those who earn – those who pay the taxes – have at least as loud a voice in the halls of government as those who take the taxes.
How many of the people who showed up were AFP members? How many of them work for an “interest group?” How many of them got paid by those "wealthy interest groups," "looking to protect their offshore tax havens?"
Very few. Very few, if any. None.
Nationwide, over a half million people came out and drank the tea.
That's something to make you sit up and take notice, and people are taking notice. According to Rasmussen Reports: “One-in-four adults (25%) say they personally know someone who attended a tea party protest.”
People are watching. Listening. They're seeing that no, they aren't the only ones who think this way. They’re not a small minority: they're part of a group. A great, big group, unafraid of saying: No more. Unconcerned about slander from the other side. Willing to stand up and say: you can't have any more of my money. No more of my children's money. No more of my grandchildren's.
That's the Tax Day Tea Parties. I think I hear the water boiling.
Lance Burri is a contributor to the Badger Blog Alliance and The TrogloPundit.
COMMENTS
The heck with the Kool Aid, let's drink TEA!!
I went to a late one,in Friendship on Sunday, and at ours, there was no corporate sponsorship, and folks there were as concerned about their rights as they were about their property (income.)
I saw one report that said more than a million across the country. I believe that more accurate, as most of the media seriously underestimated the size of these rallies. And I believe participants are just the tip of a growing iceburg. As Obamanoics fails, as it surely will, and as his regime becomes ever more oppressive (ditto,) expect more recruits.
I am concerned that FOX, who undermined the candidacy of the ONLY presidential candidate who warned of the economic collapse, the ONLY one seriously dedicated to individual rights, is trying to manipulate these events. We should stress liberty more at future rallies.
Ken Van Doren (Tue Apr 21 08:49:27 2009)
Did anyone see the Founding Bloggers' video of the tea party in Chicago? First it showed CNN hand-picking more "radical" people then after the CNN segment, it showed people in the crowd complaining to the reporter on her biased reporting; it was great!
emily matthews (Tue Apr 21 10:39:17 2009)
"And I believe participants are just the tip of a growing iceburg." I could not attend due to obligations: personal and work. But I was with y'all in spirit.
(Wed Apr 22 08:47:35 2009)
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