Tea Parties, Tea Baggers and Racists

I have a confession - I was at the NYC Tea Party in downtown Manhattan.

I had heard in the days leading up to the event that all the participants in the event were being called "tea baggers". I am not sure what this was supposed to do. Maybe hurt our feelings so much that we wouldn't show up? At any rate, I did wonder out loud that, if I was called a "tea bagger" would that imply that I had tea-bagged the person laying the accusation? I would like to go on record and assure all the readers here that I did NOT tea bag Rachel Maddow, Keith Olberman or any member of the news media - no matter how many times it was requested.

The event itself yielded a great crowd. Anyone that was there for the event knows that even the highest estimates for the turnout (between 13,000 and 15,000) were a growss understatement of the actual size of the crowd. There were quite a few people lining both sides of the street. People of all age ranges, races, backgrounds were in attendance.

The speakers were undeserving of the crowd. You had a bunch of Young Republican types dressed in their best shimmering ties and Brookes Brothers suits, talking "at" the crowd. David Webb made some eerily race-related comments, which came off much differently than he intended them, I'm sure. Andrew Wilkow was decent, but he turned it into a radio commercial at the end. Finally Newt Gingrich got up and strangled any trust the crowd wa willing to afford him when he turned his back on the crowd in order to film some segments for Sean Hannity's show. The crowd, led by Mike and yours truly heckled him loudly and repeatedly, with others joining in as the tension built.

It was a real let down. I also think the "establishment Republican" crowd does not understand what is going on here. Apparently that night, several prominent Republicans used the Tea Party protest as a segue to propose a "flat tax" or "fair tax", which seems to be missing the boat. Also, it was clear from speaking with many people in the crowd that the large crowd was not out to protest in order to put a different bunch of liars in office to substitute for the hucksters that now occupy Capitol Hill.

As you'd expect, the news media - that is anyone with a press pass, interviewed anyone that might seem to have a screw loose and basically ignored anyone that seemed intelligent, even-tempered and eloquent. The following day, everyone attending the tea parties were labaled as racists and rednecks. As someone who was among the people in the crowd that night, I did not hear ANY mention of race in any discussion. I can't speak for anyone there, but I can say for sure that I didn't even consider race as a component of my decision to attend. It was simply to let the elected officials know that spending my money, and my family's future money on non-representative efforts will not be tolerated by sitting there and taking it. People want to know where these protests were during the Bush years - and I do too. That administration expanded powers to where they are today, and spent money that they did not have the authority to spend as well. Maybe the degree of offense was a bit less, but they still violated all the same principles that people are complaining about with regards to the Obama administration. If there had been a Tea Party in 2003 - I'd have been there. In fact, I did protest the unconstitutional war - and that's the point. I guess it has just gotten to a point where government is so over the line that people are shocked and amazed. The startling shift towards an all-powerful government has people worried that maybe the people in office are not acting to represent those they were elected to represent - and the "People" are beginning to expect they've gotten a raw deal. It has nothing to do with race, and very little do with political affiliation.

In my estimation, what you saw on April 15th was the beginning of an outpouring of general dissatisfaction with a non-representative government. I think you'll see more of it, and all the name-calling in the world isn't going to change the way people view a vote to spend their money in a way that does not represent them. The Republican attempt to co-opt the Tea Parties to ride the wave back into power is not going to work if they think someone else pulling the levers, with the same unprincipled bait-and-switch is not going to go well. When the average person in the street once again understands the importance of the founding ideals of this country, the scandalous politician is in serious trouble - and it won't matter on which side of the aisle he stands.