The mainstream media, so I hear–I don’t watch it, is downplaying the birth of the latest grassroots movement: the new revolution. In 1773, colonists who were tired of being taxed without being represented decided to take matters into their own hands by dumping English Tea into the Boston Harbor. Unwelcome taxes had been being levied on the colonists for a while but they hadn’t been able to get England’s attention. Boy did the Boston Tea Party. The British closed the port until colonists could pay for the tea. One thing led to another and the result of the American Revolution was a new nation with the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I’m hoping that the metaphorical tea parties that were held in all fifty states on the 15th will resonate in Washington like the original party resonated with King George III. We aren’t being taxed without representation, we’re being taxed with misrepresentation. I’m not going to get into the political details right now (are you sighing with relief?), but things have got to change, and not the kind of change Obama has brought to the country. Not the kind of change Congress passed without even reading first. Actually, not so much as change really, more of a reverting back to what the Founding Fathers envisioned for this country. And that wasn’t a hand-out national government ruling over emasculated states.
As for the tea party I went to, it rocked. I’ve never been to any other protest, but I’m guessing this isn’t how regular liberal protests occur. We started off with a prayer and a patriotic song. I know, can you believe it? It almost felt like that was the rebellious part of the whole day. Religious and patriotic. It was peaceful. No one was calling for the death of anyone. Nobody was violent. No one was destroying things…unless you care about a couple of tea bags that were thrown about. I’m hoping that this really is the beginning of a new revolution. Our nation, as the Founding Fathers saw it, cannot survive on the path we’re taking now. Sure, we can become some other type of nation, but we would lose our greatness and wouldn’t be the beacon of light for the rest of the world.
I’ll leave you with some eye candy from the festivities!
Tea partiers! (And please for the love of all things innocent DO NOT call these protests “tea b@gging” and DO NOT call yourselves “tea b@ggers”. Google it if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)
************************************
Young revolutionary
************************************
This local business was giving away free pork sandwiches.
Pork in buns: delicious.
Pork in stimulus bills: disgusting.
**********************************
In front of the Alabama State House
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Thomas Jefferson
What do we want? Smaller government! When do we want it? NOW!
P.S. This is the second anniversary of the Va Tech shootings. Du and I will always remember what a special young lady Lauren McCain was. She’s waiting for us in Heaven!
Not So SAHM 
wow, sounds like a great day! I would have loved to participate 🙂
Yes, because no liberals pray or are patriotic and all liberal protests are violent and filled with death threats.
There are radicals on both sides. But most all of us are normal country-loving, good-hearted citizens.
Just don’t get too wrapped up in ‘mainstream conservative’ perceptions to see that.
I concede that not all liberal protests are violent. I am mainly thinking about the G20 protests. If you were to see the CNN footage I saw last night, that reporter was clearly trying to present the tea party goers as extreme and beligerant. We’ve been called “out of control”, extreme, ignorant… And those are not just perceptions. We’re used to just believing whatever the media tells us. I think liberals, moderate or extreme, get the wrong “perceptions” about concervatives through the mainstream media. And the superlatives fly both ways. I insinuated that all liberal protest are violent and unpatriotic. Tell me ONE good thing about George Bush. The Left is completely superlative in their hatred towards him, not able to point to one good action or policy. You tell me one good thing about him and I’ll admit that Liberals could possibly be peaceful and patriotic.
That’s awesome that you went. Wish I could have but I had to work. bah.
THANK YOU for pointing out what’s wrong with the phrase tea ba@ging!!!!!
Vicky – I’m so jealous! I really wanted to take Mikey to the Teal Party on our State Capital, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
Great post!
now I know what everyone was blogging about in regards to going to tea parties… thanks for clarifying!!! Thanks for sharing and it looks like you had a great time!
Ashley? One good thing about Pres Bush?
Vicki, you said “not all liberal protests are violent.” I bet for every one peaceful event I’ll be able to find seven violent events.
Did you happen to see the antics of UNC-CH student protesters Tuesday? Worse than the code pink wackos. Congressman Tancredo, an invited speaker, was interrupted several times when trying to speak on opposing in-state tuition benefits going to illegal immigrants. With-in seconds, even during the introduction, protesters were shouting profanities at Tancredo and one pounded a window until the glass shattered. Others were shouting, “We shut him down; no racists in our town,” and “Yes, racists, we will fight, we know where you sleep at night!” Uh, excuse me – threatening bodily harm. Tancredo joked, “This is the free speech crowd, right?” It got so furious that Tancredo left. Police released pepper spray and threatened to use a Taser on the protesters.
What really stood out was what a graduate student, who organized the protest, said: he regretted the broken window but not silencing Tancredo. “He was not able to practice his hate speech,” said Oakley. “You have to respect the right of people to assemble and collectively speak.”
Read that last sentence one more time. What an intellectual midget. I guess that only stands when you happen to agree with what’s being said and if not it’s okay for hooligans to yell curses, break windows and silence someone; taking away their right. Oakley sounds like he’ll be a fine professor soon, falling right in line.
“Fascists are fascists,” Tancredo said. “Their actions were probably the best speech I could ever give. They are what’s wrong with America today. … When all you can do is yell epithets, that means you are intellectually bankrupt.”
Ashley, sweetheart, get over it. T he majority of conservatives spend their time minding their own business and hoping that the government will leave them alone. But starting last fall, when the first bailout hit the fan, government went too far. It has increased astronomically since January 20. It is not just a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Liberatarian issue…this concerns all of us. We own a small business and I work for another small business. We are all hunkering down and praying for the best. We’ll be making as much money as possible before the tax cuts expire next year because they will NOT be renewed. Congress seems to think they can do whatever they want and the president will rubber stamp it. So far he has. No one took time to read the bill, private citizens and bloggers read it. So far the vaunted transparency has not occured. The people being appointed to all the important positions are scary people and aren’t being vetted any more than Obama was. A private company has built a free application that is allowing citizens to go online & see where the stimulus money is going. The administration is still fumbling around on that one.
THAT is what is making us angry. We are people who have spent years minding our own business, raising our families, working hard. And suddenly, that is all being jeopardized. I’m not saying that there was not greed involved.
Ashley, I assume that you are outraged at the bonus money that AIG gave out. Will you be as outraged when the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonuses are handed out?
Good post, I’m sorry I’m just getting around to reading it now. I think the tea parties were a good idea, but real action in our favor won’t happen until we can vote the big spenders out and genuine fiscal conservatives in. But, when will that happen? We had a chance with Ron Paul but we didn’t do it. Another concern is with electronic computerized voting stealing votes. We certainly need God right now!