Obama Citizenship

April 15, 2009: Tea Party Day

By Phil

While most of my updates will be via Twitter today, this posting will get things started for commentary on my blog RE: tea parties.

From Michelle Malkin, she presents a “cheat sheet” on what this thing’s been all about:

It?s here!

For the Johnny-Come-Latelys in the MSM who will be dispatched by their editors to file obligatory stories about the hundreds of Tax Day Tea Party protests across the country today, here is a cheat sheet to get you up to speed.

As I originally reported here, the following is the video that started it all:

More from Ms. Malkin’s post, especially #TCOT on Twitter:

On Feb. 21, the grass-roots Internet group, Top Conservatives on Twitter, founded by Michael Patrick Leahy and powered by Rob Neppell, announced ?simultaneous local tea parties around the country, beginning in Chicago, and including Washington DC, Fayetteville NC, San Diego CA, Omaha Nebraska, and dozens of other locations? on Feb. 27. Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor was one of the rare national MSM reporters who attended one of the tea parties (Atlanta) and provided a fair and balanced look at protesters mad at both parties:

To be sure, the federal spending package includes tax cuts for most Americans, and Obama has promised to eventually halve a US deficit the Democrats have largely blamed on the Bush administration.

But protesters like Kevin Tanner of South Dakota said deficit spending by both parties has unnerved Americans. ?The Republicans have their own problems because we elected them and they didn?t do what we wanted,? says Mr. Tanner.

Many protesters expressed a sense that basic American freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are threatened by new Washington policies seen by many as more socialistic than capitalistic. The proposed taxpayer bailout of homeowners who may have inflated their earnings in order to secure mortgages is one example, says Jeff Crawford, a protester from Dacula, Ga.

?The first year after the Mayflower arrived, the colonists tried a communal method of storing and sharing food and it failed miserably,? says Mr. Crawford. ?Why are things any different now??
Eighteenth-century symbolism was rife at the Atlanta event as speakers drew comparisons with the Boston patriots who dumped the King?s tea in Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation, an act that began the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

Some kids at the Atlanta protest wore tri-cornered hats, and one held a sign that said, ?When I grow up I want to be free.?

In Tampa, two dozen protesters held handwritten signs with slogans like ?Keep Your Bailout; I?ll Keep My Freedom.? About 300 people showed up in 25-degree weather in Wichita, Kansas, and someone brought a pig.

In St. Louis, local media expected about 50 people to show up while actual turnout surged to over 1,000 people.

An Internet-based coalition spearheaded by TCOT, Smart Girl Politics, and the DontGoMovement formed to coordinate today?s Tax Day Tea Party. It is a totally unprecedented phenomenon that no Beltway GOP guru or elected leader can claim credit for. The grass-roots coalition has held open planning meetings on BlogTalkRadio every week and maintained the transparency that Washington abandoned during TARP/porkulus/budget process. They?ve spent weeks helping first-time political activists get connected, obtain permits, and learn the ropes.

Along the way, many different taxpayers? groups, talk show hosts, individuals, and websites have stepped up to the plate to pitch in.

And along the way, detractors have fumbled and bumbled over how to discredit the Tea Party organizers ? first blaming a cabal tied to CNBC, then jeering at the amateurishness of the participants before crying ?astroturf,? then claiming the events were ?financed by Fox News? or (fill-in-the-blank) conservative conspiracy, then smearing the protesters as crazed gun nuts (FNC?s Bob Beckel) and racists (FNC?s Geraldo Rivera).

Wouldn?t it be refreshing if MSM coverage refrained from parroting all the lazy, groundless, uninformed canards and reported the simple truth?

Update: Blogger Kevin Jackson @ TheBlackSphere is similarly chiming in:

In honor of Tax Day and the Tea Parties happening all over the nation today, I thought I would give my take on taxes.
Being from a poor family, taxes were not much of a problem as my grandparents always seemed to get a little something back. That’s what happens when your combined income is little more than $15,000 a year.

But they raised their little rugrat in the capitalist tradition, so I grew up to become moderately successful, at least in the eyes of the government. So when I owned my own company I was rudely introduced to the tax system, learning quickly that ambition in America is indeed rewarded?with high taxes.

Yes, America is indeed the land of opportunity, if you want the opportunity to pay outrageous taxes to help illegal aliens, terrorists, and better yet?other lazy Americans. How I long for the good old days when Uncle Sam lived within his income and without most of mine?.ahhh. It has almost reached the point in America where, if you take a day off, you fall behind in your income-tax payments.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).