Chicago Tax Day Tea Party

It was an interesting week. Tea Party protests went on in every city and some in the media decided the story was that some of them were not as big as last year. Nevermind the fact that there were probably more protests than last year. I got to attend the Chicago Protest in Daley Plaza the epicenter of the Democratic Party Machine.

It was a group that likely exceeded one thousand, filling most, if not all of the plaza. All this in probably one of the five most liberal democratic cities in the country. There were tons of posters, flags, colonial hats, and of course a couple party crashers. An anti-war protest tried to butt in with a banner indicating war is the biggest wasteful spending. In another oddity, a professionally printed and distributed sign said war makes up 57% of the budget, something that is VERY off. Defense spending is roughly $600 billion (less than 20% of the budget). Just goes to show that liberal protestors feel that any and all strategms, including blatant lies, are morally justified as long as the ends are just. It includes infiltrating non-liberal protests with inflammatory and idiotic signs and chants. The ends justify the means. Truly sad.

Others said No to war, and there were a couple signs that were anti-semitic, blaming Israel for all the problems of the world. Tea Party organizers and fellow protestors confronted these people asking them why they were there and arguing that the protest had nothing to do with either issue. Instead of physical confrontation, which is a common result of battles with left wing protestors and "anti-war" activists, a couple of people made signs indicating "plant" or "liberal" or "NOT part of the Tea Party". They stood next to these infiltrators with their own signs so that any idiot CNN or MSNBC camera would catch both the silly sign and the sign indicating the Tea Party Movement has nothing to do with it.

Earlier, a man was walking around with a giant swastika on a poster. The sight disgusted many, Chicago Police asked him to leave, at least I believe that is what happened. I had to leave to meet friends at the train station and bring them back to the Plaza. Either way, that guy was not there when we returned.

The speakers included a former gubanatorial candidate, five candidates for Congress, a couple activists, a doctor, a health insurance salesman, and the two individuals that were accosted by a CNN reporter over a year ago at a similar protest. That incident probably did more for the Tea Party than any other of these major BS media stories.

There were posters responding "we are NOT racist" or "I don't give a ___ that Obama is Black, it scares me to death that he is RED". The speeches were about government spending, taxes, corruption, greed, and the various offenses to the Constitution that President Obama and other Democratic leaders are responsible for.

There were no Neo-Nazis, no Klan members, no one advocating that all illegals should be rounded up and kicked out, no one calling Obama a fascist but plenty calling him a socialist, this was a regular political protest with nothing radical to speak of. No one called for revolution or violent overthrow of the government, much to the disappointment of Bill Clinton. His "fear" of these anti-government protests is really just fear that Democrats will lose power in November.

One of the speakers had an interesting comment: When asked by a reporter what the Tea Party was, where is its website, and who is its' leader, this woman laughed answering "we are not some top-down movement with some sort of demi-god at its head. This is as grassroots as you can get, decentralized, spread out, and very large. No professionally made signs, no corporate or political money bringing us together. In fact, if any insurance companies were paying these protestors, she feinted anger that she didn't get a check."

Sorry to disappoint democrats, socialists, liberals, and others out there. No crazies. This is a legitimate and mainstream political protest that is large in scale and threatens to completely destroy the Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate in November. Should it continue, President Obama has little chance of re-election. Even now his job approval has been consistently below 50% for over a month now. A Healthcare Reform and Nuclear Treaty failed to create any momentum.

The Tea Party is a rejection of a large federal government, taxes, encroachment on individual rights, and the attempted takeover of the economy. It sometimes ventures into other issues but this is its core, if one existed. Nothing racist, nothing radical, no revolutionary themes, actually it is the opposite. It is a counter-revolutionary theme in direct opposition to the dramatic changes President Obama and Democrats have attempted to bring to us. It is rooted in the Constitution, the beliefs and writings of the founders, and the conservative principles that have been around the whole time.

This is different than the right-wing of the Bush Presidency. This is not driven by Evangelicals or a desire to change the world. This is more focused on the United States itself, its very Foundation, and the future of the political system that was formed 230 years ago. It is actually more conservative in that sense than Bush or his Evangelical Base. It is likely larger and can reach into virtually every state in the Union (as opposed to the more Christian Fundamentalist regions of the country).

It is grassroots, decentralized, and unguided by any political elite. Its as American as you can get really. Will it succeed? Will it lead to change in November? The evidence strongly suggests yes. This is still a center-right country and this rejection of the Government policies of the past three to five years was, in many ways, inevitable.