Comments on: Boston Parties Like it’s 1773

By: MisterBixby

MisterBixby — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:17:55 +0000

I attended the Chicago Tea Party (well, the first half anyway, unlike lefty protesters, I have a job to maintain). I took pictures and you can see them, with commentary, here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/misterbixby/sets/72157616729205109/

There were a lot of gold standard, audit the fed, Paulians there, but there were also run of the mill libertarians, republicans and democrats there. I heard someone mention that this was the reformation of the Reagan coalition on some talking heads show last night. Pretty accurate, I’d wager.

Oh, and it was sparsely attended, couldn’t have been more than 1,000 folks there.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:29:03 +0000

Wait, this can’t be true. I watched MSNBC and they keep saying the tea party people are a bunch of right-wing cranks, racists and militia terrorists, all controlled like puppets by Fox News and the Republican Party. Also, these are tiny “demonstrations” with at most a few dozen participants nationwide. And they are of course no threat to the political Left. That explains why the Left is spending so much time ridiculing, denouncing and trying to distract attention from them.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:58:07 +0000

I just returned home from NY Tea Party.
Didn’t expect it to be so huge.
People were standing at about 4 blocks south and north from the tribune, and across the street, too. There were thousands. And, strangely, very organized. I usually detest big crowds of people, don’t feel safe in it. Not tonight.

It was exciting.

By: Mitch Townsend

Mitch Townsend — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:32:13 +0000

No one is suggesting that we dust off the muskets. The problem seems to be that no matter which party gains power, the officeholders use whatever means are available to expand and perpetuate that power. The Democrats do it on the pretext of “fighting” (class warfare?) for the oppressed; the Republicans do it for truth, justice, and the American way. Obama wants universal health insurance; Bush instituted the largest expansion of Medicare since its inception. Bush’s surveillance and warrantless wiretapping policies were unacceptable to Obama the candidate, but quite acceptable to Obama the president. I could go on.

The membership of Congress is capped at 435, which means there is one representative for nearly 700,000 people. The cap was set in 1929, when there were only about 123 million people in the US. There were about 100,000 people in each congressional district when we started out. Most voters have never even seen their representative; unless they come up with a campaign contribution, it is unlikely they will have the opportunity to exchange even a “hello” with him or her.

We are faced with a class of career politicians who dread leaving office the way the rest of us dread being laid off or going out of business. Do you really think this is because they think the country would suffer if they left office? In the unlikely event that the voters turn them out, most of them do not return to the states that sent them, but instead remain in Washington, their true home, and turn their talents to lobbying. I don’t think I’m out of line for thinking that our representative should be one of us: should come from among us, should appreciate our concerns, and should return to us when the job is done.

By: fred lapides

fred lapides — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:55:50 +0000

[Comment deleted by Jonathan. Take your vulgar talking points elsewhere.]