Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 7:46pm

Spirit of '09

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Yesterday Americans rallied in hundreds of tea party protests against high government spending and taxation.  In my state 3000 people turned out in Peoria alone.  Good coverage of the tea parties is at Instapundit.  Much more at Tea Party online HQ. 

Elements of the mainstream media were openly contemptuous of the tea parties, perhaps one of the more obvious examples being here at Hot Air.

Well what does it all mean if anything?  America is being tranformed into a Eurosocialist state by the Obama administration and the Democrat majorities in Congress.  Massive government spending, massive deficits, a massive expansion of government, and, inevitably, massive increases in taxes down the road to pay for it all.  They are supported by most of the media, almost all of academia, and, for now, a slight majority of the American people.  A fair number of Americans oppose this transformation bitterly.  They believe they are ignored by government and by the media.  They were heard from yesterday.  If the economy continues to tank as a result of the massive debt the government is taking on, we will hear much more from them in the future.  We live in interesting times, God help us.

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Thursday, April 16, AD 2009 10:18am

[…] — as Donald noted in a previous post — thousands of Americans held hundreds of protests across the country, […]

Anthony
Anthony
Thursday, April 16, AD 2009 11:17am

While I think the idea for tea parties is great… they’ve been distorted since the Paul campaign in ’07 had their online tea party that raised millions in one day.

There’s a lot of great rhetoric going around, but I don’t believe its substantive. Its just the GOP back to its old strategy- give the liberty-leaning, state rights, conservative crowed the speeches they want to hear- then when we get into office someday, we’ll be just like the Democrats.

Governor Perry sudden turn towards Jeffersonian-style ideas speaks more of his political need to distinguish himself from the current administration than it does on any genuine concern for states rights, the constitution, or local authority.

paul zummo
Admin
Thursday, April 16, AD 2009 11:43am

Its just the GOP back to its old strategy-

It must be emphasized that the tea parties had little to do with the GOP – in fact I think many if not most of the participants have been or are as furious with the GOP as with the Democrat party.

Donna V.
Donna V.
Thursday, April 16, AD 2009 7:43pm

I would have liked to attend, but yesterday was a very busy day at work and I couldn’t get away.

I agree – the sense that I have is that the tea parties are conservative/liberatarian and most protesters are (understandably) as disgusted with the GOP as they are with the Democrats.

Anthony, it is quite remarkable, I think, that these protests, as small as many of them were, took place across the country. (Also bear in mind that they were not centrally organized, there is no Soros or union money behind them, and protesters were not bussed in from other locales. The left is much more professional when it comes to planning and organizing rallies.) I might be wrong, but I don’t think that a bunch of people just blew off some steam for a couple of hours and now will vanish. The tea parties might just be the first baby steps of something much larger. We don’t know yet, but I wouldn’t dismiss them as insubstantive. In fact, I don’t really think CNN does – hence the blatant attempt to ridicule and marginalize them.

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Friday, April 17, AD 2009 5:37am

[…] in my Spirit of 2009 post I embedded a video from CNN which depicted a clash between CNN reporter Susan Roesgen and tea party protestors in […]

c matt
c matt
Friday, April 17, AD 2009 11:44am

Perry fits to a tea that old adage “there go the people; I must rush ahead to lead them”

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Wednesday, April 22, AD 2009 5:31am

[…]  of the Congressional Budget Office and the White House make sombre reading.  The tax protests of last week are a reaction to what is no longer fiscal policy but obvious fiscal lunacy.  Either we turn away […]

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