"Feisty Anna is pretty outraged, and we've been following the growing tea party movement through blogs and Pajamas Media," reports Anna's mother, blogfriend Amy Kane of Atlantic Ave. Above, Anna and friends display the artful signage of Anna's younger sister at yesterday's Essex County Tea Party and Rally in front of Newburyport City Hall on Boston's north shore.
"We are already seeing people who have never been politically active taking part in tea parties across the nation," writes Dr. Helen, who's been reading Mark Levin, "a wake-up call to all of us who care about individual freedom and resisting the transition to statism." Goomp is gobbling up Levin's Liberty and Tyranny with gusto, as we knew he would. Dr. Helen:
You will often hear that these tea parties "don't matter," but in reality, the tea parties are a "mind hit." That is, they are not what people expect. Lefties form groups and rally -- building connections and networks of grassroots activists who can be called on when needed. Conservatives typically stay home. But not anymore. Moms, Dads, business people and others are taking to the streets and forming connections with each other and learning to organize against the statists of the world.
Just what our little contingent did for the first time at yesterday's Essex County Tea Party and Rally, blogged here and here and here. "There are lots of us," writes blogpal Amy Kane, who was there with daughter Anna, "but we are not accustomed to demonstrating, protesting, or even politely begging to differ in mixed political company":
About 100 or so people showed up with signs and flags and kids and dogs. They arrived singly, or in pairs or families, but quickly got to talking with each other . . .
I heard about it through a blogger friend, Sissy Willis . . . It was wonderful to meet her in person -- she is warm, vivacious and articulate, as you would expect from reading her blog sisu [Wow. The importance of being noticed and all that. Right back at you, Amy.]
It was almost on a whim that we attended. I'm in a funk about Washington, feisty Anna is pretty outraged, and we've been following the growing tea party movement through blogs and Pajamas Media . . .
Exercising our right to Freedom of Assembly was pretty new to us. I can't say I'm totally comfortable holding a sign myself. But I did want to do my part by documenting with photos and words . . .
I was in the balcony with Anna, who was filming a few clips now and then and hoping her battery wouldn't run out. I believe this quick photo was just at the moment when he accidentally called on one of the tea party people. He quickly learned not to do that again.
We love that Amy, like ourselves, chose the mighty bless Liberty Dog for her opening shot. Click on over there for lots of sensible thoughts, good pics and fun pull-out quotations from the totally terrific sign slogans of our fellow freedom fighters. See you at the State House on Tax Day, April 15th. We're all anti-statists now.
Update: Professor Reynolds links the beautiful people: "IF ONLY: 'We are all anti-statists now.' But give it time!"
Update II: "Sounds like a good tactic," writes the Professor, quoting from a Newburyport Daily News report:
Update III: Amy garners TWO Insta-lanches and in updates to her original post delivers a withering critique of the local reporter's misreading of the psychological dynamics inside Newburyport City Hall Saturday as "Representative" Tierney, once he became aware there were dissenters in the room, studiously avoided calling on any of us unwashed types standing with our signs at the back of the hall:
As we wrote in Amy's comments, "The author is clueless. But, then, they don't teach civics in the public schools anymore." We were there, and there was no debate. It was all talking points all the time.
Update IV: Jules Crittenden links.
Update V: "Just 15 days until the Tax Day Tea Party protest! 300 cities and counting," writes Michelle Malkin, who links.
Sissy, I just updated my post with links to the two stories about the tea party and Tierney from the Newburyport News. The reporter's take on the event is a little different than ours.
Example: "With no official peacemakers on hand to mitigate a potentially unruly clash of ideologies, Tierney took control of the oft times angry crowd himself, making a pitch for civility despite the outcome of the last election."
What do you think?
Posted by: Account Deleted | March 30, 2009 at 09:53 AM
It is a forgotten part of our society: political participation. We got lazy, drifted into complacency, now we are paying the price. If you like where things are heading, stay home. If you think your children's future is in peril, you had better speak up, or forever hold your peace. Given the changes that are being made on behalf of that 53%, It may be very hard (if not impossible) to unscrew the pooch.
Posted by: constitution_first | March 30, 2009 at 11:13 AM
three cheers !
very uplifting to see...
too bad the MSM is so unethical, they prefer to cover a funded ACORN busride of only 40 paid players, instead of thousands of private sector unfunded Americans...
Posted by: brooklyn | March 30, 2009 at 11:21 AM
I believe the Congressman for that area is John Tierney, a Dem. In 2004, he got 213,000 votes and his GOP opponent got 91,000.
That means that the 100 people represent 0.05% of the votes he got, and 0.1% of the votes his opponent got.
Obviously, I don't expect anyone who'd fall for the tea parties to realize what that means.
Posted by: NoMoreBlatherDotCom | March 30, 2009 at 02:37 PM