Posted on 04/16/2009 12:20:42 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
About 7,500 people showed up at the Tea Party at Save Mart Center, one of thousands held around the country on tax day.
Fresno was just one of thousands of cities to host a tea party on Wednesday and was also one of the largest events in the county.
The event is based on the pre-revolutionary war protests in Boston, where Americans took a stance against excessive government taxation.
The people at the tea party in Fresno say they don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat. They say everyone, from every background or social standing should be upset about the current trend of big government, big spending policies and huge corporate bailouts.
Its not known if all the protests will have any affect on the politicians but that didnt stop the people attending from making their feelings known.
(video at source)
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs47.tv ...
I thought Jim Patterson the former mayor gave a good speech. Mike Ratley was actually a little lackluster. I don’t know if he really prepared well.
I think a bit of the fire of the crowd was not leveraged because speakers were trying to be circumspect and not be too partisan. I think what needed to be emphasized was:
*Onerous public employee union contracts need to be overturned - someone must be spearheading an effort for that and a representative was needed to be on hand to sign up volunteers and contributors
*Lavish spending on do-nothing projects and programs must be stopped - HJTA signs were around but a booth from a representative would have been a good idea for fund-raising and volunteers
*Too many environmental regulations are killing jobs and livelihoods - a group opposing that would have been perfect
*More and more bizarre laws restricting individual freedoms passed without thought or concern for consequences - a person representing Tom Costa’s group promoting a part-time legislature was needed
*Overbearing laws saying what can’t/must be taught in schools discourage teachers and students alike - homeshoolers having a booth would have been really good
*Specifically what the listeners could do next to promote change and reform (i.e., register to vote, and then vote NO on 1A) (see the second point above)
Instead some of the speeches were wonkish and undirected. The politicians need to be afraid of what was said; instead I think they are breathing a sigh of relief that nothing concrete seemed to be accomplished.
Never fear, this is only the start, and next go around we will do things right.
In the meantime vote NO on 1A!! Bankrupt California and force them to renegotiate the union contracts!
FRegards,
But, all the photos I took, and a few that Jeff took are here:
Great to see you, Stuart, and Dr. Linda too!
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the photos. It was an inspiring event that I wouldn’t have missed for anything. We are probably having another one on July 4th. I plan on being there too!! :-)
WTG Fresno!!!
Your party looked more like a party than ours did. Our speakers laid out in no uncertain terms, the mess that the government is making of our country. They sang patriotic songs, and generally roused the crowd. Our 2000 people sounded loud and mad. "THROW THE BUMS OUT! (My computer has been down for two days.)
Yeah, what a slacker, huh? ;-)
I think you had a great turnout in Charleston, even though you had rain to contend with. It was colorful, with all the umbrellas! I take it Katie is in the crowd somewhere. :-)
Just doing my job :-) . . . since we were one of the sponsors of the Central Valley Tea Party I wanted to make sure everything was documented.
And only JK would take pictures of the porta potties.
Speaking of documenting everything . . . one of the sponsors provided the porta potties and it is very important to make sure that everyone that donated was recognized. Especially one of the extremely important donations!
Nope, Katie was taking the picture from a high place on the capitol steps. There is a video on You Tube that shows Katie as the first face on the video. I think the title was “Tea Party Protest in Charleston, WV” I’ll try to find it.
I suppose that is your story and you’re sticking to it. LOL. Hugs JK. I really enjoyed the pictures, even thought it took me two hours to go through them all. Ha.
Tea Party protest held in Charleston WV April 15, 2009
Well, bless your heart.....you looked at them ALL??? That's something usually only a mother would do. ;-)
Woo hoo!!
Way to go West, by God, Virginia!!
Hey, thanks for posting Katie. I still say, (in spite of the count on that video) that we had at least 2000. I’m a pretty good crowd counter from my many years with the band. I couldn’t get all of them in the picture even from the high place.
Or a good friend. eh?
Yep! :-)
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