Elizabeth Crum

I admit I’ve been a little ambivalent about the upcoming Las Vegas Tea parties (July 3rd or 4th depending on which you choose).  The one on April 15 was great fun, and I made some friends and gained new contacts – but I’ve wondered since then, what really came of it?  And what’s next?

Ralph Benko has a suggestion in his latest Examiner column, and I kinda like it.  As they say, “Go big or stay home.”  Or – and I happen to know this is one of Ralph’s favorite quotes - ”Lost causes are the only ones worth fighing for.”  (Clarence Darrow) 

Here’s the core of the piece:

There are plenty of targets for the tea parties. Most ambitious is the call for repeal of the 16th Amendment — the income tax amendment.

A declaration is circulating on the Internet pointing out that July 12 is the Centenary of Congress’s passage of the 16th Amendment and proclaiming a National Day of Mourning coupled with a demand for repeal. The key proponent of the demand for Repeal is John Hanson, an old Cajun chased out of Louisiana by Katrina and resettled in rural Virginia.

With no money to speak of, little exposure, and just a handful of very part time volunteers, he is using www.RepealIncomeTax.com to enlist thousands of signers of the declaration demanding repeal. On July 12th, Hanson will start a three-year campaign to raise awareness of the issue in the states.

Before all we roll our eyes and say, “yeah, like that’s gonna happen,” Ralph reminds us that the 18th Amendment – Prohibition- was repealed after a concentrated national outcry. No constitutional amendment had ever been repealed before and many naysayers laughed at that one, too.  Notably, the income tax has something in common with prohibition:   it is starting to be hated with a passion.

A movement for repeal, if not succesful, could perhaps at least spur major reform.  A welcome thing indeed, and what a wild wonder if the Tea Party Movement could one day point back and say, “We helped do That!”

If you can stomach it, Americans for Tax Reform has a recap of all the major fiscal and tax-related events since Inauguration Day.

Title:  Obama’s First 100 Days:  Higher Spending. More Debt. New Taxes. Broken Promises.

Yep, that about sums it up.

Just a snippet:

Day 1 — January 20: In his Inaugural address, President Obama makes a noteworthy commitment to the American taxpayer:
 
“And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”

Or two:

Day 41 — March 1: The Obama administration foreshadows another broken promise when Peter Orszag, appearing on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, claims the 8,000 earmarks in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 are “last year’s business. We just need to move on.” The statement by Orszag in not consistent with Obama’s campaign promise made in the first presidential debate:
 
“And, absolutely, we need earmark reform. And when I’m president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” (Sept. 26, 2008. First Presidential Debate, Oxford, Miss.)

RTWT.

“Thousands of people, many waving hand-painted signs and American flags, held tax day ‘tea parties’ Wednesday in Las Vegas and Carson City as part of a nationwide movement to protest what they consider excessive government spending.  At Sunset Park (in Las Vegas), an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 people gathered to hear speakers and express their views. Demonstrators along Eastern Avenue and Sunset Road attracted a stream of honks from passing traffic throughout the afternoon.”

 - Las Vegas Review-Journal, 4/16/09

 ”…In Carson City, an angry crowd of 2,000 demanded that legislators not increase taxes…in a protest outside the Legislative Building.  Legislative police and Carson City sheriff’s deputies said the gathering was the largest they had seen in more than 30 years in the state capital.”

 - Las Vegas Review-Journal, 4/16/09

 ”Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks…said (the Carson City tea party) was the largest protest he has seen in his 16 years in Carson City. Estimates ranged from 2,000 to 3,000 people.”

 - Reno Gazette-Journal, 4/16/09

 ”More than 1,500 people waved signs, tea bags and American flags in front of the Legislature (in Carson City) on Wednesday as part of the national Tax Day Tea Party to protest what they said was reckless federal government spending. . . . Organizers said the movement developed organically through online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and through exposure on Fox News.”

 - Nevada Appeal, 4/16/09

 ”(P)rotesters who attended a modern-day TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party at Sunset Park on Wednesday afternoon hope their actions in protesting high taxation, increased government spending embodied in the federal stimulus package and all things Obama will carry a similar message.  Metro Police estimated the crowd at between 1,500 and 2,000 people and said there were no problems at the event, which was one of dozens held nationwide.  Clark County Republican Party Executive Director Susane Crawford organized the event at Sunset Park. Speakers included officials of the Libertarian and Independent American Parties.”

 - Las Vegas Sun, 4/16/09

 ”This isn’t a Republican event, this isn’t a Democratic event.  This is an American event.”

 - Las Vegas conservative talk-show host Casey Hendrickson, speaking at the Las Vegas Tea Party

 ”Americans from both (major) political parties turned out on Wednesday. From reports I received, some speakers were booed if they got too partisan. The point? The point is that we’ve seen both Republicans and Democrats turn their back on the American people. Spending, spending, spending, and taxes, taxes, taxes. It is too much, and we’ve all had enough.”

 - Bobby Eberle, editor and publisher of GOPUSA.com, 4/16/09

“The modern-day Paul Reveres have had enough….  People have been venting their frustration since the global economy began its meltdown.  Citizens are angry watching the government spend billions and billions of dollars with no constraints in place, while they must juggle household budgets and income and wonder if they’ll have a job the following day.”

 - Lahontan Valley News editorial, 4/15/09

from Mark Krikorian @ The Corner:

A reader wrote me saying that at the Greenville, S.C., Tea Party, “They will be selling the ‘Obama burger’ — you pay for one and they cut it in half and give the rest to the guy behind you for free!!”

Our team needs more political theater and fewer marketing consultants.

(Reuters)

My friend and fellow grassroots organizer, Eric Odom, debates a sarcastic and dismissive Bill Press about the TEA Parties – who started them, who’s funding them, and what they mean – on Fox News Channel.  Here’s the video clip.

A few notes:

Bill’s opening quip – “I smell a rat” – made me roll my eyes.  And his contention that the Tea Parties are “not genuine” and are “funded by big Republican groups” and that the “timing is politically suspicious”…are ill-informed, wrong, and frankly, silly.

The TEA Party movement was and is a grassroots thing.  It started with a few small blogger-groups who organized some small demonstrations awhile back, and then the idea spread like wildfire online (“new media”) and on the “small” airwaves:  via blogs, email forwards, BlogTalkRadio, RFC Radio, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Ning networking sites, message boards, and chat rooms.

The biggest evidence that this is a grassroots effort is the lack of funding and the lack of central control/planning.  Here in Nevada, I’ve seen about a dozen different web pages posting  3 different locations and a dozen different time windows for the TEA (Taxed Enough Already!) Party events.  People got wind of the idea, liked it, and started organizing their own mini-events among their own friends and networks.  When they all show up today, it will be Big – but not because the mythical Vast Right Wing Consiracy and/or Big GOP is behind it.

Here in Las Vegas, there was/is NO BUDGET for our Tea Party event.  A few dozen very committed leader-volunteers and about 800 local volunteer-helpers spread the word about the event/rally.   The only money spent (that I’m aware of) was the $200 plunked down this past Friday by Chuck Muth of Citizen Outreach, for a picnic area at Sunset Park.  Chuck offered to do this when he got wind that we (the organizers and volunteers) were being told that local radio station KXNT – which wanted/wants to cover the event – could not set up a broadcast table, nor could we set up a small podium, mic, and sound/speakers, on or near the sidewalks at the designated protest areas.

Most of the people I know who are attending here have NEVER participated in a protest or a picket line.  General disgust and a wish to be heard has drawn them out.

Whatever the Snarkmeisters wish to say, the Tax Day TEA Parties are a grassroots, post-partisan/non-partisan thing.  People are simply fed up with the endless bailouts, lack of accountability and transparency, ridiculous earmarks, huge deficits, frightening federal budget, and the like.

Not sure if you’ve heard that Tax Day Tea Party organizer and DontGo Movement leader Eric Odom said “thanks, but no thanks” to RNC chair Michael Steele’s request to speak at the Chicago Tea Party event?  Instead, Eric invited chairman Steele to come and mingle and LISTEN.  Which I thought was well-played and a great idea.

Now it seems the grassroots Tea Party effort is being portrayed as a project of the GOP.  Here is Eric’s response - which, as a volunteer Tea Party organizer here in NV, and an associate and friend of Eric’s, I can verify as true and genuine: