Marking one of hundreds through the country today, a couple thousand people in Colorado Springs showed up to express their feelings about government and taxes. I felt compelled to attend since I can't think of anything more American to speak out against than government spending and taxes. Here are some observations and pictures from the tea party today.
I got there around noon. Traffic was fairly congested. Forget about street parking - I decided to hit the parking garage. Walking up to the park on Nevada Ave, I found myself becoming more and more surrounded by a growing throng of pedestrians headed in the same destination.
I had heard on the news that there were a few hundred people expected to attend. Approaching the park at the corner of Bijou & Nevada I could tell there were easily many more than that. I entered the park on the southeast side and made way my down to the back then to the other side. I hung out around the back, took some pictures and video, and walked around some more just checking out the people and signs.
The emcee of the event was local host Richard Randall from 740-KVOR radio. Some of the speakers I recognized were politicians Jeff Crank, Ed Jones, and Doug Bruce. Some of the local media I noticed covering the event was KRDO-Channel 13 and KVOA-Channel 5/30.
The group in attendance was fairly diverse. There was a mix of veterans of all ages, conservative Republicans, Libertarians, bikers, constitutionalists (E.g. supporters of gun rights, states' rights, abortion rights, etc), a few anarchist looking types, and even a handful of "anti-protest" protesters - they were more like a few of the students from Palmer high school across the street advocating for the legalization of pot in an "in your face" type of way. I was kind of puzzled, because it seemed like they were there to agitate the attendees and protest against the event. The irony is that there were also a lot of Libertarians in attendance that believe the same thing these kids do. Ahhh, chalk it up to misguided intentions. If only we could combine the energy of youth with the wisdom of experience - we could solve the world's problems, but that's just my opinion.
At around 1:30, the event concluded. By this time, only about half the attendees still remained. A few hundred continued on immediately afterward with the short march down to the old City Hall building.
All in all, it was nice, peaceful event. I felt inspired to be among a bunch of similar minded individuals. At times I felt like a journalist just trying to capture the moments and all the witty signs and clever costumes. I've never "protested", so it was very foreign to be there. Being the individualist I am, it was weird to be standing among other people, as if I was in a herd. You see, collectivist thought goes against my whole philosophy of individualism, but I reconcile this with the fact that these people are just like-minded individuals. Just like me, they want less government intrusion in the form of taxes, regulations, and restrictions on individual liberty. Yes, even on tax day it was nice to feel good about being an American.
It was a great event. I'm the one holding the black flag and the Culpepper Minutemen flag in the 6th picture down.
ReplyDeleteThere was a pretty good turn-out for this event. I heard a few less-than-friendly exchanges in the crowd and all I could think was that confrontation wins fewer hearts and minds than education. We can't convince people that the issue is not a matter of conservative vs. liberal if our confrontations are done in anger. Better that we bring the hard evidence with us to the discussion and let the proof be the persuader. The folks who don't understand that the monetary system needs an overhaul need to be educated about the Fed, the CFR and the military industrial complex. All three of these need to go away and we need to remember that those who are ignorant of these facts are not the enemy. Let's focus our opposition where it will do the most good, not at those who don't (yet) know any better.
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