Commentary & News
What it's like at a Tea Party rally...
Photos by Alicia Moulton, Sept. 13, 2013.
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Commentary - Alicia Moulton - Sept. 13, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, Congress was in session again and Tea Party politicians and organization leaders held a rally on the west lawn of the Capitol building to urge law-makers to vote to defund the Affordable Care Act. Members of the crowd were from many different states across the country. Some had come to Tea Party rallies in 2010 before the healthcare law was passed.
There were a few crazies—as in, to me it’s a bit strange and ineffective when people dress up in strange clothing or parade around with graphic signs and pictures casting Obama as a terrorist—but, they are free to do that, and there were only a few people like that anyway. In large part, I just saw a lot of anti-big government people who came to be actively involved in an issue that affects them and that they care about. |
The idea behind this particular rally was that if federal employees are asking for exemptions from Obamacare, a.k.a., they don't want to live under it, then it's not something that every-day Americans
should have to live under, either. There was a lot of talk of American values and of “we the people” taking a stand. There was occasional mention of other traditionally conservative issues, including abortion, school prayer, and securing domestic borders. What I really liked was the connection some speakers made between their votes, the people currently in office, and future action that citizens can take. That's really how citizenship is supposed to work, right? A speaker whose name I did not catch said, "Obama, Pelosi, and Reid ignored you so you turned out to vote. And you are the reason that Boehner is in the House.” Other speakers called for accountability of elected officials: if they aren't responsive to the voice of the people, then vote them out. Well, I say freedom to us, the people, if we can connect what's going on in politics with our right to vote. I took a stop over to Utah Senator Mike Lee’s office afterwards to pick up a Congress pass for later and talk with a few of the staff. They were getting inundated with phone calls that were forwarded off to Lee and to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas (main leaders of the rally) from South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson’s office. We were told that he was forwarding them off because he was getting too many calls to defund ObamaCare. (Wilson did vote to defund it.) “All the letters we get are in support [of defunding ObamaCare], so it just seems strange to me that everyone else thinks we’re crazy,” said Lee’s staff assistant, Kate Cannon. Another staffer came in and said the office got a staffer from Michigan calling—which is unusual—and saying: How can we just sign the letter? We’re getting so many calls to Defund ObamaCare and we just want it to stop! The staffer was referring to a letter by Lee that rally attendees signed to indicate their support to defund the law. I find it utterly unfair how many pundits and even regular news reporters cast the Tea Party as some small extreme faction. It was pretty clear to me from attending the rally that it is just a pretty mainstream group of Americans getting actively involved in politics on things that matter to them. For Congress back in session, there were also a few pink-clad citizens outside of the U.S. Capitol protesting military action in Syria. Photo by Alicia Moulton, Sept. 13, 2013.
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My Comments (news section):
These quotes are not fact-checked; they are meant to be an objective representative of the part of the rally that I attended. I came in about a half an hour into it, so I missed other speakers including Sen. Mike Lee and Sen. Ted Cruz, who were heading the event. I am personally in support of defunding ObamaCare because I think it will raise federal government spending and will not do much anyway to solve the root of the problem of why healthcare is unaffordable. However, I don't necessarily agree with all that was said at the rally. My highlights here are a report of what was said and not of what I agree with or advocate. For Further Information:
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"Exempt America" speaker highlightsNews - Alicia Moulton - Sept 13, 2013
At the rally, each speaker was given about 90 seconds. Here are highlights from the second half: (Photos from schedule on ExemptAmerica.com except where noted.) Seton Motley, Founder and President of Less Government
“If you can find it in the yellow pages, the government shouldn't do it. Why? The government is broke.” He said that a success in Washington, i.e. Medicare or Medicaid, equals trillions of dollars in debt. Therefore, if government is running healthcare, it will go broke, too. “Now is our last best hope to repeal it.” Jeff Frazee, Executive Director of Young Americans for Liberty
“It is my generation that is being screwed the most by ObamaCare. [It is my generation] that is growing up in an economy where socialism is the norm. Leaders in both parties have screwed up.” He said that his organization has many campus chapters and is growing quickly. Cathy Ruse, Senior Fellow for Family Research Council
From her experience as a lawyer, she said she sees the healthcare law as an “unprecedented power grab” by the government and that the government should not be allowed to force others to violate their religious beliefs: "We should all agree that Americans should not be forced to pay for others' elected abortions." Todd Cefaratti, Freedom Organizer at TheTeaParty.net
He referenced President Ronald Reagan telling Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall!” and said, we say, “Mr. Obama, tear down this law!” He explained how he came to found TheTeaParty.net: “I’m just a dad from Gilbert, Arizona.” He said he was following the news in March 2010 the day that ObamaCare was passed and saw that not one Republican voted for it. “I don’t know about you, but that’s when I got off my couch and started TheTeaParty.net." He said directed to politicians, “If you fund ObamaCare, we are going to blame you, and in the next election we are going to defeat you.” Herman Cain, Host of the Herman Cain Show
“America is divided, not between the haves and the have not, but between the political class and the working class, and we be the working class.” “I was asked in an interview before I came up here, 'Is the tea party dead? And I said to this reporter, and to anyone who says that the Tea Party has died, they have lied, because the tea party is alive and well and you represent that." “There is a new revolution in America. And it’s not about bombs and bullets. The new revolution in America is about brains and ballots. And we the people got the brains and we are going to show up at the ballot to take our nation back.” Phil Gingrey, U.S. Representative from Georgia
“I promise you that I’ll use every tool at my disposal” to defeat ObamaCare. “I will not stop fighting this for you.” (Photo from Phil Gangrey's Wikipedia page)
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