stat counnnter

Monday, July 06, 2009

Tea Party Observations pt. 2

As I thought about my post on the tea party of the 4th., I realized I didn't write down all my observations. So here are a few more with some added pictures. It can safely be said that everyone there was willing to participate in some kind of activism however modest. I consider that a very good sign. But there were some who wanted a more agressive activism. One wanted recall campaigns to be started to oust those in office. A few others called for more petitions to be circulated to stop the government spending and intrusion into our lives.

Quite a few people expressed frustration in not being able to do more than just protest at parties like this one. That's when I gave them a copy of two press releases from ARC on the sales of Atlas Shrugged. One release reported that most large bookstores will have floor-displays of Atlas after the 4th. The other release notified that the sales of Atlas have tripled in the first 4 months of 09. My intent was to say or imply 'This is where a lot of people are looking for answers, you should too.' It became obvious to me that a tea party is no place for education or debating. But it can be a good place for guidance toward a certain path. Before people can see the truth, they must be encouraged to look at it. Now a few more pictures.


Sunday, July 05, 2009

Observations on My First Tea Party

I attended my first tea party Saturday July 4th. It was quite small, I'd say the crowd fluctuated between 110 and 140 people for the 2 hours I was there. There were no speakers. Just people talking to each other and holding signs of slogans at road side for passing drivers. A lot of passing cars beeped their horns in support.

What surprised me most was how many of these people were familiar with Rand's writings. One man said he read all her books. A lady said she was reading Atlas for the second time. Another said, from memory, "I've read a lot of her stuff. Sometimes she's over the top but other than that she's right on the money." Another said she would pick up a copy of Atlas on the way home. I only encountered a few people who never heard of Rand or Objectivism. They have now.

I liked walking around and talking to people. It's like taking a sense of life inventory. I passed out 65 copies of the essay "Message to Republicans" from the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights." Another Objectivist was passing out some too. When people asked me what is this about? I responded that it's an essay on what the Republicans are doing wrong and what they need to do right. Boy, that struck a few nerves. Several said the Party is trying too hard to look like Democrats. 3 others said the Party's biggest mistake was nominating John McCain for president. "He's not a conservative and he shouldn't even be a Republican" said one. All in all the crowd seemed to be mostly conservatives. Many were also religious but it seemed that their political concerns were on the front burner while the religious ones on the back burner. I only saw 4 anti-abortion signs.

Most attendants were against the current level of government spending, taxation and the growth of controls. But when I asked what were they for, I got a mixture of approximations: smaller, limited government, less spending, fewer controls and more personal freedoms. I thought to myself, this tea party movement needs guidance on how to more explicitly be for something. I think the next time I go to one of these I'll have an essay titled 'Limited Government is Limited to What?' Of course it will be about limiting the government to employing only retaliatory force which means forbidding it to use initiatory force and how the protection of individual rights requires this distinction to be explicit legally.

It was an interesting experience. There are a few photos below.






Friday, July 03, 2009

Happy 4th of July

I wish all of you a happy 4th of July. I will be attending a tea party in St. Clair Shores tomorrow for about 2 hours then going to my granddaughter's birthday party. She will be 4 on the 4th. Of course she's all excited about it and can't wait. To me, it's beautiful to see the excitement and exuberance she shows while visions of presents and cake dominate her mind. And to think, I am indebted to the Founders who made this possible.

Happy 4th all!
Mike