Hello,
Well my wife and I got home to Lakeland on Friday, worked well into the night and have not made a dent in getting the house in order. Come Saturday morning it was raining like mad. Knowing there was a Tea Party scheduled in Lakeland for Saturday, went to the appropriate website, it gave the time (11AM - 4PM) and location, with the note that they expected a crowd of about 80 people. Having attended tea parties in Tampa and Crystal Lake, Illinois with over 1000 folks, figured this would be a real small time event and we even contemplated not going. The daily "TO DO" list of chores was long and time was short. Decided to make a list, made 6 stops along the way, everything from buying stamps, mailing bills, buy ponchos etc. and arrived around 11:30AM What a surprise! Probably 800 people there in a pouring rain.
The organizers were smart enough to have the location near several downtown parking facilities so we did not have to park that far away. It was raining like mad and I wore the poncho, carried my large, yellow "Don't tread on Me!" flag, and my wife, armed with her new huge golf umbrella carried her sign "honor thy father, they mother and thy US Constitution" .
We had a very representative group, all ages, colors, and probably backgrounds. The signs were very creative, many had runny ink but no one seemed to care. Saw 4-5 men in wheelchairs, being pushed along by presumably their spouse, some wearing military hats, carrying signs and totally oblivious to the weather. Talked to one couple and they were from Brookfield, IL originally, lived right next to the zoo there, and now retired in Lakeland. Like most attending they are primarily fed up with what is going on in Washington.
While some signs dealt with the health care bill, some with other issues, the common thread was that the public is really fed up and folks in government better start paying attention to them.
There was a group dressed in colonial garb and they were a drum and fife group who was very good. Had several good speakers who were all on target with their message. On a specific note, one of the speakers was Marco Rubio who is running as a Republican against Charlie Crist for the senate seat in 2010. The more I listened to him, the more I realized this young man seems to really get it.... He is an NRA instructor, supports the second amendment and understands what that is all about, and he connected very well with the issues. I was furious when Crist spoke out in favor of the stimulus bill and had Obama to Florida to show his support. He was not listening to the people of Florida and was just looking for an easy way out to get some federal dollars as the state budget was out of whack. I personally believe Crist sold out to the federal government instead of doing his job and making the hard decisions to cut out of control spending in Florida.
Afterward I spoke with Marco and I have volunteered to help him as an unpaid volunteer. We have exchanged several email and will be speaking next week. I think he provides the voters a much better alternative for the senate seat than Crist. Enough on that.
Were were joined by our friends Bob and Louise, and we both noted we were wearing our "Lakeland Rifle and Pistol Club" hats very proudly. Shortly thereafter another good friend from the club, Ripp, also joined us. His wife is in the hospital and he came straight over to the rally from the hospital.
WANT TO TAKE A MINUTE AND ANSWER A QUESTION I HAVE HEARD MANY TIMES. WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GOING OUT INTO THE RAIN AND DOING THIS?
I read some material about the Tea Parties this morning and would like to highlight some of what I really think this is all about. My source is also highlighted:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=109628 Note that ABC said 50-60,000 while the London Daily Mail estimated 2 million. Here is the last paragraph of the article:
Brendan Steinhauser of FreedomWorks, one of the groups that organized the event, told WND, "People want to do this. The people who have been protesting around the country want to come to Washington and do this in D.C. In a lot of ways, they are being ignored and the media is underrepresenting them and their numbers. They want to come together for one big event and send a very clear message."
Here is one more tidbit:
The White House said Friday it was unaware of the rally. President Obama has traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., to promote his health-care plans at a rally there.
For me the issues are not Cap and Trade, healthcare, the stimulus package, the czars or any of the other stuff that seems to be in the media these days. I think it goes much beyond that. If one believes in the Constitution, then you quickly realize that we are supposed to have representative government, "We the People" through our votes, hire folks to represent us and our views in the government.
Instead of doing so, the common theme is fairly simple. Those who we have hired have stopped listening to us, instead the party with with PAC money, lobbyists, big time donors, special interest groups have replaced us, the common ordinary citizen. While we may hire them, they no longer represent us. Want proof? Over 80% of the public opposed the stimulus package and it was passed. The large majority of the population are pleased with their health insurance and opposed to the Obama plan, yet they just bang on. The vast majority of the public want our borders closed, sealed and protected yet they do nothing. The bulk of the American people are tired of sending our money to oil producing countries who in turn use our dollars to fund our enemies; yet the government and environmentalists do all they can, with the support of the government to destroy our production of energy increasing our dependence on foreign sources.......and finally folks are fed up with the out of control spending and congress ignores it.
To many the citizens are doing our job, we are letting our elected officials know how we feel. They are not listening. Many put us down with the help of the mainstream media. Note the difference in the crowd estimates by ABC and the London newspaper. Note the indifference in the quote from the Obama administration in their response to the article. Instead we are portrayed as Nazis, radicals, RACISTS, department of homeland security said we are potential terrorists, nut fringe groups etc. Look at how many were treated and ridiculed when they spoke up at town hall meetings.
I think the reason there was a million folks in Washington yesterday, and many millions protesting all over the country is simple. People are frustrated, they feel they are not being listened to by their government. Most of these folks are like Jo and I, we never protested in the 60's and doing so was the farthest thing from our mind. What is happening is this. The silent majority as many politicians have mentioned are silent no more. As the article said they went to Washington yesterday to send a clear message. If our government continues to ignore us and put us down there will be a revolution for many election cycles to come. It is not a democrat/republican issue, it is much bigger than that as there are culprits on both sides of the aisle. McCain and Kennedy, in my opinion, were both poster children for why we should have term limits.
The more the frustration, the larger the crowds.
BOTTOM LINE IS SIMPLE TO ME: THE CITIZENS ARE DOING THEIR JOB, LETTING OUR GOVERNMENT KNOW HOW THEY FEEL. IT IS TIME FOR OUR GOVERNMENT TO START DOING THEIR JOB AND REPRESENTING THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE HIRED THEM. "WE THE PEOPLE" ARE GOING TO TAKE CONTROL ONCE AGAIN..... Respectfully submitted,
5412
Lakeland, FL
