Jack & Jill Politics

The following was written by Coby W. Dillard, blogger at The Dillard Doctrine and a committed conservative who regularly represents in the comments here at Jack and Jill Politics. We all give “D” a hard time, but we appreciate his presence. His counter perspective is necessary in an open society, so I’m going to save any of my own comments for later and just present his view of the Tea Party in which he participated

Hampton Roads Tax Day Tea Party

by Coby W. Dillard

I had the honor today to join about 2,000 people at Virginia Beach Town Center for one of the many Tax Day Tea Parties across the nation.

I arrived right as one of the co-organizers was giving her speech. She highlighted the theme of our event, which was “Yes, We Care and No, You Can’t!” Focusing mainly on the facts of Congress’ taxing and spending practices of the last few years, she said “The audacity of arrogance this Congress displays is beyond comprehension.”

In attendance-that I greeted-were two politicians: Chuck Smith, who is running for the 2nd congressional district seat as a Republican, and Thelma Drake, the former Republican holder of that seat. Drake gave her perspective of how the TARP bills were passed through Congress, and concluded by telling the crowd that their actions today “were the hope of America” and thanked them for standing up “for (their) children and grandchildren.”

After Drake spoke, I let the crowd know that I-264 was backed up with people still on the highway trying to get to our event. I then introduced the next speaker, Joel Hills-the head of Regent University’s Federalist Society-who spoke on generational theft.

During his speech, some pork rinds and tea bags were delivered to Sen. Webb’s office in Virginia Beach, which was across from where our rally took place. The staffers said that whatever we brought would be donated to a shelter or a food bank.

Some signs-and there were a lot: “Can we bankrupt the country, yes we can,” “Congressional blue plate special-pork fried lies,” and the obligatory “don’t tax me, bro!” sign.

Following a USMC vet who spoke, a representative from the Patriotic Resistance took the stage. He spoke a little about his group and what they were working towards:  “a peaceful, patriotic resistance.” He was followed by a local representative from FairTax.org, who highlighted what he felt were problems with the current tax system, and some of the more unpopular taxes that have recently passed.

More signs-“don’t spread my wealth;  spread my work ethic,” “Obama-nomics=trickle-up poverty,” and “isn’t the free market supposed to be free?”

The head of the Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance was the final speaker. He spoke on the need to stay involved and active. One of his best lines was, “We have two wings on a bird; a left wing and a right wing. Both take you and your children’s money.” He also suggested that “if they don’t teach the Constitution in schools,” then parents should “teach it at home.”

I got to close out the event by thanking the two local organizers and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.  Before the Pledge, I thanked the crowd on behalf of my children and told them “My children may never know you, but they will benefit from your efforts today.”

Some things that didn’t occur at the Tea Party:

There were no attacks by a majority of the speakers that referenced President Obama directly. The representative for the Patriotic Resistance said during his speech, “When President Obama says only government can solve our problems, we resist!” and that was about the extent of it.

There were also no signs attacking President Obama from a racial angle. I did see one “stop Obama bin Lyin” sign that someone left in their truck. There were signs that suggested Obama was a socialist-and one that called him a “thief”-but nothing so objectionable that myself or the organizers had to ask that it be removed (in full disclosure, we asked people prior to the event not to bring anything that could be considered racist or offensive in nature).

All in all, a very spirited-and peaceful-event.

Note from Jack. You can read the post over at the Dillard Doctrine as well.