The Tax Day Tea Party, April 15, 2010 on the courthouse steps drew a small crowd. Some people gave prepared speeches, others spoke extemporaneously. Many expressed concern over the national debt.
For the second year in a row, Cook County citizens gathered on the courthouse steps on tax day, April 15, to add their voices to thousands across the nation who spoke up at Tax Day Tea Parties with their opinions on the financial, political, and, to a certain extent, moral direction of America.
Sandwiched between a reading of the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner
and the singing of God Bless America
were speeches, both impromptu and written, by some of the approximately 27 citizens in attendance.
Some expressed concerns about the financial ramifications of the new national health care plan. Others expressed concern over things like abortion and freedom to conduct public prayer. Not everyone may have agreed with everything that was said, but most probably appreciated the freedom they shared to gather publicly and say what was on their minds.
One person expressed concerns over the nation’s growing debt. Even before passage of the health care bill, the nation faced trillions of dollars of “unfunded liabilities,” he said, adding that the Federal Reserve Bank is being used like a giant credit card. Financial failure has brought about the demise of large empires throughout world history, he said. He encouraged Cook County residents to advocate that the county collect its new 1% sales tax before commencing any of the capital improvements the tax will fund instead of financing the projects through bonds.
“It’s fun to go out and get something new and spend money,” another person said. The commonsense approach, however, is to determine if you have the money to spend. “Let’s stop spending,” he said. “Let’s become solvent. …If we don’t do this, our country is headed for disaster. … “We need politicians with common sense. Let’s get some. Let’s vote for them.”
Another citizen pointed out that the private sector generates the money that funds the public sector. Some people decry capitalism, he said, but without profits from the private sector, no one—not even government employees—would have a job.
Organizer Rae Piepho quoted Chip Cravaack, Republican candidate running against James Oberstar for U.S. Congress: “The responsibility of the government is to promote
the general welfare, not provide
the general welfare.”
One woman urged people to pray for this land “that our dear forefathers fought for.”
County Commissioner Bruce Martinson said, “I’m glad to see all of you here today, exercising your freedom of speech and freedom to assemble.” The group applauded him for being there, the only elected official at the gathering.
Cook County Republican co-chair Garry Gamble said that the Tea Party movement has “gotten a lot of people off the sidelines and into the political arena.” He urged people to work for change from within whatever political party they belong to.
Gamble described his vision of the Tea Party movement in light of aspersions against it since it began a year ago. “Some see today’s modern day version of the Tea Party as a group of fiscal conservatives who are, basically, concerned with an over-reaching government. …People started forming the Tea Party because, like our ancestors whose Tea Party stood as a protest against Britain’s oppressive government, they believed—and continue to believe—government is increasingly encroaching on the liberties of a free people.”
Gamble talked about a counter-movement to discredit the Tea Party movement before next fall’s elections. He quoted Council for Affordable Health Insurance Director Merrill Matthews, writing in the Washington Times
in February: “The ‘Tea Party’ movement has become the most important, yet misunderstood, dynamic driving the American political landscape.”
“Tea Parties draw heavily from independent, traditional and social conservatives and even libertarians,” Gamble said, “but conservative economic policies emphasizing limited government, low taxes and fiscal responsibility are what they demand from candidates.” He hopes the movement will become known as citizens “speaking out, not vicious or ungracious with our words, but using words grounded in principle, empowered with conviction, and emblazoned with truth.”
Quotes read at the Tea Party include the following:
“The hand that destroys the Constitution
rends our Union asunder forever.”
Daniel Webster
“It is the duty of the patriot to
protect his country from its government.”
Thomas Paine
“The jaws of power are always open to devour,
and her arm is always stretched out, if possible,
to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.”
John Adams
“Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
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