Tax Day Tea Party, New York City

23 Apr, 2009 by Sharon Soon

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I hope there’s such a thing as better late than never, because I thought I’d recap last Wednesday’s Tax Day Tea Party held in New York City’s City Hall. A week later, anyone who cared enough to attend a “tea party” should stay involved in order to ensure that the day’s events are not quickly forgotten.

All in all, I’d say the nation-wide event lived up to the hype. Over a million Americans gathered in cities to protest the recent string of enormous “stimulus” packages passed since last year, and it was enough to scare even the liberal media, who took to desperate measures to belittle the “dangerous right-wing.” If they think we’re “dangerous,” I’ll take that as a compliment.

Last Wednesday found City Hall packed down to several blocks, which were crowded with passionate Americans holding up more signs than I’ve ever seen at a rally. Every so often amidst the speakers, chants of “U-S-A” and “No more bailouts” would ring through the crowd. One of my favorites was a guy dressed up as Uncle Sam carrying around this sign:

Uncle Sam and Me

I was pleasantly surprised to hear Jay Sekulow of the (very awesome) Americans for Law and Justice there to speak. He stepped on stage crying, “Welcome to the Revolution!” and I joined the masses as they cheered back. A few of his words:

I found out yesterday that I was one of those right-wing religious extremists… people like Obama are afraid of us. But it’s not just the Bible Belt, not just the right-wing. It’s Republicans, Democrats, and Independents coming together.

Don’t listen to the media, ACORN

. If they want to call us a fringe group, that’s what the founding fathers were, too.

Sekulow was right about Americans of all beliefs coming together. I was happy to have an old friend and very passionate Democrat join me at the tea party, interested to see Newt Gingrich speak and curious about the possible goings-on at a rally led by “right-wing extremists.” If nothing more, I think the experience showed him that conservatives might not be the hateful, brain-washed sheep that the media paints us to be.

My friend Jason holding a FairTax.org card

Andrew Wilkow, conservative talk radio host, was another crowd pleaser. Using logic and reason, he offered a few points as to why small government and low taxes are actually good things despite what Obama’s posse would have us believe:

There is an infinite amount of wealth and a finite number of Americans; the idea that there has to be some who suffer when others succeed is just wrong.

The highlight of the night, of course, was Newt Gingrich, who kept the crowd in tact even until (a windy and cold) 9:30 PM when he finally spoke. Newt reminded us why we were all there, and what we needed to do once we left:

The original tea party was about rights and principles… the party itself was a symbol and a beginning, not an end.

Tell every person you know to contact their senators and Congressmen to vote against big government, big spending. If they don’t, we will fire them – we will find candidates to oppose them.

It’s been months since I’ve had much hope in the Republican Party making any grounds in America. What a relief to see Americans coming to their senses now that the actually consequences of big government and big spending are being to come to fruition. Here’s to hoping that perhaps it’s not too late, and that these tea parties are just the beginning of a political revival. Cheers.