Tea Party Protestors Decry Government Spending Policies
Earl Neikirk/Bristol Herald Courier
A crowd gathers to listen to speakers at Saturday’s “Tea Party” on the steps of the Bristol Virginia Courthouse.
BRISTOL, Va. – On the steps of the courthouse Saturday, a small group rallied for political change.
Held during the city’s Fourth of July celebration, it was the latest local “Tea Party” protest – a continuation of the April 15 tax-day protests staged across the nation.
“We’re here all together because we are tired of out-of-control government,” said Brian Rieck, organizer of the event. “We do not want to be a socialist nation.
They set up a republic for us, and we want to continue to be a republic.”
Rally organizers also walked and rode floats down State Street in Bristol’s holiday parade. One float featured people tearing up paper and a sign reading, “They’re trashing our constitution,” while another warned: “You can’t borrow your way out of debt” and “Attn: Washington you have run out of money.”
Brandi Whiteaker, of Bristol, Tenn., wore a jail uniform with “debt slave” written on the back; she pushed her grandson Nathan in a stroller with a sign that read, “I owe how much! But I’m only 2 years old.”
“We are here because it’s time for people to start standing up,” Whiteaker said.
More than 1,300 registered tea parties were scheduled for Saturday across the country, Rieck said. Chief among the mission is to protest a government that is too big and spends too much.
The Bristol rally, which began after the parade and lasted more than 90 minutes, began with about 80 people in attendance. The crowd quickly diminished, however, as revelers drifted to the other holiday entertainment downtown, including a program at the park, a car show nearby and festivities at the train station.
Speakers at the rally addressed the issues of hate-crime legislation, health care reform and opposition to the separation of church and state. Among the grievances aired on the courthouse steps, read aloud by Rieck but also distributed to the crowd in a printed flyer:
* “wanton and reckless spending, far exceeding the capacity of the people to reasonably provide and without their consent;”
* “creating discord and upset among the people due to invented and exaggerated class differences to justify confiscation and redistribution of wealth;”
* “appointing officers known as czars, accountable to no one except our president;”
* “using federal grants and aid to create a dependent and slothful nation so that the many have become the parasites on the few.”
A larger tea party event, featuring local Republican politicians, is scheduled for Monday at Sugar Hollow Park, with a bring-your-own picnic beginning at 4 p.m. and the program starting at 6 p.m.
| (276) 791-0701
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
I don’t give much credence to groups that give traction to their arguments by demonizing and generalizing entire groups of people. I’ve known plenty of honest politicians and hard working poor. I’ve also known plenty of lazy idle rich, and corrupt capitalists who break every regulation they can get away irregardless of who gets hurt, and who cheat on taxes because they think they are above the law and because care more about money than about society.
I don’t get all the hoopla about big government. This is a big country with a huge population and enormous problems. We have big business and big religion. I don’t see the Tea Party complaining about that. The business owner and the corporate executive is far too busy making money to address the issues of the people. Big business does not care about the people. Government has to be effective, and it needs to be in proportion to the size of the issues. Did I mention we have enormous problems? The government is of the people, for the people and by the people. The Tea Party does not represent a large percentage of the people. The ideals of the Tea Party are no longer relevant to the world we live in today and cannot address today’s challenges.
now, glad we got that article title correction out of the way…..........Thanks
Very classy BHC!!!!!!
EaTn states: some of the jive folks out there have made something filthy of the term tea baggers. If you look at Wiki about Tea Bagging, you will find that it is a part of the sexually deviant society and has been for many years. Wiki reports that tea bagging was referenced in a 1994 movie called appropriately enough “Pecker”. I have known of drunk people who passed out at parties being subject to being Tea Bagged with pictures taken to embarass them. This is not a newly made up term that is innocently being applied to the Tea Parties. It is an organized and malicious denigration of the peoples’ right to free speech. It cannot be defended!
I didn’t just ride in on the turnip truck but the term used in the heading means nothing to me ,as like a lot of other folks I’m sure. If some of the jive folks out there have made something filthy of the term tea baggers, that’s not my problem. Besides, before this national organization comes up with the term tea party and uses tea bags as part of the slogan, shouldn’t someone have put a bug in their ear?
Actions speak louder than words. Not everyone could come out on the 4th. But the Tea Party at Sugar Hollow Monday night 6-8pm with guest speaker Rep Roe will should make a statement. This is not just about Obama, it is about all of 535 members of Congress that for the most part have put themselves or their party ahead of our interest. This is the reason for Tea Parties and grassroots organizations for States rights such as 10thamendmentfoundation.org. Lets not let our basic freedom and rights erode. If you can’t do it for yourself then think about your children. What we stand for today is what our nation will stand for when they are grown and then for their children. We can start here and now with local government and work it’s way up. Forget about being a member of R-D-I party first, instead work together! And if a good citizen chooses to run for office with strong principals then lets support him/her. That is how we will get ahead. C. U Monday night!
The title of this article just goes to show you how some in the media look down on those who dare to speak out for what they believe in. I expect this from Anderson Cooper and those of his ilk but the reporters of BHC should know better and have more respect for those who are exercising their right to peaceful protest. I bet a liberal protest would not be labled with a graphic sexual term. Reprimand may not be the correct punishment for Ms. McCown, a good ole fashion firing might just be the right thing. A public apology from the BHC is in order!
A sex act is correct for the way our Goverment has $crewed we the people!!
Less Goverment and also more wise people to the facts.
I am trying to figure out what these “tea” people are trying to do. From what I gather they are under the assumption that this administration is the sole responsible party for out demise.
If I am not mistaken nothing was said when the BUsh administration pushed a $700 billion bailout through and put Paulson in charge of it. I even remember telling my representatives that if they voted for this they would not get my vote in the coming elections. Guess what, it passed with most Americans disagreeing and now it’s happening again and they want to put the last administration back in charge?
No thanks. If you want real change the American people are going to have to do more than just assume that a vote is going to do something. Contact your representatives, contact the government and quit buying in to a 2 party system and thinking one side is any different than the other. Because they are not. Bush took care of me just like Obama is taking care of. Neither cared a bit about job loss, and spending. Wake-up. And do something more than just throwing some tea bags in a creek.
Come on now BHC, you are not so naive as a group as to not know that the term Tea Bagger is a term associated with a sexual act. Can you show some decorum and change the headline for this article? It would be one thing if this were a Myspace Blog, but this is a public newspaper.
I think the tea parties are silly, but they’re still just tea *parties*, not tea *baggers*. There is a world of difference in those two phrases and we all know it.
Advertisement