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 |  Subject: Growing numbers at anti-tax 'tea parties' shows a fed up public  Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:36 am | |
| When historians track the beginnings of the second American Revolution, their search will take them to Morristown, N.J., just like the first time.
And like the first, it will have started with a tax revolt, and anger at an unresponsive government.
Something is happening in this country. And it would be not only arrogant, but unwise, for our elected officials to ignore it.
In the past, movements like the July 4 national Tea Parties were usually sparsely populated by libertarians, radicals and reactionaries. This movement has them too, but with a whole lot more regular folks. The crowd Saturday at Morristown Green was sizable and made up of the put-upon American middle class. Instead of pitchforks and muskets, they were armed with signs, that if nothing else, show many still believe in the visions of the Founding Fathers.
"Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people." - Thomas Jefferson
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." - George Washington
And this, a call to action.
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it." - Thomas Paine.
The Tea Party movement is becoming a national phenomenon. They started locally, in a few cities in a few states, just this year. But the idea is spreading as fast as the internet can take it. On April 15, tax day, there were 750 across the country. For July 4, there were 1,505. Now, a Sept. 12 taxpayer march on Washington is being planned. The number of local organizers running Tea Party groups has swelled to well over 2,000 throughout the 50 states. These could soon be the grassroots seeds of a third political party, one designed to reform government, and bring it back to basics.
Mary Ann Franzese, one of the Morristown Tea Party organizers, said the idea is not so far-fetched, because there is a quiet revolution under way.
"There is a lot of anger and resentment over the way this country is being run," she said. "And it's nonpartisan. Some of our members were big Obama fans who don't see the changes and transparency he promised. So we have Democrats and Republicans here, and independents. These are people who do not like the direction the country is going in."
And their signs said so:
"Give Back Our Country."
"Fight for Your Liberty, Or You'll Get Tyranny."
"Americans have a dream that never dies. Freedom not socialism."
"It's still, 'We, the People.'"
Jimmy Gervasio at Tea Party
While some see the Tea Parties as the work of anti-Obama forces or Fox News -- one Morristown speaker was Fox financial analyst Charles Payne -- the movement is sweeping up people who were formally apolitical.
"I don't go to rallies. I'm not political. But I'm fed up, and the politicians don't listen," said Philip Palma of Succasunna at the July 4 Morristown rally. "This movement is going to get bigger because people are being taxed out of their homes. I'm retiring and I'm thinking of leaving the state because I can't afford my property taxes anymore, and I know people who already have."
But this was not an AARP event. Many young families were there, with children getting a first-hand lesson in the Constitutional rights to assemble and criticize government. American liberty at work.
Republican Assemblyman Rick Merkt, who made a brief run for governor, said "there is a unifying factor that government is too big and powerful and not responsive. Government should work for us, not the other way around. I see those roles, especially in New Jersey, getting confused."
"Those of us in government should be listening to this," said Republican state Sen. Anthony Bucco. "This is growing because taxes are out of control. Government interference is out of control. Things have to change."
Some 2,000 people came to the rally, and Bucco said it was evidence of the anger. "It's a beautiful day, a holiday weekend, and this many people still came out. It's great to see."
And while they came to protest, they also came to celebrate the America they still believe in. The Pledge of Allegiance was said. The Star-Spangled Banner sung, and a prayer delivered, thanking God for blessing the country with such abundance. The flag flew high at the center of the Green, under a flawless blue sky.
"We're standing on sacred ground," said Franzese. On June 27, 1774, the Morris freeholders held a rally protesting the "oppressive and arbitrary taxes" of King George. Nearly a year later, they made a "unanimous call for liberty and self-government." Washington made his first headquarters at Arnold Tavern overlooking the Green, in the winter of 1777, after victories at Trenton and Princeton.
On the Green today is a statue of Washington with Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette, who also stayed in Morristown, and where Lafayette pledged French support against the British.
On the other side of the Green is a monument called Patriot's Farewell, which depicts a soldier leaving his family to fight the war. It is dedicated to the common soldier and their families "whose sacrifices created a strong and enduring nation." Regular people, on whose backs the nation was built and maintained, and which will fall if they give up on it. Is anybody listening?
http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/07/growing_numbers_at_antitax_tea.html |
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