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Approximately 500 people gathered in the Crim Dell Meadow at the College of William and Mary to protest state and federal tax policies at the “Colonial Area Tea Party for America” Saturday. The event, organized by the College Republicans, was organized to rally against what the group called “wasteful government spending.”
“Our event is part of a national movement to have these Tea Parties during the week of Tax Day,” College Republican Chairman Thomas Chappell ’11 said. “It is clear that many of us here at the College are fed up with the wasteful government spending and the bailouts that run contrary to the principles of capitalism and threaten the American Dream.”
Despite the event’s name, there was no rebellious dumping of colonial tea into the Crim Dell. Instead, a large crowd of mostly over 50-year-olds, along with a few students and children, listened to speeches from prominent Virginia politicians and student leaders of College political organizations.
Although the event was advertised as a non-partisan event, there was a clear conservative tone to the ceremony.
Speakers included U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA 1), Va. Delegates Brenda Pogge and Bill Janis and Va. Sen. Tommy Norment, all of whom are Republicans.
Maurice Nestor, the Williamsburg community coordinator from the organization Americans for Fair Taxation, was also present. According to the group’s website, it promotes legislation that “abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.”
“If you understand the legislation, you’ll support it,” Nestor said.
Mary K. Jones, vice chair of the James City County Board of Supervisors, also spoke.
“It is important that we get back to the principles of free enterprise,” Jones said. “Get the government out of the way.”
Student speakers included Michael Young ’11, president of William and Mary Young Libertarians, and law student Stephen Murray J.D. ’11, an active duty Naval Officer.
In his speech, Young said that the Young Libertarians disagree with many of the College Republicans’ opinions, except on the issue of big government spending.
“On this one we are with the [College Republicans] one-hundred percent, and with a campus coalition we are ready to fight this battle,” Young said.
Allusions to the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers developed a clear motif for the event.
“These tea parties are in many ways protests against taxation without representation,” Chappell said. “The vast majority of people that will be forced to pay for all the bailouts, stimuli and big government programs are not represented in Washington. Most of the people that will be forced to foot the bill are not even born yet. If that is not taxation without representation, I don’t know what is.”
Janis’s speech invoked Patrick Henry’s historic arrival in Williamsburg to protest the Stamp Acts. He also recited parts of Thomas Jefferson’s first Inaugural Address.
Other speakers also alluded to Jeffersonian principles. Murray said that the reality of Lincoln’s famous mantra from the Gettysburg Address has been twisted into “a government of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats and for the bureaucrats.”
Murray promoted boycotting banks and insurance companies that receive bailout money in order to “stop government socialism and crony capitalism.”
Wittman spoke last, reiterating Janis’s allusions to the injustice of the Stamp Act and calling Washington “thirty miles of fantasy land surrounded by reality.”
The crowd booed when speakers mentioned Democratic leaders such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.
Some held signs reading, “Obama! I’ll pay the taxes, you keep ‘the change,’” and “Repent America! Maybe
it’s not too late!” Attendees also bought buttons bearing President Barack Obama’s face with the words
“Welcome back, Carter” and waved “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.
“The speakers definitely knew how to get the crowd going,” Will Clements ’11, a member of the College Republicans, said.
Amanda Russell ’11, another College Republicans member, said that it was not exactly a nonpartisan turnout, but she was excited to see so much passion surrounding a conservative event.
“For once, you know, the Republicans get to protest,” Russell said.
Audience enthusiasm translated into further activism as attendees filled out hundreds of postcards with teabags printed on them to send to politicians like Obama, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and Wittman.
The Americans for Fair Taxation added over 100 people to their mailing list according to an e-mail from Chappell. Other attendees were able to register to vote at another stand, which Pogge described as a means to “register like-minded people.”
The organizers of the event were thrilled with its success. According to Chappell, the Tea Party was the most-attended activity hosted by the College Republicans in recent memory. Despite the cold rain, only about half of the original crowd left due to the weather.
“It is rare when politicians are this accessible, but I think the event provided an appropriate forum for our elected leaders to touch base with their grassroots in an informal setting, which is exactly what we are looking for,” Chappell said. “It’s one thing to have a rally just to complain and protest, but it’s so much more effective if we can turn our frustration into action by telling our elected leaders how we feel in person.”
Colonial Area Tea Party from Flat Hat on Vimeo.
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22 Comments
Ugh—what a bunch of
Ugh—what a bunch of assholes. Where does this pasty mob come from? Home schools?
The Money Masters –
The Money Masters – http://www.themoneymasters.com
Part 1: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6076118677860424204
Part 2: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7336845760512239683&hl=en
This video production adds some interesting thoughts to the discussion of the financial problems of America.
“If you understand, the
“If you understand, the legislation you’ll support it,” Nestor said.
Mmm, not so much…here’s a breakdown of how backwards these plans really are: http://tiny.cc/Ov8K8
To say that if we frown
To say that if we frown upon Bush’s spending we must also criticize Obama’s spending because it currently exceeds last year’s budget is absurd.
First of all, more than $800 billion have been spent on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While the former was of course necessary and proper in light of 9/11, the Iraq war was a venture in the sort of neo-liberal imperialism championed by Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney and had little to do with terrorism.
As if that spending wasn’t bad enough, the Bush Administration told us that we could have massive tax cuts while at the same time balancing those expensive wars, and a dramatic expansion of the federal government (contrary to what platitudes would suggest, Bush did this more than Clinton).
Obama’s spending may look worse on its face. But look further than that. For one thing the stimulus monies are invested in American countries for American people, and will soon be put to help Amerian infrastructure. These are investments, unlike the money that was simply dumped on liberating/conquering Iraq. Sometime in the future we’ll see a net gain on that money. Furthermore, SecDef Gates’ (W&M ’65) announcement that the DoD would be cutting back on several unnecessary projects to focus on more realistic priorities shows that defense spending is getting smarter.
Plus…Obama had a couple months to put together his first budget. That is hardly enough time to rein in the exorbitant spending, and next year’s budget should be a better indicator of where his mind is at. Keep in mind that it took more than 5 years for Clinton to produce budget surpluses…
pals in case you hadn’t
pals
in case you hadn’t noticed
we still have representative government. democracy does not dissolve whenever your side loses.
Aww, Republicans are so
Aww, Republicans are so cute sometimes. Someone doesn’t agree with us?! It has to be the liberal media’s fault!!! Someone is liberal? They must have been brainwashed!!! It can’t be our own fault, no way!
First, diversity of thought
First, diversity of thought is just as important as diversity of ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, etc. A room full of W & M students arguing over political philosophy and discussing different viewpoints represents intellectual diversity the same way (or more than) a room full of gay and straight men and women from all over the world that think the same would. To say we should look beyond stereotypes and outward appearances, but then think diversity is fulfilled simply by people that look different on the outside is pretty hypocritical.
Second, yes, there was extreme spending during the Bush administration. But the deficit spending by Obama within his first 100 days has far outpaced what Bush did in 8 years. If you’re going to complain about Bush’s spending, then there is no other logical thing to do than complain about Obama’s spending. It is just as cynical to give Obama a pass now whilst lambasting what Bush did as it is to chide Obama without anger at Bush.
Overall, get your arguments straight.
Good job
Good job 1209!
Suggestions of bigotry: Check!
Reference to the Bush administration: Check!
yes, don anderson, you’re
yes, don anderson, you’re right. i am advocating bigotry by saying that i can judge you for your political opinions. you have never judged anyone for their political views. in fact, you aren’t judging me right now by coming to the conclusion that i advocate bigotry. you, sir, are an immaculate god with no opinions or beliefs.
Uh-oh, everybody. Owen just
Uh-oh, everybody.
Owen just made a good point.
Time to start calling him an elitist bigot and bringing up all the problems of the Bush administration.
Person A:
Person B: “Yeah, but what about what BUSH did?!?”
Wasteful spending is ok if
Wasteful spending is ok if there is a Bush or Reagan in office, I guess? Is that how it works? I’m starting to get it. It’s ok to waste unless you have a (D) next to your name.
it’s like all Republicans
it’s like all Republicans view the world through an autistic filter or something
Hey, quit picking on the
Hey, quit picking on the minority. What’s sad is that only about 500 of you have managed to still have some brains after years of liberal brain washing, begun during your high school years and continued at the College. I thought you were supposed to be learning “diversity”? Apparently, you’re only interested in ideas that fit your preconceived left-wing view of the world. In fact, things you don’t understand are so foreign the seem as if they’re being viewed “through an autistic filter or something”.
Extreme government waste and corruption is a permanent fact of life over the entire planet and it’s been that way for thousands of years. The notion that a “new” and “compassionate” bunch of bureaucrats will now reverse all previous history is ridiculous. It won’t work and has the potential for great harm and loss of freedom. The only thing that’s been proven to provide both prosperity and freedom is limited government through representative democracy. More government means less prosperity, more corruption, more waste and the very real possibility of oppression, perhaps even severe oppression.
“The only thing that’s
“The only thing that’s been proven to provide both prosperity and freedom is limited government through representative democracy. More government means less prosperity, more corruption, more waste and the very real possibility of oppression, perhaps even severe oppression.”
LOL. You’re… you’re joking, right?
Sweden anyone?
“Smaller” government means a bigger gap between rich and poor, fewer regulations on business and therefore more corruption in businesses, more workplace abuses, etc.
Another way you are proven to be stupid is this statement:
“I thought you were supposed to be learning ‘diversity’?” I think you misunderstand diversity. I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re Republican. Your vote for Bush or idol worship of Reagan doesn’t count as diversity. You can choose your political affiliations and I can judge you for them (I’m not an employer). Discrimination based on race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. is serious business because those are very real aspects of identity (“In sociology and political science, the notion of social identity is defined as the way that individuals label themselves as members of particular groups [e.g., nation, social class, subculture, ethnicity, gender, etc.]. It is in this sense that sociologists and historians speak of the national identity of a particular country, and feminist and queer theorists speak of gender identity.”). One does not choose the sex they are assigned at birth yet you choose to vote for terrible politicians.
Thanks for the lesson on
Thanks for the lesson on “diversity”. I now realize that recognizing the content of someone’s character is folly and that I should be focusing like a laser beam on their race, gender, sexual orientation and various other characteristics they were born with. Unless, of course, I believe they may be inclined to “vote for Bush or idol worship of Reagan”, in which case they don’t count and I must heap scorn on them. Worse, if I believe they “choose to vote for terrible politicians” (as defined by me?), why then they are less than pond scum and I am fully justified in remaining totally ignorant of their opinions. After all, having pre-judged their opinions, I pretty much know what they think before I even listen, right? [Hmmmm…pre-judging…it’s not the same as prejudice, right? No, it can’t be. Liberal can’t be prejudice. Only old, white conservatives can.]
Gosh, I had no idea that “diversity” was so simple and easy to appy. That guy is black: I love him. She’s probably lesbian: love her too. He may be a Republican (Log Cabin or not): instant hate. And democracy? Once again, soooooo easy! If they don’t vote like I do but instead choose those “terrible” folks: my fingers go in my ears, I close my eyes and go “waa waa waa…can’t hear you!”, like I used to do when I was eight years old. Gosh, this College-level opening of one’s mind is a snap!
Protesting wasteful
Protesting wasteful government spending? Where were these people from 2001-2008 and 1981-1993?
Well, want to do your part to end wasteful government spending? Vote against Republicans.
big government spending is
big government spending is great as long as you fund it with taxes on the rich. there would be no national debt and wealth would be more equally distributed. sounds great to me.
The libertarian presence at
The libertarian presence at this event, if nothing else, shows that these views in large part are not specifically Republican or conservative. We should all be concerned about large-scale government spending, whether a Republican or Democratic President signs off on the bills. In less than one year, Obama has spent nearly the equivalent of the entire GDP. OUR generation is the one that will be forced to pay for the inevitable tab.
Billions and billions of
Billions and billions of dollars spent to invade a random country and kill thousands of innocent people for no reason: “Fine by me.”
Billions and billions of dollars spent on public works projects in order to keep people from starving in the streets: “MY TAX DOLLARS!!!”
“These tea parties are in
“These tea parties are in many ways protests against taxation without representation,” Chappell said. “The vast majority of people that will be forced to pay for all the bailouts, stimuli and big government programs are not represented in Washington. Most of the people that will be forced to foot the bill are not even born yet. If that is not taxation without representation, I don’t know what is.”
You’re right. The people being disproportionately taxed, people who are not in the ‘upper/upper middle class,’ don’t have representation. The people with all the opportunities for representation are the rich. Therefore, we should clearly tax the shit out of the rich if we’re going to go by the rule “tax with representation.”
http://www.virginia-organizing.org/campaign/more_charts.pdf
hey check out all the
hey check out all the republican spending
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss326/sdconnors/Revenue_v_Spending.png
what a bunch of
what a bunch of hypocrites
http://www.mypolls.us/republican.national.debt.jpg