Monday, April 20, 2009

What I Saw at the Revolution

I was present at the Tea Party at Lykes Gaslight Park in downtown Tampa yesterday. I got there at 4 pm, an hour early – which was good because there were already 100 people on site.

Folks were holding signs along the main drag of Kennedy Blvd elicting honks from passing drivers. Many veterans were there, some holding signs reflecting the current opinion of the
Department of Homeland Security, “I Went to Bed Last Night an Iraq War Veteran and Woke up a Terrorist. A very pretty young lady’s sign, “Read My Lipstick, No New Taxes”. A few had signs with reference to Atlas Shrugged.

According to the organizers 1500 folks were there by 5 pm. The stage was on a flatbed truck parked in a street spot on one side of the park. The event started with a recording of Celine Dion singing "God Bless America", and the Pledge of Allegiance led by a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant. The speakers were local businessmen and radio talk show hosts (no politicians), preaching governmental fiscal restraint. Kind of like the government calling the Dave Ramsey Show.

I saw no evidence of kookery, or the Ronulans, or libs making trouble. Make that one instance of kookery: One of the speakers brought up Obama's birth certificate. Can't these people see that the reason he's not releasing it is because it drives them nuts?

This was not in any way a religious event, but I saw one sign with Galations 5:1 ".It was for freedom that Christ set us free ; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery". That seemed to fit the mood.

And to top it off, out of 1500 people I ran into two friends and didn't have to take the bus home.

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