Here's my report from the Spokane Tea Party:
I arrived a half hour early to the Spokane Tea Party to find about 1000 people there. The crowd probably doubled after I got there. I wouldn't be surprised to see an official count of 2000-3000.
The crowd was composed of people like me, children of the Greatest Generation, whose own generation practically invented the protest rally during the 60s. I sincerely doubt that many of them participated in the 60s war protests; indeed, many were veterans.
People of my age and a little younger outnumbered the 20-30 year old group by a wide margin, but there were many children.
My dog Daisy came with me and took the whole thing in with her typical mellow approach to life. After shaking the hand of every child and many adults who stopped to pet her, she simply laid down next to my feet.
There were a lot of signs; maybe about a quarter of the people there had a sign or flag of some kind. Some of them were very creative and pithy. All carried a blunt but respectful message referring to the out-of-control government in some way. Quite a few of them addressed taxes, but most had a comment or protest about some constitutional issue.
My favorite sign was one that was divided in two sections. On the left, a list of our founding documents and the number of pages of each, which totaled only a few dozen pages. On the right was a list of the pages associated with the tax code and other similar government documents.
There were no signs of the kind you might expect at a rally, depicting the President as a war monger or war criminal such as those flouted at left-wing rallies, or otherwise denigrating President Obama in disrespectful terms or images.
I saw no infiltrators or moles in the crowd, and I looked quite intently for them. Some of the people I thought might be so I saw clapping at their favorite places.
The organizers must have underestimated the expected crowd, because there wasn't enough space for everyone. The speaker's stand was invisible except for the first few rows of people.
I was standing on a platform just behind the statue of Spokane's astronaut, Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson, who was killed in the Challenger disaster, and maybe fifty feet from the speakers, but I could not see the speakers. The sound system was inadequate for the job, as speakers who didn't keep the microphone close enough to their mouth could not be heard. The crowd demanded that they speak louder, but some of them were not up to it. Nobody left or booed because of it.
The rally grounds were bounded on one side by water and on two sides by buildings. The crowd took up all the available space in three directions like the spokes of a wheel.
Many many cars honked as they drove by the rally.
The loudest cheering and applause came when the speakers emphasized the principles embodied in the Bill of Rights, specifically the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, which state that powers not delegated to the United States are reserved to the states OR TO THE PEOPLE! There was also loud cheering when one of the speakers mentioned the RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS, which is protected by the Second Amendment.
I felt enormously empowered by my quiet participation in this rally. I say quiet because I had no sign and I tried to cheer only when I could hear what point was being cheered.
The proof of the pudding will be if the enthusiasm revealed by this rally persists until the next election and beyond. If I were a politician, I would take it seriously...
BECAUSE: the people at the rally represented a segment of the population that is rarely vocal beyond the polling place. Together they represent A SLEEPING GIANT NOW AWAKENED, that politicians will ignore to their peril.
I walked by one local TV reporter talking to a camera. I'll have to see if I show up in the spot as I walked by. There were a few large video cameras in the crowd that might have been professionals.
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