Tea Parties and Progressive Journalism

I should be impervious to this, but it still amazes me how the left seems to get everything wrong.

Case in point. I attended one of the hundreds of Tea Parties on tax day. I left feeling refreshed and revitalized. Thousands of like-minded people gathered to voice our disapproval with the way our government is headed. However, listening to the news that night, you would have never known the 5 major points of this story…the who, what, where, when, and why. You see, that’s Journalism 101, but I would never call any of the MSM “progressives” journalists. They report their agenda and rarely get the facts straight. So, my friends, I will give you a REAL report…real journalism, broken down so even my liberal readers can understand.

Who: There were about 4,000 people at the Franklin Tea Party. They were people of all colors, religions, and even political ideals. There were signs held up saying “Lifelong Democrat, but Enough is Enough”, “Democrat Against Spending My Children Into Poverty”, and “Democrat Student, Economics Major, Debt Doesn’t Work”. I was glad that they were there if just to show that this was not a “Republican thing”. There were WWII Veterans, Iraq War Veterans (now called Right Wing Terrorists), children, and lots of middle aged people.

When I got home, I turned on the news. Since there was no local news on at the time, I decided to watch Rachel Maddow (excuse me while I gag)... She amuses me because she has this little sneer when she talks about things she really has no clue about. She talked about how this was a tax protest (which it most certainly was NOT, more on that below), and repeatedly called it tea bagging, referencing the participants as tea baggers. Really? REALLY? Are we still in high school? No one I know that has been involved in this movement has even used those words. She just kept saying it and I just kept laughing. She made herself look so infantile. Like a little kid saying “let’s drive over the dam!!!” Snicker, snicker. THIS is who the libs have as one of their main spokesmen? Embarrassing.

After watching her and flipping back and forth to try to see some legitimate coverage, I finally found a blurb (and by blurb, I mean 10 seconds) on the Tea Party in downtown Nashville. WKRN (local ABC affiliate) said “a few hundred” showed up to protest. WOW, I had friends there and they told me there were several thousand people there. I later found out that the capitol police estimated the crowd to be between 9,800 and 10,500 people! (for the WRKN folks, that would be about 100 hundreds, more than a few).

What: For the lefties out there that listen to your “progressive journalists”, this was not a protest against taxes. Honestly, I have no issue with paying taxes. My police protection is provided by my taxes. Our military is funded by my taxes. I just think everyone should pay their fair share…but I digress.

This started out as a protest “much like the Boston Tea Party”. We used that reference because we felt that our disgust is as strong as the patriots that organized the original Boston Tea Party. It’s an analogy, people. Look it up.

I would like to tell you how the tea party I attended progressed. The first thing we did was say a prayer. An actual prayer to God, and in Jesus name. Guess what? NO ONE WAS OFFENDED! We were there voluntarily, but I would assume that most people were Christians. I’m sure some were not, but they understood that we have the right to pray ANYTIME we want. Even in public!!! (I wonder if a liberal protest has ever started with a Christian prayer? I would be interested to hear of one.)

We then said the Pledge of Allegiance. To the flag. Not to Obama, as the recent YouTube sensation does, but to our flag, the symbol of our country and our freedom.

There was someone there to sing the National Anthem but I couldn’t hear him. That’s because we were ALL singing. It didn’t matter if you could carry a tune or not. We were singing with all our heart. The men removed their caps and held them over their hearts. It made me SO proud to be a conservative. The “progressives” have tried to destroy all that has been traditionally patriotic. I will always hold those traditions dear to me and have taught my children, and will teach my grandchildren, how to honor your country.

None of us stomped our feet, none of us threw anything, there was no cursing. Just bible clinging, gun owning, God fearing Americans. Praying and pledging and singing. Most with smiles, some with tears, all with love for America.

Where: There were over 800 tea parties across the country, in all 50 states, with (at last count) about a million people attending. They were held in small towns, with a gathering of 50 or so, they were held in large cities, like Nashville (10,000 people) and at the Alamo in San Antonio, where over 16,000 true American Patriots showed up. As I mentioned before, my little town of Franklin had about 4,000 there.

When: Unfortunately, because we gathered on April 15th, those that didn’t bother to look into our agenda assumed that we were protesting taxes. Again, we were not. April 15th was just a day that people would remember. Everyone knows it’s tax day. It was decided that, so people could plan ahead and not forget, we would use that day.

Why : We were protesting big government and out of control spending. We wanted to make our voices heard concerning the continued mishandling of the economy. We wanted to show that we are NOT taking part in this recession, and that with sound spending habits and without government interference, we would all come out of this just fine. We want our elected officials to know that should they continue on this path, they would be out of a job in two or so years.

Who do you think is going to pay for this multi TRILLION dollar debt your president is racking up? Possibly me, but most likely my kids. Our founding fathers wanted a country with limited federal authority. Your president wants the exact opposite of everything they intended. Have you read the constitution, specifically the Tenth Amendment? Ignorance of THIS is what we were protesting. We want our state back! In Tennessee, we want Gov. Phil Bredesen to refuse the stimulus money! We want no part of these bail-outs! We want to get back to the intent of the founding fathers.

You haven’t heard the last from us. We will never stop fighting. We are true Patriots…look it up.