Lat night I attended one of the Tax Day Tea Parties in Reston, Virginia. The weather was miserable, but the spirit of the crowd was anything but. This tea party was moved from its originally scheduled site due to the anticipated size of the crowd - which turned out to be the right move.
According to the most recent DHS report (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5410658/DHS-Report-on-Right-Wing-Extremism) I could have been walking into the midst of a bunch of "extremists" and "potential terrorists". But what I actually saw were many mature, responsible, hard-working Americans gathered to peacefully express their concern about the immature and irresponsible behavior of their elected representatives in both parties. It was not ideological or partisan in any way. It was a simple expression of frustration with the ideologies and partisan behavior in Washington that are driving the country toward economic disaster.
Contrast the behavior of the "potential terrorists" at the Tea Parties with the enlightened free-speech crowd that greeted Tom Tancredo at the University of North Carolina on Tuesday night (http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/16/tancredo-ambushed-by-unc-students/). According to TheHill.com "the former congressman wasn't able to get a word in. He was greeted by boos and chants of "no dialogue with hate" and eventually protesters were escorted from the standing room only crowd." Apparently anything that does not align 100% with the liberal point of view is "hate" and does not deserve to be heard. So much for free speech.
What I witnessed at the Tea Party was a sincere, rational expression of a legitimate concern about the future of our country. Those currently in power simply cannot conceive that there could be a legitimate difference of opinion about what they are doing to this nation, so they resort to the usual name-calling, labeling and efforts to stifle the dissent. What a sorry testimony that is about their ability to lead. Which is exactly why we saw the Tax Day Tea Parties yesterday.
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How is it possible that an employee of US taxpayers - the Secretary of DHS - can refuse to call those who attacked America "terrorists" when the facts clearly show that they are, but is willing to call other Americans terrorists with no facts whatsoever to back up that assertion?
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