citydesk

Archives | RSS

  |  

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tea Party Boise Tea Baggers rally

Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 5:18 PM



National media outlets may continue to debate whether or not Tea Party day was an authentic or manufactured phenomenon.


But here in Boise, there is no doubt that the 2,500 marchers that crammed into Capitol Park at lunch time Wednesday, represent a real, if somewhat confused and confusing constituency.

I spent about three hours trying to sort that out, but one Idaho lawmaker, known for speaking her mind, summed up the fringe ideologies that made up this crowd quite well.

Prior to Rep. Lenore Barrett’s speech (see below, I'll get to it), I had spent the morning trying to figure out the precise ideology that linked the Boise State student who complained about the national debt in the same breath that she lamented having to put herself through school to the guy who let his little dog crap in the path of the marchers and remarked that there was probably a government program to take care of it.

I caught up to the Boise group as marchers entered Julia Davis Park and assembled at the Gene Harris band shell.

Led by Boise theocrat Bryan Fischer, an accomplished emcee and master of Astroturf manipulation, the crowd cheered lines about "legalized plunder" and government assistance weakening the character of those who receive it.

Fischer introduced an objectivist who quoted at length from Atlas Shrugged and argued that the original Boston Tea Party was all about individual rights.

I later asked Greg “Who is John Galt?” Perkins, a local jazz saxophonist, how opposing taxation without representation relates to individual freedom—weren’t the colonists asking for their own representative government to tax them instead?—and he handed me a flier about Ayn Rand.

“Atlas Shrugged could be considered the second Declaration of Independence,” Perkins said.

Then Idaho ex-congressman Bill Sali took the stage for an adoring crowd at Julia Davis Park. It was possibly his first public appearance since his non-concession speech on the day after the November election, which he lost to Democrat Walt Minnick.

“How many of you think that government spending is the answer to our problems?” Sali asked, rhetorically.

The answer should be business and free enterprise, Sali continued.

The crowd then marched down Capitol Boulevard toward the Idaho Statehouse where a roast pig and a gaggle of Idaho legislators awaited the tea baggers, and the meat of the rally.

That was when Rep. Lenore Barrett, a Republican from Challis, in a short speech delivered from the bed of a pickup truck, summed up the reasons for the gathering in a 10-point list worth repeating:

1. Congress wouldn’t recognize the Constitution “if it fell in their lap and called them daddy.”
2. The lack of a gold standard.
3. Global warming, which is a decoy designed to create a global panic.
4. Stop apologizing for the Judeo-Christian heritage of the country.
5. American sovereignty and withdrawal from the UN.
6. State sovereignty.
7. Bailouts and stimulus is just buying votes.
8. Keep your hands off my kids, abolish the secretary of education position.
9. My kids were the product of a “traditional marriage” from the moment of conception.
10. Secure our borders and, finally, “Come get your killer wolves.”

So there you have it. As one politically astute observer in the crowd, an acquaintance of mine, put it, the Tea Baggers were linked by one thing: folks who have been left behind as American society progresses.

If they keep marching, they may just catch up.


Tags: ,

Pin It
Share

Comments (7)

Showing 1-7 of 7

Add a comment

That was a supremely lame article.

report   
Posted by Riffs, Rumours and Rants on All Things Dallas Cowboys... on 04/15/2009 at 6:14 PM

how was the article lame? Let's see you describe the essence of a crazy mob.

The 10 talking points are a gem.

report   
Posted by Dev on 04/15/2009 at 9:59 PM

Sorry you had to spend your time sorting out that madness, but thanks! Great article.
Keep marching, crazies!

report   
Posted by David on 04/16/2009 at 12:04 PM

Okay so the group's disjointed, they don't know exactly what they stand for, and they're living in the past on some issues, that does not invalidate all their points. I personally hold some of those beliefs but I must grant that the presentation of the ideas was somewhat ... pathetic, not to mention the group's name which I can't say without snickering.

report   
Posted by ajpipki on 04/16/2009 at 12:16 PM

What a disaster. And you know what? These morons who claimed taxes were at the root of it, are nuts. Thanks to Obama, I have less withheld now than in years past.

What a bunch of kooks.

report   
Posted by Benjamin on 04/16/2009 at 1:14 PM

One of the best write-ups I've seen, citydesk. Thanks.
The Idaho Democratic Party responded on our website: http://tinyurl.com/d4tgnx

report   
Posted by Idaho Democratic Legislators on 04/17/2009 at 11:44 AM

You liberals just don't get it. Stand up for the Constituion and you are labeled a 'crazy nut'. Apparently our country has forgot what made us great to begin with! And FYI- we weren't protesting current taxes, we are protesting WHAT IS COMING. Someone is going to have to pay for Obama's programs, once he kills off all the rich people. Wealth redistribution leads to equality in one way only- EVERYONE ends up POOR.

report   
Posted by Cyndijon on 04/19/2009 at 12:03 PM
Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS
Showing 1-7 of 7

Add a comment

© 2012 Boise Weekly

Website powered by Foundation