My Tea Party Experience..

The Tea Party and Tea Party Express movements have been quite the subject in the media over the past year.. There has been some favorable coverage and some unfavorable.. I had been contemplating over the past week whether or not to attend the Tea Party Rally that was scheduled in Sonoma County.. As someone that voted for Obama and has voted Democrat (and Green) most of my adult life, I did NOT know how I would react to many of the viewpoints.. However, being someone that LOVES to explore everything controversial, I decided to ditch my 12 o' clock Sociology Class and make the trek to Downtown Santa Rosa to experience "The Tea Party"..

I didn't know what to expect.. A bunch of Palin supporters? A bunch of "birthers"? Ron Paul supporters, Libretarians and Constitutionalists? Arriving downtown when the rally was in FULL swing a little after 12pm (as the Rally had started at 11 am), I was greeted by the presence of American flags blowing in the wind.. I also noticed a sizable crowd, which I was surprised to see, given my belief that Sonoma County was as liberal as North Dakota is Conservative..

There were HUNDREDS of people in attendance.. I walked a bit through the crowds and checked out some of the signs being held by those standing alongside Santa Rosa Ave. and 3rd St. Some of the signs were blasting "Taxation" and "Obamacare", others were rally cries for Republicans (or they called them "Conservatives") to "Take back the country in November".. My Personal Favorite sign was the Older more Hippie looking guy with a greying Ponytail that read "Grow Vegetables, Not Government".. That encompassed my sentiments more so than any Pro-Republican sign.. There were honks in support from many vehicles passing by, with no vocal dissenters..

I walked through the crowd which was, contrary to liberal stereotypes, fairly diverse.. There were older people, younger people, people "dressed up", young adults with facial piercings obviously "dressed down".. There were White people, Asian and Middle Eastern people, Latino and Black people.. Up on the stage, there was a Sonoma State student who decried "liberal instructors", there was a Latino business owner who gave an optimistic speech about the future of America and how the country "shall rise again".. The most impassioned AND the "Obama was born in Kenya" speech was delivered by a Black gentlemen.. He took the stage sporting a dark blue T-shirt with a USSR anchor symbol with the words "OBAMA" across the bottom.. He went in to rant about how the Democratic Party need not judge a "book by it's cover" and compared Obama, Pelosi and Reid to "Socialists".. He made a couple of references to Obama NOT being born in the U.S. and alluded to his election being "Unconstitutional".. WHOA!

The thing that I noticed though, as with other protests that I've been to, there seems to be a movement to gather the protesters into supporting ONE specific political party.. In this case it was the "Republicans".. In the Anti-War protests that I attended in 2002, it was the "Democrats".. These attempts at corralling voters into these two camps seems the most shameful to me.. The Tea Party was a grassroots movment launched by Ron Paul supporters in 2008, it was NEVER meant to be just a place to "hawk" a Republican political candidate..

Although it may not have been specifically my "cup of tea", it is ALWAYS a good thing to see American citizens exercise THEIR Constitutional rights.. The rights that most of us take for granted AND many around the World wish that they could attain.. God Bless America!