The Tea Party Express rolled into Washington, D.C. for a rally on Tax Day. I should begin by saying that most of the gathering was civil, polite and having a good time. It is valuable to have a dialog in this country coming from all sides of an issue. Intelligent and constructive dialog is the basis of a strong democracy as is the right to criticize the government. But that being said, it never ceases to amaze me how closed-minded people can be ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ISSUES.
Two examples that I was witness to were both sad and funny at the same time.
The first was at the morning rally at Freedom Square. Amid the protesters was a man walking around dressed at the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. He was carrying a sign bemoaning the fact that the FOX network was torturing America by broadcasting American Idol before Glee.
Seems simple enough, until a woman came up to him and began berating him for picking on FOX News (not what the sign said), and then saying he should be ashamed of himself for being unpatriotic because of his Uncle Sam costume. No matter how much he calmly and quietly tried to explain to her that he was not picking on FOX News and that he was dressed as the Mad Hatter, she would not listen and kept yelling at him. Obviously a case of not reading to get all the facts and not listening. The poor guy was as nice as he could be and said later that he hoped he did not ruin her day.
UPDATE: I found this YouTube video by way of The Daily Show Forum that shows the interaction between these two. (CLICK HERE)
Later there was the rally at the Washington Monument where a fan of President Obama was pleading with Tea Party members to give the President a chance. A plea that was also directed toward Democrats who voted for Obama that are now having second thoughts. This was an interesting moment with the two sides yelling at each other.
The thing I couldn’t help noticing was that the Tea Party supporters where not giving coherent arguments against what the man was saying. Instead they just kept repeating the talking points of the President’s opposition. When pressed to expound on their statements, most did not and simply went on to another talking point. Its was obvious that they had not formed their opinions from their own research. They where parroting the party line and repeating what they heard from their favorite talking heads.
I did find one other thing funny and curious. Washington, D.C. police chased off of the National Mall grounds a man who was selling “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and other banners of the Tea Party movement. According to one of the cops, selling things on federal property is not allowed. The part that was weird was he also said that they had asked Freedom Works, the organizers of the event, if they wanted him at the rally selling the flags and the Freedom Works representative said no.
So, Freedom Works does not want this man to practice capitalism at their rally and have no problem with the police and federal government dictating where someone can earn an honest living.
Seems to me to go against their beliefs about capitalism and having government interference with a person’s pursuit of a living.
More images from the Tea Party Rally in D.C. can be found in my Photoshelter Archive (CLICK HERE).
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Kenneth Feinberg (born October 23, 1945, Brockton, Massachusetts)[1] is an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the U.S. Government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and currently serves as the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, popularly called the "pay czar." Additionally, Feinberg currently serves as the government-appointed administrator of the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund.
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