But wait, fast-forward to 2010. The spontaneous Tea Party movement in Sumner County has become the SURG, a highly organized, well nourished group whose main diet consists of John Birch newsletters, old Ron Paul Revolution signs, a sprinkling of kerosene to taste (just in case anyone feels an itch to burn something), and a high gloss frosting of pig’s lipstick. As advertised, the Tax Day Tea Party of 2010 includes fun booths for the kiddies, an essay contest for High Schoolers, restaurant sponsors hawking food, and supposedly, sound stages fit for a music super-star. Great I say. Hendersonville has no lack of municipal parks that anyone can reserve, provided they are sufficiently organized to safely adhere to the City’s regulations for use of public facilities.
But after being offered numerous parks locations and rejecting them because of their lack of proximity to Main Street, the SURG brain trust decided to have their event (I’m sure out of deep nostalgia) in the same City Hall Parking lot as last year. And when they requested a permit for the parking lot, law abiding and upstanding that they are, did they get one? No. Parking lots are public property, but not event facilities. To the extent that anyone can gather on public property, they are of course exercising their multitude of First Amendment rights : the right to freedom of speech, the right peaceably to assemble, and the right, perhaps most precious, to petition the government for redress of grievances. (Though what Hendersonville City Hall can do to repeal Health Care or stop the Bail Out, with their stimulus-money-air-conditioners sitting on the roof, I know not. But I get it: symbolism. Check.)
But to the extent that they gather on public property without a permit, they are beholden to the same laws as anyone else. And here is where it gets Rich, as in John Rich, the show-stopping music-star-cum-political-scion extraordinaire head-lining the infotainment portion of the program. How do you suppose the city and its citizens would look on it if you & I decided to show up some evening, set up a sound system and start blasting music, speeches, and so on? How about if we opened up a little food stand selling Barbeque in the median of a busy street, or on any grassy knoll the city mows? How about if we invite a few thousand people, Woodstock style, to an “impromptu” gathering? Well, you answer, we’d be shut down, asked to move on, fined, at the very least.
But you know what? Who cares, right? This is a movement! A liberty loving, all American, red-blooded, constitutionally approved event! And, card carrying Civil Liberties lover that I am, who am I to stand in the way of the First Amendment rights of any member of We the People? Agree or disagree, I will defend your right to say what you think hands down, no holds barred. And hey, I’m key instigator of my own event anyway, the Sumner County Democratic Party Civility Dinner (ya’ll come! Course we are having it at a privately owned community center that we have properly attained permission to use, but that’s beside the point.) So far be it for me to hypocritically criticize or mock the size, scope, purpose, or process of another political group’s event. So party on, Tea People!
Except then, there’s this in the paper from Tea Party marketer Matt Moynihan:
Just try and crash us
A group called CrashtheTea Party.org is the latest group of liberals doing its best to take down our movement. They claim to represent "a nationwide network of Democrats, Republicans and Independents who are all sick and tired of that loose affiliation of racists, homophobes and morons; who constitute the fake grassroots movement, which calls itself 'the Tea Party.'"
Their plan is to infiltrate Tea Party protests to create the false impression that protesters are racists by… being racists. Yes, they will bring with them offensive and misspelled signs and try to give wildly offensive interviews to reporters, all with the intention of smearing a movement that would never bring those signs or give those interviews themselves. We’ve seen them before. If you are there tomorrow night, you will not be tolerated and you will be called out on the spot and asked to leave.
So, true to their mob rule mentality, not only is the Tea Party in Sumner County bluntly stating that dissenting voices will not be tolerated, they’re also attempting to erect a defense around the indefensible. So if anyone sees anything remotely stupid, offensive, or malign it isn’t the Tea Party doing it, oh no! It’s the 6 foot invisible rabbit in their midst, or maybe it’s aliens, no that’s silly! Wait, I got it: of course, it’s the Liberals did it! (In true Tea Party style let me simply ask, how do WE know THEY didn’t make that web site up themselves, hmmmm???)
Tea Party, please. You just ask all the racists and all the people holding misspelled signs to leave, and keep your group nice and pure, just the real Americans, just the real patriots. Stay nourished by the bile of your incendiary, hate-filled leaders, while the rest of America shakes their head in disgust and tries to remember the country their parents and grand-parents taught them to be proud of. But Hendersonville, when you are slogging your way home from work tonight or if you are trying to get to the Post Office on time to mail those taxes, just remember: if the traffic is at a stand-still and the grid-lock is making you pull your hair out, the Tea Party did it.
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