AFF Sentinel Vol.6#13

Colorado Springs, CO April 29, 2009

Click here to see Tea Party photo 1

A key question readers asked after our issue listing the challenges raised to freedom and free markets by the new administration and Congress was, in effect, are we free market agriculture advocates alone in our concern? Is anyone else paying attention?

The hundreds of Tax Day Tea Party rallies and the hundreds of thousands of citizens of every age, economic strata and political affiliation who showed up answered that question. After meetings in Washington D. C., we were in Virginia on Tax Day. We had our choice of roughly 15 Tea Party rallies to find on to fit into our travel schedule. Virginia Beach fit and the photos here came from that rally of 2,500 to 3,000 people.

Click here to see Tea Party photo 2

Click here to see Tea Party photo 3

Click here to see Tea Party photo 4

Observe the people in these photos. Older, middle aged or young, they shared one trait. They were all like a bird dog on point - focused, attentive and enthusiastic. There were dozens of homemade signs. No pre-printed, union supplied signs here. And the thousands at rallies we saw on television or listened to on the radio at the Alamo and in Atlanta displayed wit and wisdom, too.

Click here to see Tea Party photo 5

Our favorites reported from the biggest rallies: "Stop the Pirates in Congress" and "It's Not Their Money!" Our favorite photographed at the Virginia Beach rally: "A Government Big Enough to Give You Everything You Want Is Big Enough to Take Everything You Have." The lady who made the sign referenced Thomas Jefferson, but our research credits Gerald R. Ford. However, we didn't see one of our favorites from Jefferson that is relevant: "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves."

Not only does the modern left not believe in a government governing least, it believes its current citizenry totally incapable of deciding much of anything for itself. A big government taking everything from us was true enough when a king and a royal parliament were doing it without representation in the 1770s. It is true now when our abysmal representation and lousy leadership is doing it to us. And the degree of difference between one imperial leadership and another is far narrower than one would expect.

Speaking of the radio, if you wonder if the liberals are nervously noting voter anger, the temperature of their vitriol is a good barometer.

"Tea Party goers are `whimpy, whining weasels who don't love their country,'" according to liberal political strategist and former Clinton advisor Paul Begala on Don Imus' radio show that week. Quite evocative of Joe Biden's comment that paying higher taxes is patriotic. Patriotic or not, we've heard no one on the planet with any explanation as to where the money will come from to pay not higher but unimaginable taxes. And why is it that those most responsible for those taxes seem least concerned, i.e. Reid, Pelosi and President Obama?

As if Americans had not been given enough taxes, spending and government control issues to concern them, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) angered more folks just a week before Tax Day. DHS issued a memo warning the nation's law enforcement officers about the kinds of "rightwing extremists" who could become involved in "terrorist attacks" against America. Economic pressures, including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and credit problems, plus the election of an African American president, could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremist groups, the memo said.

One category of rightwing extremists is "antigovernment" rightwing extremists, who could include those who oppose abortion or immigrants, the memo said. The officers were also warned about those who opposed gun control laws and gun registration and returning service veterans as possible rightwing extremists. Interestingly, the memo then distinguished between these rightwing extremist types and "law-abiding Americans" who have been stockpiling ammunition.

It's hard to come by accurate numbers for the total attendance at Tea Parties but it seems safe to say some 800 parties were held and total estimates range from 300,000 on up. Amazing, given no official organization or political party coordinating or publicizing. So cattlemen are not the only folks concerned.

The question is, have you contacted your Congressman today or this week?

Have you taken steps to discuss our country's situation - and agricultures' serious concerns - with friends, neighbors and relatives? Livestock producers from the country have contacts in small towns or big cities.

If you attended a Tea Party rally, let us know what you saw.

And remember, you're not alone ... but free market thinkers against gargantuan federal spending and control need to recruit voting allies.

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