If you believe that, you are very naive. Andy Harris did not drive down here to listen in the rain, he drove down here for a campaign event. He positioned himself to be seen and to speak.

And why no protest about wasting taxpayers’ money to beautify the obsolete “standpipe” in Salisbury?

Don’t just talk the talk if you won’t walk the walk!

In essence, we’re not saying that we necessarily object to paying taxes. But when the people were against the bailouts and excessive spending Congress didn’t listen (well, most of the Republicans did but they’re not a majority currently.) That was more the thrust of our protests, which actually evolved in the tenor of what was said into a commentary on the overreaching federal and state governments – not just into our wallets but onto our properties, into our schools, and those things we own and hold dear.

FF: I hate to tell you this, but bad economics is generally blamed on the guy at the top. It seems like you on the left bashed Bush for a bad economy in the last couple years, so turnabout is fair play.

If the speeches were “definitely partisan” does that not force a reexamination of whether your side’s core beliefs include the concepts of limited government, low taxation, personal freedom (not just to abort babies but own firearms, purchase the type of cars one wishes even if it’s a gas-guzzler, build on your property, etc.), and being accountable for one’s actions?

7of9: In many respects I agreed with Ron Paul’s platform with the exception of the more interventionist foreign policy I favor. It’s not that I would have preferred war in the Middle East but nothing else seemed to be a deterrent to radical Islam. Would you rather we have done nothing to the pirates who hijacked the Maersk Alabama and held the ship’s captain hostage?

I’m a firm believer in the Reagan doctrine of “peace through strength.” Where we are weakest now though is economically and the rally yesterday was an effort to address this.

Aside from that I’m right there with you on state’s rights and personal freedom (for example, I thought the PATRIOT Act should have maintained its sunset date. President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus for a time but it was restored after hostilities ended.)

I don’t want to say the GOP should take your vote for granted but aside from the Libertarians (who rarely score more than low single-digits in a state or national election) there’s no real political home for those beliefs.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank those who did put the event together. For not really organized it was quite well-run – just wish the weather had been better but as it was pointed out George Washington’s freedom fighters braved cold and snow without shoes or sufficient clothing, so our suffering was miniscule comparatively.

I want to thank you for speaking. The Salisbury Tea party was “organized” if you want to call it that by 7 or 9 core people that used their friends, families and contacts to locally get the word out entirely for free using the internet and several local radio personalities. Did we allow the national “Tea Party” movement to popularize this idea, yes. Do we agree with how a few neocons have grabbed onto this popular sentiment. Of course not.

Speaking as one of the 7 of 9 guys that was there, and a Ron Paul republican, I am asking you to please put the Wicomico County / Salisbury neo-Republicans on notice. We are bypassing you. You have failed us by not speaking out loud enough against the Republican neo-con movement that got us to where we are today. By doing so you have enabled this same movement to continue to run the Republican Party. That party has given us, torture as a good idea, out of control budget growth, which is being accelerated logarithmically by the current pretender to the Presidency, a foreign policy of personal retribution that continues to bankrupt us, albeit currently in a slightly different geographic location, and an overall abandonment of Constitutional Principles such as states right, habeas Corpus, and sound money.

These people have abandoned OUR core beliefs, they have abandoned Constitutional mandates, and they are on their way out. Do I want to thank Andy Harris and Debbie Campbell for being there? Yes, of course. But may I humbly ask them if I might send a gentle caution flag their way.

OUR votes are no longer for free. Continue to disenfranchise us and you, like many Republicans, will be sent back home.

http://taxdayteaparty.com/about/

The protest was more about concerned citizens being outraged about the “bankrupt liberal agenda of the White House Administration and Congress. Specifically, the flawed “Stimulus Bill” and pork filled budget [and] out of control government spending” than people who want to cease paying their taxes.

Already the liberal media is twisting the common sense frugal values voiced by millions across the country into Ruby Ridge type people who refuse to pay any government taxes, thereby taking the spotlight off of the first black president who is new on the job and Congress who is just doing the best they can to help him.

What gives, Michael?