Olympia Tea Party, Part 1: Before

The Washington State Capitol in Olympia, Washington.

As we approached the Capitol building, all appeared quiet and industrious. The day had begun with ice encrusted windshields and fog. By the time our group arrived, around 10:45am, the fog had lifted and the temperatures had risen to the 40s.

We walked up the sidewalk and turned right to walk past the columns and go around to the back of the building. The Legislative building faced the Temple of Justice across a broad square. Many steep steps lead up to the two buildings, forming a crude amphitheater with the steps sweeping up on two sides and the square wide enough for several lanes of traffic. It held several hundred when we arrived, but it soon would hold thousands.

When we came into the square, people were milling around, some standing on the steps of both buildings, many with signs, others with cameras, boom boxes, or citizen's petitions. The various sponsors of the event had folding tables set up and they were busy passing out pamphlets and selling their wares.

Here are the steps to the Legislative Building facing the square where people were already staking out their territory.

The other side of the Legislative Building, part way up the steps.

From the steps of the Legislative Building.

We met a lot of people, talked to them about their signs, where they were from, what a nice day we had for it, and what were their thoughts on the whole event. More and more people streamed in. There were parents with children, babies in strollers, a few elderly and infirm in wheelchairs and every age in between. It was a mixed crowd of working class, businessmen and women, white and green collar workers -- that had one thing in common -- all were Washington state taxpayers and mad as could be that all state taxes were slated to go up dramatically. Confiscatory taxes at all levels and their escalation brought us all together and kept us talking.

Tomorrow I'll have more pictures, a summary of the speeches and what our little group did afterward.