Olympia Tea Party, Part 2: Rally

This was the only poster I saw that referenced the President. It gently pokes fun at him but is nothing like the disrespectful effigies, obscenities and viciousness that dogged President Bush throughout his term.


A member of our group went up to the top step of the Legislative Building and snapped this picture shortly after we arrived at the square. Within an hour and a half, the steps would fill up and the green field between the buildings would be covered with a sea of humanity.


To our right more people streamed into the square. Busloads from small towns all over Western Washington arrived and joined the main group. Every busload was greeted with cheering and waving from those of us on the steps. As high noon approached, the excitement in the crowd was contagious. Soon it would begin!


The rally began with a joyously spirited version of "God Bless America," which we all sang at the top of our lungs. The lady in red in the lower corner of the picture was the mistress of ceremonies and got the ball rolling. The crowd to her immediate right included the Washington State Auditor Brian Sontag [Democrat], several State Senators [both parties], lobbyists, talk radio personalities, and citizen activists. The wider crowd behind them swept out toward the steps of the Temple of Justice and connected to the steps where we stood. The steps of the Legislative Building were packed to the top, about ten to 15 rows behind us. The slice of participants in the picture represents about 15 to 20%.


Popular radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur stepped up to the microphone first and had the crowd roaring with approval. He is a well respected history teacher as well as radio personality and put the whole event into historical perspective for us and validated our right to be there. He reminded us of the Founding Fathers and the sacrifices they made to create our country and how so many of our elected leaders have forgotten the principles that have guided this country for centuries.

More speakers followed Kirby, including a little girl, maybe age 7 or 8, who was quite articulate and read a portion of one of the founding documents, The Declaration of Independence. She read the first paragraph and half of the second. The part that drew the most cheers was, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." The kid got a good hand! Someone with a trumpet blew a few blasts to add to the noise.


I had two favorite speakers. Both came a little later in the proceedings. The first was Mike Siegel, witty and controversial talk show host, communication specialist and one heck of a fantastic speaker. We were close enough to the podium that well before he stepped up to the microphone, I saw him chatting with Kirby and some of the other guest speakers. I was surprised to see him in the Puget Sound area again but very glad. He's going to be on local radio again with a show on KKOL 1300 AM next week or next month, I didn't quite catch that, as it's not on the station website yet. Mike soon had thousands chanting "No more pork!" until I thought the buildings around us would explode like the walls of Jericho. He energized us and helped us keep our resolve to fight the wasteful spending.


More speakers followed. Washington State Auditor Brian Sontag earned a great deal of respect from thousands attending the rally who did not vote for him when he said he was tired of the tax increases himself -- and he wasn't joking. He knows intimately that the state coffers are empty and how quickly the $4 Billion surplus evaporated under the shaky hand of Governor Christine Gregoire. He was also lamenting the fact that the Legislature cut his budget! Cut the auditor's budget? How can the convoluted financial dealings by the thieves running the Legislature be identified and stopped if the State Auditor can't audit the books? He was understandably frustrated and asked us to keep fighting. We will, Brian!


My other favorite speaker was State Senator Janéa Holmquist, from the 13th District, Moses Lake, Washington. I was not only impressed with her articulate energy and enthusiasm -- it seemed to me that she has brains and a good head on her shoulders. She held the attention of the crowd with a dynamic energy that reminded me of Ronald Reagan. Weird, I know, but this was my first rally -- I don't do political rallies or attend huge public events on a regular basis. I would say she was a bit like Sarah Palin -- but I am afraid that good woman has been so maligned by the elitist media that she has lost all the terrific public momentum she had from the time she first stepped out on the national stage. Too bad. Senator Holmquist has the same passion and it shows. She, like Kirby and Mike went to the core of the reason why we were here. We are being taxed to the max with no end in sight as our country is jerked to the left. Not just a little left, but a big, hard left.

All in all I think there were about a dozen speakers, including a singer-songwriter from Massachusetts who performed a new song he'd just written. He did a good job, but sorry to say, I don't have a video to share.

When the rally wound up and we were asked to take literature from the various groups and then go to visit our senators and representatives. And tell them to stop the irresponsible taxing. One really stupid tax in the works is to tax the number of miles you drive your car. Fine, if you live and work in downtown Seattle. You don't need a car, so you don't use it much nor do you pay much. I lived there, I know how easy it is to get around by bus. But out here in the rural areas -- you need a car to visit the neighbors!

We didn't need to go to meet our legislators -- one came to us! I recognized a woman working her way through the crowd toward the stage area. We stood near the video camera so we could see everyone. [Since I'm not too tall, it was nice having a fairly clear view of what was happening.] The woman approached us and I asked her if she was Randi Becker. Yes, she was! I introduced myself and the others in our group and we chatted. [This happened just before we sang "God Bless America."] I pointed down to where Kirby and the others were standing and she had a clear shot to get down there. She was meeting some citizens from Orting, and we saw their sign and pointed it out to her. Senator Becker didn't speak at the rally but she attended and talked with many citizens. To us she said they had held the line against the Governor's recent tax increase proposals. We wished her good luck and keep up the good work and she went on her way through the last few rows to get to the Orting folks.


As the rally finished, a breeze ruffled the flags of Washington State, the United States, and the MIA flag. We don't know what the first pole is used for. Someone suggested sarcastically it must be for the UN flag. Yeah, right. I think very few on this crowd would go for that! Just another layer of taxes and irresponsible spending.

In the FDR era, when "Progressivism" also ran rampant in the Federal government, Washington State was one of the bluest of the blue states, decades before that term meant what it does now. The old joke then was "The United States consists of 47 states and the Soviet of Washington."

Oh, how times really don't change...

But maybe we can put a stop to any more change. Are you up to it? Are you strong enough to stand up and say "No more pork?" Will you defend the Constitution with all your heart and all your abilities? Think it over. If your way of life ended today but you were still alive, could you really embrace the change? Change for the better, yes, but the change we are being offered is debt for our children and grandchildren, and their children and a massive lowering of lifestyle. The end to the American Dream? You will be competing for scraps and lucky if you get them. The changes these ridiculous taxes will bring are the end of you as an individual -- unless you are one of the Elites. Remember George Orwell's Animal Farm? Some animals are more equal than others. If it sounds vaguely familiar, it's because it is -- you're living it!! Right now!!

Tomorrow I'll have a few more photos and some additional information. I'm still in a daze from my very first anti-tax rally. Thanks for reading. Feel free to send this link to anyone you know who would find this series interesting.