Phoenix Arizona Tea Party Report

Well I rolled into the P Town after a grueling day of selling stuff and decided to join my fellow right wing extremists at the Tea Party. By the time I got there the crowd was already large. By 6 PM the crowd was at around 6000 domestic "troublemakers" withe the final headcount between 10k-15k at it's peak. This was supposedly the largest political rally in Phoenix history.

The primary organizer for the event was the local conservative talk station 550 KFYI. I was hoping to get to see The Nearly Famous Barry Young, but either he didn't speak or he spoke before I arrived. The speakers consisted of a mix of local politicians, conservative community activists, and radio personalities. The mix was nice because it wasn't just straight republicans. There was a democrat who is fighting against property taxes, a former Libertarian party candidate for governor (who was my favorite speaker of the night), you had your Ron Paul supporters, and the head of the Arizona Fair Tax group spoke.

The crowd itself was also a nice mix of young and old. I saw people representing just about every party outside of the left. The crowd was fired up and it was fun to be a part of the whole protest.

The set up of the protest was lacking somewhat. The Tea Party was held at the State Capital on the lawn out front of the copper dome. KFYI set up a stage, but it was not raised very high, so you couldn't see any of the speakers and worse you couldn't hear them because of the poor sound system set up. I don't know if they weren't prepared for the turnout they got. I did eventually work my way up close to the front using techniques I've mastered from attending way too many metal concerts. Once I was close enough I could hear and see fine.

I was glad I went. It got me thinking about getting more involved. I talked to a Republican party official who was advertising about getting people to become Precinct Committeemen. While I no longer consider myself a Republican and would be a member of the Constitution Party if it was recognized as an official party in Az, the thought intrigues me. Apparently most of the slots are open so there are few true conservatives fighting the scourge of moderates that have plagued the Republican Party. It might be a way to make more of an impact than my protest vote every election.

I didn't have a way to take good notes, but here were some of my favorite quotes, which won't be exact but you get the gist:

The Tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants-Thomas Jefferson. The speaker followed up with a comment about how anxious we must be knowing it is time to do the watering or something like that,

"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."-Barry Goldwater


"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom." - Adrian Rogers

"The founding fathers knew that the First Amendment was the most important which is why they put it at the top. They placed the second amendment there as a backup if the government should fail the first." I don't know who said it and it is a poor paraphrase.