The Pols, the Pros, and the Average Joes*

*or subtitled, My Adventures at a Tax Day Tea Party rally

Rather than speculating about Tea Partiers, I decided to check out one of their local rallies and see for myself.  So, last Thursday, tax day, I headed up to Towson Maryland to check out one of the many rallies taking place across the country.

First, it was a beautiful afternoon – about 70 degrees without a cloud in the sky – and the setting, behind the courthouse in Towson, with flowers in full bloom was picture-esque.  The organizers had arranged a pit beef stand, and, even though I didn’t have any, the smell still added to the pleasant atmosphere.  Tough to gin up much anger – against the government or anything else – when the surroundings are so… nice.

The event was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, and from the start they were reveling in the freshly-released poll that showed they were “better educated” than the average American.  Struck me as ironically elitist – sort of the Adlai Stevenson/Gene McCarthy Tea Party movement, but whatever.  I arrived a couple minutes late, and the first thing I heard was the speaker (I think the state director for AFP) going after Ben Cardin for signing onto legislation that would regulate airlines and prevent them from charging fees for carry-on bags.  Do you want the government telling you who you can and can’t buy an airline ticket from? I don’t know that I see that argument gaining traction with any group, but I guess they’re testing post-health care grievances.

From the stage, they made reference to the “500 people in attendance.”  I’ve never been any good at estimating crowd size, but at its peak I wouldn’t have guessed more than 200.  Later, I asked my friend how many he thought were there and without missing a beat, he said “I don’t know, but more than at the Orioles game last night.”  Guess he said it too loudly, because it gave the guy next to me with the Gadsden flag a good chuckle, which I resented.  Of those 200 – 500 people, I counted 2 who were non-white.  I didn’t see any racist signs or instances of racism, and I’m not implying any, but it is a demographic truth that this was an overwhelmingly white crowd.

Early in the program, a young man (mid to late 20s?) with Campaign for Liberty spoke.  He started off with boiler-plate Tea Partyisms: socialism, government takeover, liberty, liberty, liberty.  This was followed by a pivot point: he started quoting John Stuart Mill.  He seemed to be aware that this was the point he would risk losing the crowd.  He denounced imperialistic wars, the Patriot Act, and, as if trying to pre-empt an expected backlash, lectured the crowd that they couldn’t be supportive of limiting government in one realm while growing it in other realms.  But there was no backlash to counter.  Much of the crowd cheered along, and the most oppositional reaction I heard was from a man who calmly and quietly told someone next to him, “I disagree.”  Mr. Campaign for Liberty actually proved to be a non-controversial hit with the crowd, which tended to skew more Ron Paul than Sarah Palin.  He concluded his remarks by quoting Woody Guthrie – This land was made for you and me! I guess that was a slightly more appropriate line than “by the relief office, I saw my people.”

Later, I stopped by the booth and talked to the Guthrie-quoting libbie.  I told him up front that I was not a libertarian and that I wasn’t trying to misrepresent myself – I just wanted to see what materials they had.  He seemed fine with that and then tried to convert me.  I got a quick “lesson” about the Federal Reserve, and he even asked my friend to pull out a dollar to prove some point or another… I don’t know – I was focused on flipping through the Constitution they had on the table.  It had a giant Ron Paul photo on the cover, and, at least the way I remember it, a second “reflected” image of Paul… like the old elementary school photos with the floating head above the actual head.  Maybe I’m misremembering the actual cover, but something about it conjured up that association.  I walked away with the Constitution, but my friend told me that he thought they were selling them for $2.  I took my copy back and dropped it on their desk.

I wandered over to the Libertarian Party booth and met the woman running for Governor on the Libertarian ticket.  She seemed very under-confident, even self-doubting.  This is my first time on the ballot, but my husband runs almost every cycle.  He’s the one who gave that great speech… Ayn Rand would be disappointed by her vulnerability, but I found it appealingly human, so much so that I didn’t have the heart to tell her how strongly I opposed her platform.  The only tip-off was when she tried to get my friend to take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz.  “I’ve taken it,” he said.  “Oh?” she asked.  He shook his head, “ You wouldn’t like my result.”  She looked down, shuffled some papers around on her table… “Oh.”  I still felt for her, and froze for a second when she asked me to sign her ballot access petition.  I didn’t want to say no, but couldn’t stand the idea of my name on a libertarian “ballot access” form.  Yes, I know the addition hurts Republicans, and yes, I know that ballot access is a non-ideological position.  But… my name on a libertarian petition?  A distraction spared me from having to make the decision.

Back to the stage (a “soapbox” about 4’ by 4’… and a quick digression to suggest that a movement so consciously trying to push back against ‘astro-turf’ charges probably shouldn’t be designing fake soapboxes for well-coordinated events).

A handful of local pols turned out for the event – Ken Holt (a dead-ringer for Ronald Reagan), candidate for Baltimore County Executive and County Councilman Brian McIntyre – and each tried to infuse their remarks with the spirit of ’76.  I don’t think the crowd was buying.  The only (pseudo) politico who the crowd seemed to genuinely like was Kendall Ehrlich.  Actually, her husband was more popular at the event than I had expected, with stickers, signs, and the like very common in the crowd and every mention of his name drawing cheers; I assumed anyone who had ever held political office would be regarded as too “inside” to gain the full trust of the anti-establishment Tea Party.  But if the skepticism exists toward Ehrlich, I didn’t see any evidence.

Between the more established speakers, they let people in the general public address the crowd.  By far, the most memorable was Brian who wore a black “Don’t Tread on Me” T-shirt and sported a blond crew cut.  Red-faced, he jabbed his finger forward, “it’s getting to the point that the only thing that I can do that isn’t taxed, levied, or regulated is pick my nose or pass gas!” he shouted.  This got the loudest cheer of the afternoon, even though the tone of his remarks somewhat undercut virtually every speaker before and after who seemed to believe it was their top goal to re-introduce the Tea Party movement  as a family-friendly, frustrated-but-calm group of ordinary citizens.  In fact, at times, the event was more self-referential than political.  The media says X about us… look around you?  Do we look like X? That kind of refrain was second only to references to 1776.  But the enthusiastic response to Brian stunted the rebranding effort.

A man from Massachusetts stood on the “soapbox.”  He tried to start a Palin cheer “P-A-L-I-N.”  The crowd was, at best, unenthusiastic.  In fact, I didn’t see a single Sarah Palin bumper sticker, sign – anything – at the entire event.  Next he asked how many people watched Glen Beck.  About half the crowd raised their hands – again, unenthusiastically.  “Well, you all need to send emails to Glen Beck and let him know what they’re about to do to us on MSNBC on April 19.  They’re going to try to pin Timothy McVeigh on us.”  The mention of MSNBC got him a bit more attention from the crowd.  Then it took a turn. “But McVeigh’s partner – Terry Nichols – is married to a Muslim woman.”  Oookay.  And as he started to explain that the bomb that killed 106 people in Oklahoma City was designed by Ramsey Yusef, his mic went off.  No conspiracy theories were to be aired at this event, and the organizers were ready.

As for social conservatives, I counted 3 references to religion/socially conservative issues: the first was just a woman who said she wanted to send out prayers to the families of miners who died in the West Virginia mine collapse.  The second was a young man (about 16) who used a Bible verse in his remarks.  The last was the introduction of a man who is apparently a state chair for a Defenders of Life group.  Aside from those sporadic references to cultural/social conservatism, this was exclusively an anti-government crowd.

My friend and I started drifting away after almost 2 hours of Tea Party fun.  About half the original crowd still remained, and the excitement was waning.  All in all, it was nice to spend an afternoon outside on a perfect afternoon, but ultimately not all that enlightening.  The event was carefully coordinated and a basic rehashing of anti-government grievances mixed with the self-congratulatory remarks…we’re so well-educated, do you see any racists?, the “media” says….  Apparently, another event in the state had some controversy regarding Sarah Palin, but nothing at this event.