Who are the original T.E.A. party organizers?

[Mesogen]

Maybe this is somewhere on this forum, but I can't find it.

Who's idea was it originally to have these tea party protests?

I'm in liberal blogs' comments sections because they are all saying that the tea parties are a bunch of white people pissed off because there is a black president now.

The main comments are:

1. "Where were these people when Bush was growing government? Why didn't they have the tea parties then?"

2. "They just hate having a black president."

3. "The tea parties are astro turf because they were sponsored and promoted by Fox News and they were thought up by corporatist right wing think tanks."



Numbers one and two are easy enough to deal with.

How about number 3? I can't seem to find who started these things. All I can find are stories about how this is top down and not grassroots.

[LittleLightShining]

Well, I organized Montpelier and here's what I have to say to them:


On April 15 more than 500 people came to Montpelier to participate in a Tax Day Tea Party sponsored by the Vermont Campaign For Liberty and WSNO radio. They came because they have had enough of the deficit spending, unconstitutional government intervention in private business and the expectation that taxpayers will perpetually foot the bill from legislators who don't feel accountable to their constituents.

Some criticism has come from various places accusing the Tea Party movement of being an astroturf spectacle. Though the support of these events from neo- and true conservative commentators certainly helped bring people out, I can tell you that as organizer for the Montpelier Tea Party, it was 100% grassroots. I took advantage of using the internet databases to advertise the event and it sprung from there. People called and emailed me asking how to help. As the email list grew and radio hosts invited me on their shows to talk about the Tea Party it just mushroomed.

I warned the crowd that they would hear things that they agreed with but also things they might not. And a few speakers did include topics in their speeches that were not what they had agreed to speak about. In one case an entire speech changed and I was informed minutes before I took the stage. If I had known the content beforehand I would have quashed it. I specifically asked my speakers to not tie President Obama in to the Tea Party. He's not the root of the problem.

One criticism which I've heard over and over is "Where were these people during the Bush years?" It's a good question and I agree with the sentiment. I made the point in my speech that this has been going on for a long time. Unbridled spending, infringement on civil liberties via the Patriot Act and executive orders, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security-- all of these happened during the Bush administration and these are all things that I am and have always been against.

As we see the legislators in Washington moving so rapidly to continue these policies and in some cases expanding beyond imagination, it just makes me wonder. Where are the people who were criticizing Bush now? Why are they making the same mistakes the conservatives did with Bush in not holding Obama's feet to the fire? Instead of directing their frustration at a president who hasn't been the anti-war candidate so many hoped for they are attacking the people who didn't trust him in the first place.

The media's complicity in propagating stereotypes and the willingness of some to continue to trumpet the false right/left paradigm creates problems where none should be. Every person is different with life experience and values which has brought them to where they are right now. People grow and change and hopefully never stop learning. To continually drive a wedge where none should be, instead of trying to work on solutions to issues we agree are a problem-- even if we don't agree on how we got here-- only makes that problem even bigger.

Some have criticized me for not being an activist sooner. The whole idea that it makes sense to criticize people for not being activists since birth is utterly ridiculous. Now is not the time for us to pick people apart because they didn't know as much as the next guy before he knew it, may be experiencing their own paradigm shift or are realizing that complaining isn't going to cut it anymore. It's time to get to work. And it's encouraging to know that there are so many others who are ready to demand responsibility and accountability from their elected representatives.

[LittleLightShining]

There was a "master group" behind this. It's no conspiracy. Don't have the answers, but I had an interesting conversation with one of the organizers of our local event.There was the taxdayteaparty.com people. They were the clearinghouse for organizers and sponsors to work together. My state coordinator took place in Conference calls, I did not. Our state C4L interim coordinator played an advisory role in the Rutland event while I spearheaded the Montpelier event.

If organizers needed more support they could get it but it wasn't pushed on anyone. They gave guidelines but mostly what I saw was that they wanted to keep track of where things were happening. There was literally one lady handling all of the coordination. I know I am pooped. I can't imagine being her.

I'm sure you're right, there was a more concerted effort going on behind the scenes long before these tea parties happened but I did my best to have a good one.

[Mesogen]

Well, I organized Montpelier and here's what I have to say to them:


On April 15 more than 500 people came to Montpelier to participate in a Tax Day Tea Party sponsored by the Vermont Campaign For Liberty and WSNO radio. They came because they have had enough of the deficit spending, unconstitutional government intervention in private business and the expectation that taxpayers will perpetually foot the bill from legislators who don't feel accountable to their constituents.

Some criticism has come from various places accusing the Tea Party movement of being an astroturf spectacle. Though the support of these events from neo- and true conservative commentators certainly helped bring people out, I can tell you that as organizer for the Montpelier Tea Party, it was 100% grassroots. I took advantage of using the internet databases to advertise the event and it sprung from there. People called and emailed me asking how to help. As the email list grew and radio hosts invited me on their shows to talk about the Tea Party it just mushroomed.

I warned the crowd that they would hear things that they agreed with but also things they might not. And a few speakers did include topics in their speeches that were not what they had agreed to speak about. In one case an entire speech changed and I was informed minutes before I took the stage. If I had known the content beforehand I would have quashed it. I specifically asked my speakers to not tie President Obama in to the Tea Party. He's not the root of the problem.

One criticism which I've heard over and over is "Where were these people during the Bush years?" It's a good question and I agree with the sentiment. I made the point in my speech that this has been going on for a long time. Unbridled spending, infringement on civil liberties via the Patriot Act and executive orders, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security-- all of these happened during the Bush administration and these are all things that I am and have always been against.

As we see the legislators in Washington moving so rapidly to continue these policies and in some cases expanding beyond imagination, it just makes me wonder. Where are the people who were criticizing Bush now? Why are they making the same mistakes the conservatives did with Bush in not holding Obama's feet to the fire? Instead of directing their frustration at a president who hasn't been the anti-war candidate so many hoped for they are attacking the people who didn't trust him in the first place.

The media's complicity in propagating stereotypes and the willingness of some to continue to trumpet the false right/left paradigm creates problems where none should be. Every person is different with life experience and values which has brought them to where they are right now. People grow and change and hopefully never stop learning. To continually drive a wedge where none should be, instead of trying to work on solutions to issues we agree are a problem-- even if we don't agree on how we got here-- only makes that problem even bigger.

Some have criticized me for not being an activist sooner. The whole idea that it makes sense to criticize people for not being activists since birth is utterly ridiculous. Now is not the time for us to pick people apart because they didn't know as much as the next guy before he knew it, may be experiencing their own paradigm shift or are realizing that complaining isn't going to cut it anymore. It's time to get to work. And it's encouraging to know that there are so many others who are ready to demand responsibility and accountability from their elected representatives.

That's awesome. I'm really impressed with that. *thumbs up*

And yeah, I'll ask them that too. Well, "where are you now? Not criticizing Obama. That was the mistake conservatives made with Bush." That's golden.

But, was it your idea to do it in the first place? I don't mean in Montpelier, but the whole thing.

Or was it one town doing it and spreading the word, then other people (like yourself) picking up on it.

I'm trying to counter the claims that this was dreamed up by Fox News and some "far right wing" hate groups or some corporatist shill think tanks.

If it really was totally grass roots, then that's impressive to me, but saying that in a comments section of a Democrat blog is not going to convince anyone.

[ItsTime]

Google teaparty 07. That is where it all started.

[Mesogen]

There was the taxdayteaparty.com people. They were the clearinghouse for organizers and sponsors to work together. My state coordinator took place in Conference calls, I did not. Our state C4L interim coordinator played an advisory role in the Rutland event while I spearheaded the Montpelier event.

If organizers needed more support they could get it but it wasn't pushed on anyone. They gave guidelines but mostly what I saw was that they wanted to keep track of where things were happening. There was literally one lady handling all of the coordination. I know I am pooped. I can't imagine being her.

I'm sure you're right, there was a more concerted effort going on behind the scenes long before these tea parties happened but I did my best to have a good one.

Ah, that explains a lot.

Thanks.!

[Aratus]

number 3 ---where "astro~turf" is a g.w bush partisan O! soooo new to the grassroots cause...
give someone a longer perspective on this all. years ago, Barry Goldwater ran against LBJ---!
just tell the political neophyte that AuH2O is the dude who started this all, because he had
the idea that a smaller gov't + balanced budgets + some tariffs & just taxes = less longterm debt