Countdown to Tax Day Tea Party: The view from Asheville, NC
(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of guest-blogger posts from tax revolt/Tea Party activists across the country. Erika Franzi is a homemaker, mother of 4, and business owner in Asheville, NC. The Asheville Tea Party blog is here. Franzi blogs at Jane Q. Republican.)
Six weeks ago, I sat in my living room, checking the status of my Facebook invitation to area patriots to attend the February 27th Tea Party Stimulus Protest. In two days of timidly gauging interest and finally issuing an invitation, I had found a grand total of 80 people to invite to the “Tea Party.” Eight had confirmed their intent to be there. The day of the event was rainy and cold but, hot cocoa and fliers in hand, I headed to the protest location to await the diehards. Before the day was over, 40 people had registered their attendance and The Asheville Tea Party was up and running.
In the intervening 6 weeks, the momentum has built and our focus has become clearer and more defined. Our first Tea Party was a “Stimulus Protest.” The Tax Day Tea Party is a protest of wasteful government spending, confiscatory taxation, the selling of our posterity into the bondage of debt, the devaluation of our currency, and bailouts of private enterprise. The refinement in our message has brought us clarity on the issue of non-partisanship as well. The abuses to which we stand in opposition are abuses which have been perpetrated by elected officials from both sides of the aisle. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats can claim to be champions of our cause. These are not partisan issues; they are Constitutional issues and all citizens, Democrat or Republican, should be concerned with them.
The media would like nothing more than to portray our movement as a partisan effort to attack the Democrats and Obama. It would please them greatly to find our Tea Parties populated by partisan Republicans and professional Republican speakers. In this vein, we have turned down multiple offers from area politicians, political figures, and partisan groups to participate in and speak at the Asheville Tax Day Tea Party. Our Tea Party will instead be carried out by the citizen patriots who attend it, a cross section of folks that defy the media’s preconceived notion of who we are.
So who are we really? Well, I can tell you who I am. I am a Republican. Yep, you got me. Not all of us are, but I happen to be one. If you think you know me now, you might be surprised. I lean strongly Libertarian. I read Ayn Rand, but I read Michael Pollan too. I am nearly as concerned about sustainable food supplies as I am about our economy. My husband and I have four kids who we are raising in the Christian faith. They also attend a liberal secular school with kids from all kinds of family settings so they’ll know how to be compassionate and how to live in this world. I grind my own wheat to make bread for my family, I shop at the local tailgate market, and I used cloth diapers on three of my four kids. I’m not sure what Tea Party detractors imagine when they conjure up an image of a Tea Party protester, but I’m betting I am not it. I doubt any of us are.
“Why now?” some may ask. “Where were you 8 years ago?” I have heard. To those questions and others, I offer this. Perhaps no legislation has ever been more aptly named than the “stimulus.” It remains to be seen if it will have a stimulating effect on our economy, but it has already had a stimulating effect on the consciousness of our nation. The commitment of our Federal Government to spend $1 Trillion in taxpayer’s money on projects and programs that are beyond our control pushed us to action. I am the first to admit that we were asleep at our post over the last 2 decades while the Federal Government was growing with increasing speed. We are awake now and we can thank President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid for providing the $1 trillion alarm.
In any case, we don’t have the luxury of looking back and mourning the day that we should have acted. We have to begin today because tomorrow is the day my children ask, “How did you let this happen?”
The turnout at the Asheville Tax Day Tea Party looks like it might be slightly larger than the February 27th protest. Three hundred and twenty confirmed so far…
Will you be there?
See what others have said
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I’ll be there in spirit…
Happy Easter everyone.
Welcome Erika! Although I’ll be traveling next week, I intend to make it to the Tampa Tea Party around lunchtime!
Happy Easter to all and May God the Father Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Bless us all. He is Risen.
Welcome Erika! Keep fighting the good fight!
Happy Easter all!
Will be at the Tea Party in Burleson, TX ( (John Jones Blvd and hwy 174)between 3pm and 7pm…with similar message as Ashville. Thank you Erika for standing up for the United States of America and not the “give-me-stuff” whiners.
I am on ultra conservative before a republican…That has voted since 1968- been concerned for a good while. Praise the Lord others have awakened from their long sleep.
One thing makes me sad-I see a REPEAT of putting our country in jepardy with our enemies by lowering our nation’s defense (but increasing everything else). My husband is a Marine Veteran (served in war zone of Vietnam) of 1971- saw this as a repeat-no one wants to defend Our Nation or knows what USA history is- they just want free stuff given to them- -Europe especially. See you all at the Tea Party!!!
I agree with everything Erika says.It’s great to know there are great people out there who can think clearly. She need to run for office!!!!!!!!
Welcome Erika and good luck with your Asheville Tea Party …
I will be taking a 1/2 day vacation to be able to attend the tea party at the State Capitol here in Phoenix …
God Bless The USA …
To anyone who that gives you an excuse at to why they are not going dont except it.
If I can come all the way from Iraq to make the Tea Party(s) in Washington State no one has an excuse!
My Tea Party Slogan:
NO TAXATION THAT LEADS TO A SOCIALIST NATION!!!!!
I just wish I would get home in time to make it into a sign
My Greatest fear is for my children and God Willing my Grandchildren. What happens when China calls in our marker? How much of America will we have to give to them?
In the same spirit as Erika writes above, I happened to see the organizer of the Tea Party in Chicago on (I believe) Neil Cavuto’s show during the week.
She said that a big name Republican had approached them and asked to be involved and maybe give a speech (or 2…?).
The republican was none other than GOP chairman (?) Michael Steele.
She politely declined his magnanimity…
These are not just a bunch of people going out during some spare time and making a statement. It’s a whole lot of people going out and making a very well thought out STATEMENT on many different levels.
Who’d have expected someone to tell Steele “Thanks but no thanks?” I like it!!!
Happy Easter to all and God Bless this great country.
HAPPY EASTER ALL!!! April 15th is the day the SHARK will swim up and bite the MSM in the ASS… I have waited a long time for this day to come… All the way back to GWB’s second term… All the LIBS I see seem to have the misconception this is a TAX revolt… It is not… It is a SPENDING REVOLT…I for one am tired of the GOVERNMENT spending MY MONEY… It is not their money, it is YOURS and MINE…
The libtards and MSM are associating the teaparties as a republican/conservative movement. They are so wrong. Although the Tea Party has conservative notions, it is the total mistrust and lack of confidence in government (both DEM and GOP) in which this party protests. If all Americans, with or without party affilation join this movement maybe something will get done. As far as I can assertain, “Taxation without Representation” is a valid statement.
What the Liberals and the MSM are missing is the point that people (not just conservatives) are tired of all the looters in Congress using our money, in the form of earmarks, to enusre their re-election by bringing home the pork!
Truesoldier, I am also going with a sign tying socialism with the tax revolt.
Are you really coming home from Iraq specifically for these protests? Wow.
It appears that the tea party merchandise is creating a bit of a economic stimulous.
Capitalism! It is what really works!
I wish I could say it was only for the protests, but no. I am coming home for a job that starts the 1st of May at Ft Lewis, WA, but I choose to be home by the 14th (midday to be precise) to ensure that I would be there for the protests.
Here in LA, the media is frequently reporting the various Tea Parties and who is organizing them. It started with conservatives, spread to Republicans, into Democrats and some of them look spontaneous. This is already a big story.
What I’m afraid of is that the parties will pull a “McCain” by designating their own spokesmen appearing to be with us but only interested in becoming the high-profile “voice” as a convenient go-to guy for the MSM.
This is a genuine grassroots movement that show signs of exploding with legs. So far, the MSM story is about ordinary people being angry everywhere. The MSM knows something big and important is happening but doesn’t yet have a handle on it to steer the ship aground.
You know, one of the big reasons why this movement risks portrayed as a “right-wing nuts” affair is that both Rush and Hannity are talking as if THEY are the leaders of it. That is a big problem. They just saw an angry crowd parading past them and jumped to the front as if they are leading it. I find Hannity particularly despicable. He is such a self-serving phony. Don’t be surprised if Mitt “Amnesty Now!” Romney is suddenly leading the charge for the GOP.
Great. Just heard on the local news that there is a Tea Party happening today in Pasadena. I can’t find it listed anywhere. Come to think of it, why are we having all of these satellite Tea Parties just before April 15 anyway? Is that good or bad?
Found it. It’s organized by the Howard Jarvis Tax Foundation.
Correction: It’s organized by the Pasadena Republican Club but funded(?) by the Howard Jarvis Tax Foundation. I think I’ll skip that one. I don’t trust Republican organizations out here. They often endorse the Democrat over their own party’s candidate. “Electability” you know.
Glad to see you didn’t think it necessary to post about Rachel Maddow’s twist on Tax Day Teaparty’s.
Glad to hear from you, Erika! My five children and I will be at the Party in Raleigh on Wednesday. And I think you are right – most liberals would be amazed to see who conservatives really are. I am a SAH mom, I homeschool (have special needs kids, and I have an education degree), grind wheat, have a small garden, run my husband’s small business and basically figure out how to do everything on a shoe-string budget.
We might not have a lot, but we worked darn hard for what we do have. And we will continue to do whatever we can to preserve our free markets and our Republic!
Thank you for volunteering your time and energy to organize things in Asheville!
*Good luck with your Tea Party Erika; I’ll be attending one locally.
*It’s not about party affiliation at all; Both major parties have taken turns destroying our Constitutional Republic while lining their pockets; It’s time for the people to rise up and take their country back through true representation; As Reagan had said, if they don’t see the light, let them feel the heat!
*Things to do in 2009/2010:
**Throw the tax and spend bums out(locally;statewide;D.C)
**Enact mandatory E-Verify to protect AMERICAN workers.
**No, no, no, to any form of illegal alien amnesty; The country will not survive it.
**Build momentum for the Fair Tax to put people in power and marginalize the lawyers, lawmakers, and lobbyists.
Sorry to break in.. They rescued the Captain: and it wasn’t Law Enforcement..
conservative in europe: law enforcement laid the groundwork for ELIMINATING ALL POSSIBLE OPTIONS.
Now the Somalian government’s appeal to to “international community” to jump in and mediate has no legs. Because of that, we are now free to take care of those camps near the shore and Somalia can’t say or do anything about it.
Even in war, there are rules of engagement. Even soldiers can be arrested for murder. This mentality that you can just rush in guns ablazing is medieval. We are supposed to be a civilized country. We are the only superpower on earth. We gave them a civilized option and they refused it. Now they can fear the American and French flags. Italians? Meh.
They want to play pirate? Time to keel haul the lone surviving pirate.
Now let’s take a look at that mother ship. Anyone want to bet that there will be more surrenders and arrests in the next few days? Let’s see where the Navy ships go from here.
Remember, we gave the Somalian government a chance to join the civilized world and they refused it. Everyone but the French merely paid the ransom. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the war on terror and national security is law enforcement from border control to immigration law to prosecuting governments to arrest/extradite/rendition/turn over information on suspected terrorists to ultimate arrest and conviction.
World War II officially ended with the Nuremberg trials. It’s ALL law enforcement.
I agree with you – mostly. But, if the President had taken a Clintonian approach, LE being the only path, the poor man would still be a hostage and US interests all over the world would be at risk. That was what I was concerned about.
I am a Federal Law Enforcement Officer. I work with FBI every day. Piracy at sea is no place for cops. It is a place for deliberate and forceful action. You are right, the LE ruse (if it was one) made the Somalis think it was Battle of the Black Sea II.. They dropped their guard and the United States Navy punished them severely for it.
Sorry PP, I truly believe power is projected at sea and if we had kept this incident at the LE level, it would reopen the US to attack after attack with bad guys safe in the knowledge that BO will not bother them.. Thanking the Navy again – and, as a shining light about Americans in general, the crew of the Maersk Alabama who showed that they had the minerals to resist – THAT will be in the back of every Somali’s head when they see the next US flagged ship coming down the coast (of course, with our huge tax structure on ships, it will be a long time before they see another). Now, I’d prefer not to divert the thread any longer, I imagine there will be a new one soon.
“World War II officially ended with the Nuremberg trials. It’s ALL law enforcement.”
You’ve never been a cop. It isn’t ALL Law Enforcement. Soldiers generally get medals for doing their jobs well. Cops are sued, reassigned and almost always unappreciated.
Seriously, LE has a very specific set of rules. War has a way of clearing those rules out of it’s path. We tend to loose wars when we assign LE style rules to them.
conservative in europe: so we’re pretty much saying the same thing.
Had we been prepared, this could have ended very quickly. But as far as I can tell, The Maersk is the only US-flagged merchant vessel in the Indian Ocean. The pirates merely stumbled onto it and were immediately over their heads. By trying to escalate this into an “us versus the Great Satan” incident, they drew in the Somalian government and foolishly raised the stakes for the entire piracy trade.
The world can now take what we and the French just did to the UN and demand Somalia immediate arrest and render to some designated authority the rest of the pirates. This is no longer just about the Maersk but about the legitimacy of the Somalian government.
Great day for the civilized world, bad for pirates and terrorists.
I thank you so much for your clarity,and your conviction. You articulated everything that needs to be said to those with opposite views. Once last week, I went to the Huffington (gag) Post as a link to the author calling Michelle a liar, and then concerning the Tea Parties…I was sickened by the hatred toward conservatives. You hit the nail on the head.
I’ll be at the Tax Day Tea Party on Wednesday here in Phoenix, camcorder in hand! Looking forward to hearing reports from all over the country!
Have a blessed Easter everybody!
The Captain is free! Dancing at our house!
Erika, I moved away from Asheville nearly 6-years ago, but not too far over into TN.
When I left it was a different place than it was 22-years ago when I moved there. I hardly recognize it now when I go back for visits.
I am so glad to see that a tea party is taking place there. I plan on attending the local tea party in my town, but if we didn’t have one I would make the drive! I hope the Asheville party goes smoothly and you all have a great turn out!
Asheville? I’m stunned. I wish all of you well from the less liberal (but getting there) capital city of Raleigh!
I spend a great deal of time reading the left wensites, so I can try and keep ahead of them. I have noticed lately that when the rallies are discussed about half the comments are the usual juvenile “Teabagging” comments. The rest are more often mocking in some other way, referring to it as treason or supporting any rumored infiltration they hear.
I find it all astounding. If conservatives were talking that way about anti-war protests taking place in the old “BM” era (Before Messiah), they would have been screaming about how their first ammendment rights were being trampled. Hey….whatever happened to anti-war protests anyway? It seems like most of the protesting ending after the first week of November ’08, for some odd reason.