Rapid City’s 4th of July Tea Party attended by about 1000
From the Rapid City Journal:
“It doesn’t matter what part of the country – if you don’t stand up for your rights, you don’t have any,” Devine said.
That concern and many others were voiced Saturday morning in Memorial Park as Citizens for Liberty hosted its second Tax Enough already event this year. It echoed the sentiments of the group’s April TEA Party which attracted almost 1,000 area residents and called for “limited government and constitutional accountability” from the nation’s lawmakers.
Saturday’s event, which took place against the backdrop of the Heritage Festival, included sign waving, a tribute to wounded war veterans and speeches on topics such as socialized medicine and cap-and-trade global warming taxes. Based on counts, organizers said 650 people attended.
State Sen. Gordon Howie, R-Rapid City, emceed the Rapid City rally in Memorial Park after the protest. In an earlier interview, he said the Fourth of July was an especially fitting time for people to voice their concern.
The July 3rd socialized medicine event might just have been an anamoly due to the impending holiday, and the fact it was during the week. The 4th of July event in Rapid City seemed to fare much better in it’s own call against socialized medicine and the cap and trade global warming tax.
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Comments
Let’s see: April 15 Rapid City Tea Party attendance: under 1000. July 4 Rapid City Tea Party attendance: 650 (nice rounding, Pat).
Looks like the groundswell isn’t exactly swelling. Just the same old cranks… and probably some holiday frisbee players and picnickers included to inflate the numbers. Kind of like Bush-era budgets.
I read the Rapid City Journal article and I agree with Florence Thompson and State Sen Gordon Howie!
Florence Thompson said her main concern is the growing national debt. I tell you Florence, you are so right on that one! I am so happy that you and State Sen. Gordon Howie went to that tea party to protest what happened under 8 years of President Bush and to protest that President Obama is taking over where President Bush left off!
And yes, Florence and Gordon know that up until this current economic crisis, that under President Bush’s presidency the national debt had the biggest increase under any president in U.S. history! And that the Treasury Department figures show that there was a 71.9 percent increase in the national debt under Mr. Bush’s watch! And that President Bush had borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks while in office than this country’s first 42 presidents combined! And that President Bush raised the debt limit 7 times during his administration! Yes, Florence and Gordon know all of that, but President Bush is history. They know we have to deal with the present. So Florence and Gordon know that we Republicans must stop that guy obama from continuing to follow in President Bush’s footsteps!
Yes, Florence and Sen. Gordon Howie, you have a right to be mad about the growing debt! And I join with you in your anger towards what President Bush did during his Presidency to our America and how now that guy obama is trying to turn American into a socialist state!
We need to return to the “fiscal responsibility” of the Republican Party!
I wonder what PP would think of someone who pledged to give his candidate $100 and then only coughed up $65.
1000 = 650?!
I’m starting to think we can’t trust these goofy tea-baggers
with numbers any more than I can trust myself.
No wonder they’re mad though.
Who knows how much they think the debt really is?
Bwahahaha!
bf, you’re using that stupid “tea-bagging” line, now? not only is such crudeness beneath you, it’s not even funny.
i didn’t attend the party in sioux falls, because it sounded boring. who wants to attend a “rally” about such a dry subject? i know it’s an important issue, but such an event would’ve been better held at a large meeting room at the convention center, and promoted as a workshop, meeting, debate, or something.
but a 4-hour “rally” about health care? no thanks. i’d rather watch paint dry.
Does anyone know what the approximate age/income demographic of the Sioux Falls and Rapid City …um… Tea Party (is that ok to say, lr?) crowds was?
Is it safe to assume that a majority of them were over 40? 50? older? What %age of them would someone who was there guess were at, near, or over retirement age? 30%? 40% 50%? Someone out there knows this answer. I’d be willing to bet on it.
Well, I went to the Sioux Falls tea party, and there were people of all ages. The younger voters had better be paying attention because they are the ones who are going to get socked more than us older people with the higher taxes. At least we will die sooner and get out of paying sooner than them! Maybe that’s why you don’t bother going, Bill?
Springer, I don’t go because I don’t agree with the complaints. I’m fine with the idea that all my fellow Americans deserve to have good health care. I’ve paid social security taxes and health insurance premiums all my life and have made very few claims. I know my money has been going to help someone else and I don’t have any problem with that. Do you have any other questions for me, man?
Only 650 for the Rapid Tea party, and 325 for the SF rally scorning socialized medicine. People don’t seem to excited about either.
Do you think the elders of the Indian nations tell their children it was a good thing to trade the Black Hills for a little security from the U.S. government? The health care provided at I.H.S. along with the other social programs on the rez provide a free preview of the next 100 years in America.
Both donkeys and elephants should be ashamed for what they have left our children. We need to hand freedom down, because at this rate China, Japan, and Russia will have title to our land.
moses, I could not agree with you more! Bush’s first stimulus bill in 2001 should have been their first indication that he wasn’t fiscally conservative.
Wasson, I disagree. The reason IHS doesn’t work very well is that it is not adequately funded. Even so, for many, it is the only access to health care they have.
BF, I agree with lexrex that the term “teabagging” is offensive now…
Back when it was the conservatives who were revolting, holding the signs:
“TEABAG THE LIBERAL DEMS BEFORE THEY TEABAG YOU!”
and:
“TEABAG OBAMA”
it was clever and funny in a “totally nuts” and “in your face” kind of way. Cute, really. They had a ball.
But not anymore; not after these “second balls” were rejected by nearly everyone except the most hard-core
– NOW it’s offensive. Got it?
Funny when THEY do it – when YOU do it, it’s “double-dipping.”
bf, that’s the point i’m making with government health care: there’s never enough money. it’s always overfunded. it’s always near bankruptcy.
besides, i would argue that ihs isn’t necessarily underfunded. the providers who work for ihs are some of the best paid providers in the country. for instance, i know nurse anesthetists who work for ihs who make 170k for 26 months of work. (that’s not an doctor, but an RN.)
For lexrex:
http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/tribal/tribalfaq.php#percapita
Excerpt:
“Question: How does Indian Health Service (IHS) funding per capita compare with other federal health spending per capita?
Answer: According to Facts on Indian Health Disparities, IHS funding provides only 59% of the necessary federal funding for providing personal health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives using the system.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ publication, Quiet Crisis: Federal Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country, reports that the federal government budgeted nearly twice as much per capita for health care to federal prisoners compared to the IHS budget for AI/AN health care.”
The Federal government underfunds programs because it’s got far too many of them to even begin supporting them adequately.
The Republicans began a conservative path about 30 years ago, but once they got used to power they began using it stay in power rather than follow the path that got them there.
Uncle Santa has been overpromising for years but the fact remains, eventually you have to pay for what you get.
Just like California, overpromising what government can do and a growing public acceptance to “let government do it”, have led us to the cliff our economy is falling over now.
Both major parties have played a part in it and a majority of the public has been acquiescent in allowing it to continue.
Hang on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy road ahead…
“About 1000 was the RCJ’s statement. Don’t like it? Take it up with them.”
Pat, the RCJ article said that the APRIL event had almost 1,000 and that the July 4 one had 650. Your headline is wrong.
So what day of the week would have brought out the 10,000 the organizers were expecting?
Sioux Falls tea party = FAIL