Tea Parties

Spent a couple of hours on Thursday evening in Laishley Park in Punta Gorda, FL, exercising my constitutional right to make my opinions heard. We had about 1200 people there through the evening, and it was a very lively, well behaved group. We even had a few folks who were of a different opinion, complete with signs, which is fine. Nobody bothered anybody else.

I hear and read a great deal about the anger of the tea party crowd, and the nation in general, but in all honesty, I didn't think that was the predominating emotion. Yes there is anger and frustration - and not just among conservatives - but the tone of the proceedings was positive. The Contract from America was introduced and most of us signed it. There was prayer, patriotic music and a sense of "this is what Americans do when they disagree with the government".

We were priviliged to hear from several candidates for governer, who may or may not ever speak to a larger audience. They were treated cordially and spoke from the heart. My personal favorite was a candidate who was born in Cuba and has seen the worst that government can bring to it's people. He encouraged people to teach their children about the Constitution and the Bible. I couldn't agree more.

I've posted the 2 pics I took, plus several I recieved from my son, who attended the Tea Party in Diablo Stadium in Arizona. They had about 7000 there, but then this is a much smaller area.

For all the criticism leveled at the Tea Party activists and the Obama administration - the two sides in all of this - there is a positive. The American people are dusting off the Constitution and reading it. That can only be a good thing. An informed public is much more likely to seek solutions that are true to American values than an ignorant public. Good people can disagree on how to go about many things, but God help us if we base our decisions on anything other than the foundation our Founders - who often disagreed with one another - gave us. For myself, I remain an unapologetic conservative.