Another e-mail, from a woman who says that she “will be attending the Tea Party on the Diag of the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.” She explains:
I feel the time has come to stand up and really try to be heard. Prior to the first Tea Party, the only other demonstration I have ever taken part in was a group of maybe 100 people holding up signs outside CBS headquarters in LA protesting the cancellation of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I don’t think I am unique among “Tea Partiers” in regard to my prior activist experience. I am not making a sign, I won’t be shouting and hollering. I guess I am trying to speak with my presence — strength of numbers. I think the Tea Parties have gotten the attention of the media and politicians. Enough so that the effort to discredit them is quite large. It is both intimidating (fear of being opposed and actual physical confrontation) and inspirational (to show them that the intimidation won’t work and that Tea Party activists have a right to be heard). So I am trying to find courage in the latter.
What do I want them to hear? That the party is over in DC. That they are out of touch. That government is too big and too obtrusive in our lives. That they work for the people and they should listen to us. That this isn’t about the color of anyone’s skin. That people who live and work in the real world know more than politicians about what is best for us. That their vision of what represents the best possible America and the idea that government has the power to create it is not shared by many citizens. That those citizens are not a minority bunch of bible-thumping, gun toting, racist, crazy people who deserve to be ignored. I’m not sure if it is possible to turn back time. So many people are employed by or dependent on government that a tipping point may have been reached where the monster will do anything to maintain itself. But I think we have to try.