It was a lovely day for a protest. I got there a little late due to having not been downtown for awhile and ran into some construction on the way which delayed me. When I arrived, I couldn’t find an empty parking space! I ended up parking @ a mile away and walking to the Landing. It was a beautiful day for it, though.
Walking up, I noted that I was going to be facing the back of the speakers and alongside the dock. I could live with that. The crowd estimate was between 2,000 and 3,000 people.
An enthusiastic crowd!
I heard reports on the radio of people denigrating the tax protestors as “people making more than $250,000 per year”, “Republicans that were sore losers”, “old people”, etc. It was quite a diverse crowd. There were Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents. There were current military and retired veterans, lots of small business people, cubicle dwellers, and parents worried about the debt load on their small children. The speakers were of all ages (high school students, college students, 20-somethings, Navy wives, a “professional” blogger, and retirees). There were a lot of Fair Tax supporters in evidence. Anti-government sentiment was strong. Here are some of the people up against the dock railing with me:
Yes, Congress IS nuts!
Great signs!
A retired vet (blue shirt) spoke about the oath of office he took to protect America against all enemies, foreign AND domestic. That’s something that I have pondered as well. That oath doesn’t have an expiration date.
One of the Speakers
The difference between a “right wing potential domestic terrorist” protest and a left wing protest of any kind: No references to genitalia, sexuality, no nekkid sagging boobs or scrotums, and the signs were spelled correctly.
We Can Spell!
A speaker at the podium gave us the number to leave a comment at the White House, and cautioned “no bad words”. One of the young men in the picture above asked if “commie bastard” would be considered a bad word. I certainly didn’t think so!
And here is the last sign which summarized what the fuss about the HUGE deficit is all about:
What the Protest Was About
I have to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I was at the back of the ground and snapping pictures with arms raised above the crowd without being able to see what the results would be! Whenever I lowered my arms, I elbowed the people around me. Good thing that they were all nice people. Of course, I’m sorry that ACORN organizers didn’t show up (where I could see them, anyway) so that I could take pictures from beside THEM. I hate accidentally bruising nice people.
It was a fun day. I got to speak to small business people (whose pictures I did NOT take) who were vowing never to pay another dime in taxes, a nice woman who refused to file because she was incensed about Geithner being in charge of the treasury (different sets of rules shouldn’t apply to Obama’s appointees and the rest of America), and a nice man who wanted to bring a pitchfork to the protest but was afraid security would keep him out. We got a little rowdy when carbon cap and trade was mentioned, yelling out things like “It’s a FRAUD!” and were shushed by people wanting to actually hear the speaker.
It was really great to be among kindred spirits!
One of the signs that I really, REALLY liked but was unable to get a picture of said “We Are All Domestic Terrorists Now”. The other side said “Are We a Militia? Where Can I Sign Up?”
From Jacksonville.com: “Anti-tax Rally Draws a Raucous Crowd”. Guess maybe they could hear me up front after all.
A1A South 
kc said,
April 15, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
I did a post about your post. Looks like a good time!
I watched Glenn Beck from the Alamo, after listening to people calling Rush & Dave Ramsey about the Tea Parties they attended.
Simply Amazing.
Thank you.
swampie said,
April 15, 2009 @ 9:40 pm
Yep. It was a nice beginning. The Feds have no freaking clue how pissed people are at them.
Robert D said,
April 15, 2009 @ 11:01 pm
Great job swampie! Great pictures, I don’t care how you took them.