Tea Party on Reedy River, Greenville, SC

Revolutionary Running Late!

Like any Baptist, heading to church on a Sunday morning, I was running late. Not for church, it was Friday evening after all, but for the “Tea Party” on the Reedy River, an event organized by the Upstate Young Republicans as a form of protest against President Obamas’ mortgage bailout plan.  I was going, more out of sheer curiosity than idealism and wanted to see first hand what happened so that I could blab about it here on my blog. I also wondered when someone would organize an event protesting the Republican party. That would be worth going to see.

It took a while to get my son situated in the car seat, with his “sippy cup” and so I was already running a bit late pulling out of the driveway. Then on the way, I had to stop and get batteries for my voice recorder (nothing like a good sound check ahead of time) and didn’t arrive until about 6:20 p.m.  By that time, the shouts of the crowd could be heard all the way to the River Street parking lot where I (without a permit, so please don’t tell) parked my really cool Honda minivan and loaded my two year old in the stroller to make my way down toward the S. Main bridge over the Reedy (does it really qualify as a….) River.

South Main Bridge

It was getting a bit dark for my cheap camera by the time I got down to the site but I was impressed by the turn out.  I would estimate there were 1,500 people in attendance trying to jockey for a position that would actually afford a view of the speaker, or at least the ability to actually hear what was being said.

The organizers must not have expected nearly that many people because the site was poorly chosen for a crowd that size. At best, a few hundred could have been comfortably ensconced, as it was, people were scattered all over the place. Another real glitch was the noise of the Reedy River (creek), which was sufficient to drown out the sound of the speaker for everyone but those who had arrived early enough to get the choice spots (Presbyterians?) in front.  It might have been a better choice to hold the rally in Reedy Creek Park where it is much more open and quiet. People could actually have heard what was said and whoever wanted to dump their tea in the river (organic tea I hope) could have turned and walked to the waters edge to do so.  As it was, the sound of the water reverberating off the underside of the Main Street bridge, made the cheers seem random and arbitrary to those of us who could not hear the speaker. Now I guess you can’t plan for everything, but wouldn’t it be better to be a bit over prepared with plenty of real estate to gather on? Like having spare batteries already in your pocket rather than stopping to buy some on the way?

Gadsen Gadsen Everywhere

Gadsen flags were in evidence everywhere which was heartwarming, considering that the vast majority of people polled nationwide, probably wouldn’t know a Gadsen flag from a beach towel.  Of course there were the ubiquitous (for the south) Confederate battleflags here and there although what they had to do with the American Revolution I will never know.  And even a few “native americans” showed up in memory of the men who, on that night in Boston, disquised themselves and destroyed a boatload (literally three) of tea.

Ready to Dump Some Tea

I wandered around the crowd and spoke with a few people asking them how they had heard of the event, why they had come and what purpose did they think this would serve.  The answers were pretty much the same from everyone I asked.  They had heard about it on News Radio WORD (most on either Russ Cassells’ four hour hot air rant in the morning or on Bob McClains show (three hours of kinder gentler dogma) ) in the afternoon.  They were there to show support for the event (whatever that means) and that hopefully something bigger would come as a result of these Tea Parties around the country.

I hate to be the pessimist, though it comes naturally to me, but my gut feeling is that this will be a minor flash in the pan and quickly fade into a distant memory.  Brad and Pat, it was nice of you to come all the way from Salem bringing along Abby your beautiful Labradoodle, to show your support, but you could have saved your gas.  Bill, I know you said you agree with Russ about 90% of the time, but he is no leader and that’s what this “movement” needs, leaders. 

Real, principled, stick-to-your guns leaders, not the Young Republicans.  They will not produce anything of value in the long run.  Remember the “Contract With America” of 15 years ago?  It was fueled mainly by the Young Republicans of the time. There was a lot of “conservative” rhetoric, and youthful enthusiasm, but not much came from that movement. Where are those Young Republicans of yester year now? Are they now middle aged cogs in the GOP machine? What is there to give anyone the impression this time will be any different?

The only hope this movement has of growing and succeeding in any purpose, and one of the few areas on which I agree with Cassell, is if the people wake up to the danger of a homogenous, two party, political system and produce a viable third party to defeat the “politics as usual” crowd. Or get rid of parties all together. We were warned by Jefferson well over two hundred years ago of the dangers of political parties but we seem to have forgotten that. Kind of like how the Republican party forgot their Contract With America.
So, until there is a real reason to believe this event can or will lead to anything bigger……Nice Tea Party, but, I don’t think the British will take notice this time.