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Protesters hold ‘tea party'
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Nicholas Kirkpatrick of Lusby talks with his mother Na' Kirkpatrick Saturday at a political rally at the Solomons Island Pavilion hosted by the group Americans for Prosperity. Nicholas was promoting the Free State Project and his mother was holding a "laughing out loud" sign riffing on President Barack Obama's campaign logo.
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Representing a movement that has become notorious for its polemic views and impassioned rallies, the protesters who turned out for the second annual Solomons Island Tea Party last Saturday looked and sounded every bit the part.
Hoisting fiery signs and donning rebellious T-shirts, more than 100 concerned citizens gathered around the island's pavilion as political candidates and Average Joes alike delivered fervent, animated speeches calling for, amongst other things, the resignation of "career politicians" and repeal of health care reform.
Derisively dismissed by the left and cautiously championed by the right, the Tea Party movement, which began as a populist response to federal bailout and stimulus bills, has quickly evolved into one of the nation's most publicized and controversial — except to its participants.
"It's middle America, in my mind. There's no fringe," said Phil Parenti, chair of the Southern Maryland chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a "straight-up grassroots" organization dedicated to smaller government and fiscal conservatism. "They're concerned about the future of the country."
Parenti, who lives in Cheltenham, organized and emceed the rally, introducing each of the speakers while picking out some of his favorite posters from the crowd. His favorite seemed to be one less-than-flattering of U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th). But aware of the criticism the movement has received for its occasionally venomous rhetoric, Parenti toned down his own rhetoric and encouraged constructive conservation.
"If an elected official wants to take the time to come down and answer questions, we don't want people to shout at them," Parenti said. "We want them to engage."
The protesters engaged with independent voter Mike Brown by hurling playful boos when he announced he voted for President Obama in the 2008 election. Brown, however, wasn't satisfied.
"Is that all you got? Give me more than that, I deserve it," he said, adding that he bought into Obama's campaign promise of "change" only to be disappointed with the results. "I was hoodwinked. I was bamboozled. And I believe a lot of people were."
The crowd engaged even more once congressional candidate Charles Lollar showed up to deliver the most stirring address of the afternoon.
Lollar, who has won support from conservatives as a dark horse opponent to Hoyer, a longtime incumbent, stole the show, railing against the recently-passed "hellacious health care bill" and the politicians who voted for it with a voice so booming his microphone had trouble containing it.
Lollar cited recent Republican victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races and Massachusetts senatorial election as positive signs for the movement, but also said that the work is not finished.
"We've had a few that have hung around and decided they don't want to go out voluntarily," Lollar said. "The change is not done."
Lollar's speech elicited several applauses and shouts as protesters who had waited for his arrival waved campaign posters in the air.
Lollar, who is black, also chastised the media for portraying the movement as racist after members of the Congressional Black Caucus said they heard racial epithets amongst those protesting the health care bill last month.
"There you go again, trying to separate us," he said, to the approval of the crowd, which was almost exclusively white. "We will not be deterred by race."
Echoing a theme that ran throughout the event, Lollar urged all those in attendance to vote in the upcoming elections and even ended with a nod to the next presidential race.
"In 2012 we'll do something about that commander-in-chief thing as well," he promised.
The crowd quickly dissipated after Lollar's speech — many left the huddled mass to go speak to the candidate one-on-one. Lollar waited to talk with every person who came up to him.
"Tea Party means to me a re-emergence of our Constitution, a re-emergence of our American values," Lollar said afterwards.
"These tea parties are refreshing … nothing should be given to us. We should work for everything we have."
