Now, on to the party!
That was the theme of our rally. Not Obama bashing or democrat bashing (although there was little of that..we couldn't help it as it is REALLY fun), but out of control spending (by both sides of the aisle) bashing.
There were about 1,600 people there (according to WJBF channel 6 news) which is a pretty good turn out for Republicans in the middle of the work week.
It was held on the banks of the Savannah River and it was a gorgeous day, which Tony Powers from "Powers to the People" on our local talk radio station said was proof that God is a conservative. :) The rally started out with extreme right wing radical stuff like the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, on our feet, with our hands over our hearts, and using the word God. The Star Spangled Banner was sung by a beautiful 12 year old named Cindy...and again we stood. After all of that radical behavior, there was a prayer. I'm expecting Ol' Janet at my door any minute now.
One of our speakers was Congressman Paul Brown (R-GA 10th District) who is a passionate advocate of the FairTax. He is one of the few people who call for the FairTax on the floor of the House in full view of
The rally cry yesterday was U.S.A.....until Congressman Brown spoke...then it became S.O.S. Stop Outrageous Spending. He is a man who says what he believes and believes what he says. He's calling out elected officials on both sides of the aisle for their unconstitutional behavior.
The next guy to speak was a writer for our local paper....The Augusta Chronicle who talked about repealing the 16th amendment to the Constitution (which allows Congress to collect an income tax) so the tax code can be replaced with the FairTax and the IRS (along with the money spent on it by the Federal Government and the money spent by citizens preparing/filing their taxes, could be put to better use.) Now, Congress itself is not going to call for a Constitutional Congress to discuss and debate this issue. But they don't have to. Article 5 of the Constitution allows for the Citizens of the U.S. to do it. You need the legislative bodies of 2/3 of the states (that would be 34, h/t to Michael Ryan for doing the math thingie for us....makes my head hurt. *hair twirl*) to ask for it and then Congress has no choice but to call it. That was our challenge yesterday, to get to work..now, today, contacting our state legislature and get them to draft a resolution calling for a Constitutional Congress. That is the first step to bringing the FairTax into the realm of possibility. Now is the right time for this and we need to stay fired up and get to work people. We need to put a stop to our out of control government and put the power of government back where it belongs...in the hands of the People.
The rally yesterday was awesome. We met some great people, had a lot of fun, ate some BBQ and drank some sweet tea (obvy), and learned a lot about what we, as citizens can do to protect ourselves from the government.
Oh, and I almost forgot my nifty cool signs:
This is me:
And this is my friend Linda:
The signs are courtesy of my mom and her Cricut machine....wonderful little invention that.
So, there you have it...the Augusta, GA Tea Party!