In my (too) frequent trips to the capitol building, I often see large crowds gathered outside for some protest or rally. Usually these groups consist of various union members angrily demanding increased government funding for their particular interest. One can only imagine my excitement and delight to see the massive crowd assembled on the West Steps of the Capitol this morning—and they were all there to demand lower taxes and smaller government! 

While hard working Americans are usually out earning a living to pay taxes, unions and other special interests spend their time at the capitol lobbying to confiscate more of our money. So it was probably an odd sight to see so many of those hard working Americans assembled at the Capitol at noon on a workday. But this day merited using a lunch break or vacation day to join fellow taxpayers in expressing our outrage at their profligate spending and freedom squashing laws.

 

I don’t know the exact size of the Sacramento Tea Party crowd, but it was definitely more than 5,000 people; probably over 10,000. Many long-time political activists commented that they hadn’t seen a rally this large in decades—if ever. Moms, dad, kids, grandparents, veterans, students, the crowd was filled a vast cross section of our state who all share a passion for freedom. Americans for Prosperity and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association deserve a lot of credit for pulling off such a fantastic event. Although this was an entirely grassroots-lead effort, it still took the planning and organizing of those two organizations and many other committed individuals. 

 View from the stage at the Tea Party

Kicking off the event at 11:00am was a mini concert featuring Lloyd Marcus, composer of the "American Tea Party Anthem" and emceed by local talk radio host Eric Hogue. Around noon, when the crowd was at its peak attendance, local talk show host Mark Williams took over as emcee and introduced several speakers who rallied the crowds: Michael Reagan, actor John Ratzenberger (yes, “Cliff” from Cheers), Jon Coupal of HJTA, Peter Foy of AFP, Congressman Tom McClintock, Senator George Runner, local talk radio hosts Armstrong and Getty, and a host of other inspiring speakers.

 

The common theme in all the speeches was the dissatisfaction with government’s currently untenable spending and the need to elect responsible leadership. Most of the speakers led chants of “Vote them out!” or other variations on the same theme. In fact, chanting was probably one of the more popular crowd activities of the day. I’m sure it sent a chill down the spines of every elected official in the Capitol to hear such a large crowd calling for their removal.

 Thanks to James Lacy for this great photo! 

Just as the Tea Party was getting into full swing, several of us standing on the West Steps noticed that Assemblywomen Lori Saldana and Noreen Evans were standing on the balcony overlooking the crowd. They appeared to be holding a rolled-up banner with some numbers written on it. Someone in the crowd pointed out the two Democrats and immediately others began yelling to the legislators to “stop raising our taxes.” The two women never did unfurl their banner, and beat a hasty retreat from the balcony. 

Fox News Channel personalities Neil Cavuto and Michelle Malkin were in attendance at the event, with Cavuto broadcasting his show live at 3pm. Malkin took note of one particularly interesting speech delivered by Tea Party organizer Mark Meckler. At one point Meckler took to the stage and excoriated CRP Chairman Ron Nehring and the Republican Party for failing to assist the Tea Party when they initially came to the Party for help. He lambasted Nehring and the GOP for being so lethargic in taking a position on 1A and for allowing six GOP lawmakers to pass the biggest tax increase in our state’s history. The crowd expressed their agreement with Meckler’s comments very clearly and very loudly. CRP leaders should take note.

 

The general mood of the rally was patriotic, a perfect mix of fun and seriousness. The signs floating above attendees’ heads were incredibly creative and humorous, witty and pointed. Taxpayers have had enough of the shenanigans in Sacramento and DC. And while we love our country, we are deadly serious about reforming government’s irresponsible modus operandi. It was thrilling to spend a day at the capitol with so many like-minded patriots. As long as there are still good, decent, hard working Americans, our country can survive and thrive—we just have to take back responsibility for our own governance.   

Throughout the event I posted pictures on TwitPic and Twittered some of the things going on as they happened. Also, check out this great video Californian Bryan Barton put together in honor of the Tea Party–it’s already been viewed over 30,000 times on YouTube!