Thursday, April 16, 2009

PDX Tea Party

dueler 88

I took my daughter to the Tea Party in Portland yesterday at Pioneer Square. Since she came along and sat on my shoulders most of the time, I was not as participatory as I would have liked to be - although she clapped when I whistled, so it's all good.

I must admit that
I'm against indoctrinating anyone, so it disturbed me a little to have her clap for things which she knew nothing about. At the same time, I think it's important for me to teach her why people were there, and the importance of personal liberty and accountability. So that's what we talk about at home sometimes, when the opportunity arises.

This blog venue is more for photos than anything else. I'll post captions if I get ambitious, but I wanted to at least evoke the flavor of what was happening.



The Gadsden Flag was well-represented. It made me wish that I had borrowed my dad's First Navy Jack flag for the occasion.


Obviously a fan of icanhascheezburger.com. Me too.


The Debt Star. Note the WSJ graphic stats on national debt. I gave this guy a big thumbs-up.


Who IS John Galt, indeed! Good photo of the general crowd as well.

I was a little disappointed that the crowd was relatively monochromatic. Everybody kinda looked the same. Granted, P-town does not have a very big minority population. But I was still sorta disappointed by the consistency of "white folks." The ideas are too important to have any racial component. Are "white folks" the only people left who care about the Constitution and preventing runaway federal power? Time will tell. But I took this as a signal that "we" need to be more vigilant about expressing the importance of an unobtrusive federal government, and that it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with race, skin color, religion or sexual preference. It's all about LIBERTY.

During the middle of the Tea Party, my daughter was getting hungry so I took her to McDonalds for a chicken sandwich and some fries. We had a nice little dinner together. Afterwards, on the train on the way home, we sat next to a nice woman who is active in Soldier's Angels. I was trying to describe to my daughter the rank insignia on the arms of a local Air Force NCO sitting several seats away, and the difference between commissioned- and non-commissoned officers. The woman overheard me, so she obviously knew that I had some experience (familial, in this case), and we struck up a conversation. An extremely pleasant and supportive woman. I might just actually join her and do something about it, to show our men and women in uniform that we DO care what they're doing for us. I encourage you to do the same.
www.soldiersangels.com