Reporting Live from the Tax Rally

OK, not live but as soon as I could log on anyway.  I attended the Tax Rally today at the State Capitol, sponsored by the Tax Payers League of Minnesota.  My favorite old talk show host, Jason Lewis was there as were the Governor and other state politicians.

I commend the Tax Payers League.  It was a well organized event, transportation was even provided by the Mark Kennedy campaign.  I was a little disappointed to not see a bigger turnout.  But then again, it was 8:00 a.m. on a workday.  What else would any God fearing conservative be doing at that time of day other than working (to pay taxes of course) or raising their family.

It was also a little disheartening to see a fair number of people with ideas on how we should spend more money in attendance.  The usual entourages of homeless advocates, schools suck we need more money people and my favorite Willing to Pay for a Better Minnesota coalitions were present. 

At first they stayed up in the balcony area of the rotunda and just displayed their signs to catch the attention of the ever watchful liberal media.  However, as the rally went on they joined the ranks of the no new taxes supporters and mingled in.  I thought this was quite rude.  I wanted to attend a rally not try and maneuver for position to display my sign or struggled to hear the speak over individual arguments in the crowd.

I guess I should not expect them to play fair.  But the few conservative rallies that I have attended always seem to have a respectable amount of opponents there, as well.  Where do they come from? Are they professional protesters or are liberals just comprised a larger majority of people with nothing better to do.  I think we held our own, we'll see how it plays out in the media coverage.

Back to Willing to Pay for a Better Minnesota.  I have decided to order one of their signs but change it to :

Willing to Pay for a Better Minnesota?

Then, SEND THE CHECK!

This slogan has struck me as emphasizing one of the most transparent aspects of liberalism.  I want a better society and I want you to pay for it.  If all of the people with these signs would write out a bigger check when they send in their taxes, maybe all of their hopes and dreams would be achieved.  But that wouldn't be enough.  In order to bring somebody up, they must bring other people down.

One more side note.  With all of the Michelle Bachman hoohah about her running scared because she has been physically accosted by her opponents.  She was at the rally and signed a no new tax pledge as a candidate for the 6th Congressional district.  She did not seem at ease in a public place, even when the protesters tried to gather close to the rally speakers.  Before I left, I even worked my way towards her, tapped her on the shoulder and thanked her for fighting for the sanctity of marriage in Minnesota.  I'm glad the harassment has not made her unapproachable to her constituents.

Comments

[St. Kate]

Hey Twice Blessed,

Thanks for the report. Glad you could make it to the rally.

[wayspecha15]

Don't you think that the real reason the "more taxes" advocates don't cough up more money themselves is because they expect to be on the receiving end. They are either government employees (local, county, state or federal) or are feeding at the tax dollar trough somehow. (maybe on welfare.) That's how they can show up at rallies in the middle of the day when everyone else has to go to work.

[aelfheld]

I want a better society and I want you to pay for it.

Actually, the Left isn't interested in an objectively better society - if they were, they would condemn the dictatorships and thugocracies they champion.

What they are interested in is a social order that caters to their prejudices and fantasies and, preferably, silences those in disagreement. And that is why they have no compunction in making others, especially those in disagreement, pay for their goals.

[Eva Young]

She has NOT been harrassed. Constituents went to a town meeting to ask her questions. I've talked to a number of people who were at the Scandia town meeting. The meeting was all people from her district - including 5 gay people. That's her JOB to take those questions. When you are a legislator, you are supposed to represent ALL your constituents, not just those who voted for you. Bachmann doesn't return phone calls, emails or other correspondance with constituents who disagree with her.

I talked to a social conservative yesterday, who has been lobbying with Tom Prichard from the Minnesota Family Council. Prichard is having a harder time getting appointments with state legislators because of Bachmann's antics.

I got called by Pawlenty's campaign asking me to go to the rally. I would have gone, but I had a training session at 8:30, so couldn't make it. 100 is a very poor turnout for this sort of rally. There will be much more for the Bachmann amendment rally next week - on April 20th - a good way to commemorate Hitler's birthday.

Neva Walker in South Minneapolis has the reputation for not attending or coming late to her committee meetings - and people don't take her too seriously at the legislature. I object to that also.

The job of a legislature is much more involved than holding press conferences. It's a pity that Bachmann doesn't understand this.

[housemouse]

I was there. There were more than 100 people there, despite what the Star Tribune says. The protesters numbered about 20. That includes the 5 "Billionaires for Bush" ladies who I would classify as professional protesters or maybe performance artists. The rest of the protesters seemed to be from different groups or individuals with hard to read signs. A bunch had signs that had "A fee is a tax" which is actually a position to the right of the Gov. and at the moment, the same position as Dr. No, Rep. Phil Krinkie. There were also Libertarian protesters in the crowd, to remind us all that they were the ones who invented the April 15th tax rally here in MN.

In years past, the rally has always been on a Saturday, rain or shine and always on the capitol steps. It has been sponsored variously over the years, by the Libertarians, the Republican Party and the Taxpayers League. I know that the League had no plans to have one this year until Pawlenty said he wanted to have one about two weeks ago. David raised heaven and earth to get bodies there. The Republicans and some of the individual campaigns agreed to come and get their people out. Still it was a really hard thing to get people to come on a work day/school day, on the actual day that Taxes were due and at 8 am to boot. In years past, even when it rained, People brought their whole families, kids and all, with signs, funny hats, etc. Most people attended this one by themselves and only a few people had children, very small or pre-school.

I think it went pretty well. The decision to hold it in the rotunda was a good one, given all the variables. There were also some other protests held around the state as well.