Herman Cain and other local political figures highlighted the Tea Party at the Georgia Capitol.
by Michael Naragon
Below are images of the event, as well as video coverage of several speakers, including presidential candidate Herman Cain, Georgia 7th District candidate Clay Cox, and others. The 7,500 attendance number came from police officials at the event.
I’ve also included a short clip of some young people who were either SEIU representatives or pretending they were from the union in order to ruffle some feathers. They were treated with politeness by all who saw them, though they left not long after I snapped their picture and videotaped them. You’ll notice a photo of a girl from their group in the slideshow–she’s the one holding the sign about how capitalism is bad for the environment, “people of color,” women, developing countries, etc. When I asked if I could take her picture, she smiled and held her sign proudly, likely because she thought from my hang-tag that I was from the regular media. I thanked her and, as I walked away, said, “You didn’t have to bother smiling. I’ll be using that as an example of liberal idiocy.”
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Hey, I’m one of those people who counter-demonstrated against the tea party (I was the guy in green carrying the “Feed the poor” sign.) Let’s go through a few things:
1.) Laffo at that number. Less than a thousand people showed up.
2.) We aren’t reps from SEIU. We’re students from GSU who are allying with SEIU to organize our cafeteria workers, which is why a few of us had SEIU apparel. A few of us are socialists, but that doesn’t mean SEIU is (I wish!)
3.) The woman carrying the Capitalism sign is my friend Kate, who would be very surprised and amused to called Liberal. Only one or two of us were democrats and most of us think Obama is a pretty shitty president.
Her sign was pretty accurate and I’d be very interested in hearing why you think it’s “idiocy.”
Americans protesting the theft of our money by outrageous taxes hardly seems like a cause anyone would want to counter demonstrate. It doesn’t sound very smart to me.
Well, first of all, most Americans actually got a tax cut this year, so I’m not even sure what they’re protesting. I’d even prefer higher taxes if it meant we had good social programs.
I also don’t understand this rhetoric of taxes being “theft.” Taxes aren’t money being stolen from you; taxes are you paying back society what you owe (roads, schools, etc.) In fact, by not paying taxes, YOU would be the one who is stealing.
The ultimate irony is that after the tea party, all these folks got on publicly funded MARTA trains at a station that served a publicly funded university. Did the hypocritical nature if doing that even cross their minds?
What about those sidewalks, streets, those police officers that they used to escort us out? Those are publicly funded.
The interesting thing is that alot of what y’all tea baggers call for is (this is blasphemy to some, I know) the same that socialists call for.
-Stop wasting our $ on stupid projects
-Stop the federal government from abusing the rights of Americans (Some push that further and say stop abusing the rights of people around the world)
-Stop the corporate run Capitol Hill
-Stop the crooks on Wall Street
Tea Baggers, y’all call for people to stand up and get organized. Y’all call for people power! We do too! People power in the form of unions, committees, communities to call for an end to war, call for a recognition of human rights: education, healthcare, transportation, a job, a home, food. These are human rights, and if everybody had them there would be alot less problems in society.
@Tim
Loosely, you’re right in saying that both you and I strive for similar goals: less waste of money, people power, etc. Where we disagree is the execution in the attempt to achieve these goals. While you see health care, transportation, and a job as human rights, I see them as ‘perks’ which we must EARN. I don’t believe drop outs, druggies, and flunkies should be given the right to any of these things; they haven’t earned it, and by it being called a ‘human right’, it’s given to them at no expense to them, which spends tax dollars to give them these so-called rights, taking away from the people who aren’t drop outs/druggies/flunkies.
These things aren’t rights; we must earn our own well-being (which your so-called rights are all in the subcategory of well-being, not rights), not have it handed to us.
People should have transportation, health care, etc, but where I differentiate from you is here: people should work for this, deserve it. Not be handed these ‘perks’.
Take for instance, what if the internet was a right? The positives would be that everyone would be available the tools to unlock TONS of human knowledge; but computers don’t fall from the sky. Who has to pay for it? Tax dollars. Once more things begin to be seen as ‘rights’, more and more money will be thrown out of our pockets to the druggies and the flunkies.
Where do you get this conclusion that the poor are “dropouts/druggies/flunkies?” I’ve been around poor people all my life and there’s no doubt in my mind that they work harder than anyone (in contrast with CEO and excutive types, who go to a meeting twice a month and collect millions.) To suggest that the poor are poor because they’re lazy isn’t just wrong; it’s insulting.
The reason the poor stay poor has little to do with willpower and has more to do with the vast power structures that bear down on them. If the poor lack good schools and decent healthcare, how can we seriously expect them to rise up the social ladder? Are you telling me you’d be the exact same person you are today if you grew up in a tax-free hellhole like Somalia than here, where we have relatively decent schools and better access to healthcare? Just because you grew up privileged doesn’t mean everyone else has.
I also find it funny you’re railing against the concept of human rights while at the same time supporting the Constitution. Are you against the freedoms of speech, worship, and gun ownership? What have you done to personally earn these freedoms?
In fact, you’re in direct opposition to the founding fathers’ on this issue. Here’s the first line of the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The founding fathers believed you don’t have to work for these rights; you’re endowed with them, end of story.
Let’s look at the last part for a second (“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”) If these things are fundamental human rights, then it follows that anything that brings these rights into fruition are also human rights. If this is the case, how are education and healthcare not human rights as well? We need a good education to follow our dreams and understand our options. How many people are chained to oppressive jobs they hate simply for the healthcare benefits? Really, I don’t see how saying these things are human rights is in any conflict with what the ideals of the founding fathers.
You’re right, in a way, about earning our rights. The only way the government will give up what’s rightfully ours (including the right to free speech and bear arms) is if we band together and demand it from them. This is the same with healthcare and education, of course.
Also, it’s funny how you mention the internet being a human right since it’s actually being recognized as such in several parts of the world and maybe in the United Nations soon enough. Using the previous reasoning, it’s not hard to see why; in the modern world, if you want to succeed and stay informed about what’s going on, an internet connection is essential. Whenever I walk into the Fulton county public library, the computers are all filled up with homeless and lower class people looking for jobs. If they didn’t have that resource, where could the possibly turn?
Thank you for your reply, though, and I look forward to hearing more from you.
I should also add that I would be perfectly fine with paying more taxes if it meant internet access could be provided to as many people as possible. I might lose $20 now or whatever, but I’d gain so much more in the long term. It would mean I would be living in a society where the poor can stay informed with a wide variety of sources and seek additional avenues of employment. What could I possibly do with $20 that’s more important?
Hey, a few things.
I’m one the one in the video labeled as ‘SEIU’ organizer, the one with the sharp looking hat. I would like to insist that I am NOT an SEIU organizer. I am a student at GSU, down the street from where your rally was held.
About the numbers your portraying here. 7500 is not a correct estimate. Its not even close. I’ve seen rallies there held by teachers, by students, by anti-abortion folks. I’ve seen large numbers and small numbers. Yours was less then a thousand. Probably around 700. Alot of news sources are claiming ‘thousands’. This is absurd and frightening, because it shows the failure of ‘media’ to accurately detail reality. Really, this is just too 1984 for me.
Heres one news source with an accurate number. Honestly, I think you should go by the police reports regarding the event. As a person with a blog, you should strive for accuracy. It looks good and is much more honorable then this ’7500′ crap.
LATimes:
‘In Atlanta, several hundred protesters gathered in front of the state capitol, down from last year’s estimated 7,000.’
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-tea-party-20100415,0,7826483.story
I would also like to say that I am terribly offended for being called a liberal. I don’t know where you get off saying such harsh and offensive statements. I am no liberal my friends, I’m a socialist.
Much love!
Americans protesting the theft of our liberty by the PATRIOT ACT hardly seems like a cause anyone would want to not demonstrate. It doesn’t sound very smart to me. Especially, if the tea party loves freedom.
I wish that at least one of those inflated 7500 tea baggers didn’t suffer from hypocrisy