Tea party gathering was not a peaceful protest
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Editor,
After reading Annette Schiele's letter, published Feb. 25 describing last April's tea party that she helped to organize, I had to wonder if we attended the same event. Her stated goal for the gathering may have been to "peacefully protest over-burdensome taxes and the alarming increase in government spending," but it turned out to be much more than that.
From my point of view the Polson tea party was all about anger- most of it directed against the Federal government, our elected representatives, the Internal Revenue Service and President Obama. Though they claim to love the USA, I didn't hear anything much positive about our government. Did any of them pause to consider the tax dollars that funded the public roads they traveled to the public park that hosted the tea party next to the Armed Forces Memorial bridge dedicated to those that serve our country? Instead, some speakers and participants even made thinly veiled references to secession and revolution.
And for every minute given to taxes and spending, another minute was spent attacking gays, climate change science, abortion, and Godless schools while promoting guns, state sovereignty, private property rights, and their peculiar understanding of the constitution. Plainly put, it was the election campaign all over again.
But as Annette Schiele said, "listen carefully to the rhetoric" and "respond appropriately according to your own interpretation." Indeed.
Jim Rogers
Polson
