The American Freedom Network

Making Sun-Tea in Michigan

Today was a Tea Party convention of sorts at the Eaton County Fairgrounds.  (Eaton County is adjacent to the Lansing metro area, and is just north of Battle Creek.)  The weather was dog-day hot and sticky, but the Tea Party faithhful were undeterred.  In addition to most of the state’s tea party groups, Ron Paul’s Campaign For Liberty was there, as were other conservative/libertarian organizations.  (This writer attended at the invitation of C4L, of which he is a member.)  Several hundred people came to the event to see conservative icon Phyllis Schafley, GOP candidates for Governor, state legislative and judicial offices, and local candidates from across the Lower Peninsula.  Libertarian Secretary of State candidate Scotty Boman attended on behalf of Campaign For Liberty (like this writer, he’s been a Ron Paul supporter since the 1980s.)

Constitution Party candidate for Governor Stacey Mathia had a booth at the event, but was originally not offered a chance to address the crowd.  the intervention of this writer and another activist persuaded the event organizers to let the lady speak at the end of the program, which she did to a receptive audience.

The GOP candidates for governor who spoke were Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Grand Rapids Congressman who is giving up the seat he’s held since 1992, when he ousted GOP Minority Leader Guy Vander Jagt in the primary.  He supported TARP, however, and gave a boilerplate speech that did not advance anything besides platitudes about getting the government off our backs and so forth.  Sheriff Mike Bouchard spoke to better effect, but his conversion to Arizona-style immigration control and support for a part-time legislature strike this writer as a battlefield conversion, as he served in the Legislature, but never introduced a bill to address either.  Sen. Tom George spoke to the issues, but he’s at 1% in the polls.  He correctly pointed out that the other candidates want to cut taxes, but they also promise more spending.  He warned that such a strategy would lead to Michigan not paying its’ bills, like insolvent Illinois.  Attorney General Mike Cox, who has no fan in this writer, did not show for his scheduled turn to speak; the self-described ‘tough nerd,’ businessman Rick Snyder, did not attend.

Overall, the event served to bring many Tea Party and like-minded groups together, and it was a forum for a number of candidates for office to get a hearing from the movement just prior to Michigan’s August 3rd primary.  What effect having this new-found respect from GOP establishment politicians (and the grass roots ones, too) will have should be evident in a fortnight. As for the groups themselves, they ranged from the well-organized to the less so, and the cast of characters who member them are as varied as any cross-section of the working and middle classes in this state might be expected to produce.

In a cautionary note for those hoping for tea parties to go away, the enthusiasm appears to be unabated, and suspicion of co-opting establishment types remains strong.  Both items are good news for those of us who would recover our liberty in these troubled times.  Given the recent NAACP-inspired ‘tempest in a teapot’ over charges of racism, it is worth noting that an African-American Tea Party group attended, as did the African-American radio show host of ‘Joshua’s Trail,’ a Ypsilanti, Michigan-based talk show devoted to preserving and protecting liberty.

In terms of critique, two things stand out:  The absence of railery directed against President Obama or Governor Granholm.  (The anti-Obama rhetoric primarily came from the GOP candidates at the podium, and while their applause lines had the desired effect, the hostility to persons, as opposed to that directed at actions, legislation, and programs, was not present among the Tea Party rank-and-file.)  The other thing that this observer noted was that, while most participants dressed in a manner that could loosely be described as apporpriate, given the 90/90 heat and humidity, some did not, and had the MSM attended (they did not), those are the ones who would’ve been on the 6 O’Clock news.  The Tea Party movement would have a hard time living down images of the 60-ish man in the booth oposite C4L who wore a ‘beater’ shirt, what appeared to be striped boxer shorts, and one knee-length tube sock with his shoes, or the woman who wore shorts and knee-length rubber galoshes.  (Granted, in the latter case, that rain threatened, and that the event was scheduled to be outdoors, but that fashion statement would be an easy MSM target for unflattering imagery, and it would belie her intelligence, which was evident in conversing with her.)  A word to the wise:  You are the face of any group you represent, as such, in public, and how you look sends a message that can be longer-lasting than what you say.  Therefore, when you go out in public, imagine how you’d appear if your opponents posted images of you on YouTube, et cetera, and dress accordingly.