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A Liberal's Eye View of the Seattle Tea Party
by Dennis Mooney

February 27,2009

Seattle, Washington

I’m a tweeter and I’m a liberal. My Tweeter page is clear about that. So what is a liberal doing on TCOTReport.com?

The organizers of the #teaparty were kind enough to ask me to give my liberal view of the Seattle teaparty event. I’d like to thank Michael Leahy for the opportunity.

My teaparty day started out on the bus into downtown. I wasn't going to pay $20 parking. It’s a Ronald Reagan Day. Its 55, bright blue sky, brilliant sun and from the bus I can see Mt. Rainier and the Olympics like postcards. By 11:00 I’m sitting in the Starbucks at WestLake Park. Well its not a park it’s a concrete city center in the high end retail part of downtown.

Looking out I don’t see anyone with teabags yet but I see plenty of homeless people, some skateboarders, Girl Guides selling cookies (why aren’t they in school?), 3 ACLU attired people asking for support for their Anti Prop 8 drive and some Macy’s employees picketing. They’ve been at it for months. All people that should be concerned about what the teaparty is all about. I boot up my laptop and search Google for “teaparty Seattle” and the first hit is “Ron Paul for President”. My day is off to an ominous start.

At 12:00 I leave my drained coffee and head to where people will start assembling. There are a lot of poor people around. Some talking to themselves, one asking me if I believe in Jesus and a guy surrounded by his piles of newspapers wrapped in a blue blanket muttering to himself. He’s recently vomited right under where the speaker is going to be. Soon people will gather to talk about socialism, taxes, bailing people out.

At 12:05 I approach three people. One has a box of teabags. We start to talk. They are concerned about government spending run wild. They tell me the roots go back to the Bush years and both parties share the blame for this situation. I find later that this is a general feeling with everyone I talk to. They describe themselves as “libertarian fiscal conservatives”. I’m going to hear the word libertarian a lot today.

I move to another pod of people. One asks me if I’m willing to sign a check today for $30,000 because that’s what is going to happen. She says the budget is costing every taxpayer $25,000 this year alone. She and her husband have no debt she tells me and don’t want to support “people who made poor decisions and chose bad behavior”.

My impression of the programs the government is proposing is that they will help people who are current with their mortgages not those who made poor decisions. I begin to wonder if we’ve heard the same press conferences.

One person tells me “our Party needs to own up to the fact that we started this spending”. In fact as I walk around most people share the belief that this problem did not start January 20th, it’s been around a long time and both parties need to “own up”

Then I hear “socialism” for the first time from a lady probably 65 years old. She says it’s “theft and amounts to government control of our economy and choices”. I’ll talk to her again after the teaparty. But I am going to hear the S word a lot in the next 60 minutes. I will also hear “corruption”, “transparency” and “lack of leadership” mentioned often.

I talk to Larry who shows me his copy a book titled “Rules for Radicals”. Larry is annoyed at the lack of transparency and feels the average person does not have a voice in the process. He says the media don’t choose real fiscal conservatives to represent his side of the story.

As the organizer takes to the microphone there are 150 people assembled. I see local TV, three flags and about 20 signs. By the time it hits its peak of 250 people I start to see some resemblances to the Republican Party in the crowd. I don’t see a single African American, I didn’t see any Hispanics. I don’t think many here are in the $250,000 income bracket that Obama wants to raise taxes on. But that’s a fact this audience is willing to ignore.

The meeting organizer Kelly Kelicarender starts with the theme for the rally “Repeal or Retire”. But I hear “Not on my watch” repeated more often. Later she calls Senator Patty Murray and leaves her a voice mail. She holds up her cell phone to let people boo for 10 seconds before advising the Senator to “retire or be defeated”.

Cassy takes the podium and from a prepared speech quotes that 19th century political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville and explains to the audience that “largesse” means “more money”. She gets a big applause when she says we need to “fight bondage”.

Kelly comes back with an impassioned “don’t let them say we don’t care about people being turned out of their houses”. I wonder what the twenty or so homeless lying on the park benches are thinking? She tells us “immoral is a government coming into your house and taking your money and giving it to someone else”. She says, “we believe in prosperity because we care for people”. The guy under the blanket next to his vomit is still there; he’s not listening because he’s muttering to himself under his wool hat.

To her credit Kelly does not say Obama or Democrat in her address at all. She speaks without notes and from her heart. She is truly passionate. It’s a passion of youth.

By 12:40 the crowd is getting worked up. One yells, “grab your gun”. Another yells out that we should read “H45”. He explains to all of us that this is a bill will “disarm all of us” to which Kelly says “its important to defend ourselves from the government”. The 6 police standing by perk up.

We’re getting to the end now and Richard, a grad student, comes on stage to “share my experiences with you”. He asks “Are you mad?” Big reaction. He says the government wants him to pay more taxes. He must be a grad student making $200,000. I envy him.

The teaparty ends with the crowd chanting “Not on my watch”. A small group of people starts singing the National Anthem and pretty soon 80 or so people join in. Then someone yells, “now get back to work”.

I talked with Kelly at the end of the rally. The irony is that Kelly reminds me of myself 35 years ago. She might have the piercings but I was a radical in my own way with hair longer than any of the Beatles. While she decries socialism and communism, at the age of 22 I had a Che Guevara poster in my dorm room and though Karl Marx had it right. I don’t anymore.

I ask Kelly and others what they think socialism is. I get answers from “socialism is based on greed and is immoral” to “socialism is a slow form of communism like cancer” to “the government will decide my healthcare, what I can teach and where I can go on vacation”.

My last discussion is with two ladies, one American lady of about 65 and a lady of German descent who told me she was 72. The American lady was concerned that decisions for her future healthcare would be taken from her. She said, “even the Canadians would stop coming here”. Her German friend said, “When I went home I thought the German healthcare system would be terrible but my 71 year old friend has an aneurism and actually the system is pretty good and its not totally free”.

What’s ironic about the teaparty concept is that is was hatched up by CNBC not #tcot. After having milked their Jim Cramer “they know nothing” moment for months CNBC management needed another scripted rant to boost ratings. That twitter upstart @stocktwits had the nerve to issue a call to boycott CNBC. They needed a new champion of the average person. Rick Santelli’s name got major applause today. Their plan worked. We have a new champion for the everyday guy who does not want to pay for his neighbors extra bathroom.

So what did I learn from the teaparty? I took away that this issue is not about Democrats and Republicans. It’s not about Obama. His name was not often mentioned and on only one or two signs. I think there is not much dividing us except what is fabricated by the media and politicians. I heard no respect for politicians of any brand.

I also heard a deep misunderstanding about what the current elected government is trying to accomplish. I found no one who understood anything about how other countries solve their problems. I heard from Americans who have insulated themselves from change. I heard a “frontier” mentality of “only the strong should survive- every man and woman for themselves”.

So I’m on my way home looking for one phrase that will sum up my #teaparty experience. I do believe in fate. On the bus seat is the Seattle Times left open at a full-page ad from Saturn-GM exclaiming “Change Starts in the Driveway”. That’s what this is all about. It’s all about keeping your money and not worrying about your neighbor. Well as long as it doesn’t cost you anything……….



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