A grassroots initiative to voice protests of American citizens who are appalled at the spend-fest in Washington, D.C., the TEA Party gathered quite a few crowds in the mountain state on April 15.
Reportedly, tens of thousands of people across the nation gathered in peaceful demonstrations that were organized on a grassroots level. They came holding signs that spoke against the recent $81 billion bail out that has bulldozed its way through Congress and was not affiliated with any political party.
Both registered democrats and republicans showed up to hear the comments being made by speakers this past Wednesday.
Matt Hill was one of those speakers. His message resonated among those gathered at the town square in Beckley, when he said that “mob rule is the rule of the day.”
“I never would have believed you if you had told me that one day I would see the President of the United States firing, for all intents and purposes, the CEO of General Motors,” he said, “Or that I would have seen the day that government healthcare would have been a possibility.I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Hill, who grew in Big Ugly and attended Scott High School, recently separated from the Register-Herald newspaper in Beckley, where he had worked as a reporter for the past five years.
“How did we get to be here?” he asked the crowd, stating that in his opinion a lot of the problem stems from the media.
“Our media thinks for us and reports what they want to report,” the former newsman said to a roar of applause and shouts of agreement from the crowd.
“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” Hill said, saying he observed so many people being “hypnotized” by government handouts.
“We’ve become hypnotized by government handouts both personally and collectively,” he articulated.
The former newspaperman had other words of advice for the assembled crowd when he advised them to find alternative media such as NPR and starting a blog or participating on YouTube. “Circumvent the drive-by media and don’t be shy when what you hear is obviously misinformation,” he said to another outburst of applause.
“I see this movement living on beyond today,” Hill said. This sentiment carried over into the speech given by former Senator Russ Weeks, “We can not participate today and just forget about it.”
He shared with the crowd that during his time at the legislature, “What I saw and observed scared the dickens out of me – the way your and my government was being conducted.”
“We are in the shape we are in today because we put them there,” Weeks said, casting blame for the current direction the nation is taking away from the media and placing it directly back to the voters themselves.
“We as West Virginians have sold our dignity; have given away our dignity,” he said, noting that the motto of West Virginia is that mountaineers are always free.
“And that is no longer true. Some mountaineers are free and some mountaineers are just waiting until the third of the month to get their paychecks,” he said.
“We have an election coming up in 1 ½ years,” he said, giving his advice that in order to turn the country around from overspending, voters needed to “throw them all out.”
At one point, the former senator commented that the President should not bow to no-one, touching on the current visit by President Barack Obama to meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G-20 summit in London, where he bowed during his handshake.
Spokespersons for the administration have denied that the President bowed, describing the greeting as “leaning down to shake hands.”
According to Weeks, what politicians understand is numbers and he encouraged the gathered crowd of protestors to be “the nucleus of a very big movement.”
“What we speak of is what is in our hearts. We believe that the constitution was given to us by God…taxation with mis-representation is tyranny,” one tea party demonstrator noted. Protestor Robin Hale said she, too, disagrees with the government’s current spending.
“And I’, angry – most angry at the way this country is going and being led down a path to socialism. You really have to watch the left hand because the right hand might be doing something.”
Jamie Booth showed up for the protest despite the chilly temperatures Wednesday morning. She held a sign showing the Nine Principles of government.
She commented, “I’m upset at the $800 Billion bailout bill. If you spent $1 Million a day from the day Christ died, you still wouldn’t have spent $800 Billion.”
In a voice filled with disdain, she added, “And nobody read the bill. There were 9,000 earmarks in that bill and nobody read it.” “ I’m just tired of them not listening to the people,” she said.
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