I attended the Tea Party meeting at the Liberty Garden in Wright Park on Saturday morning. I did not see or hear any “crazy people,” as one of the protest group categorized us in the statement he made to Eric Swanson, the author of the Globe article.
I did see and hear a lot of well-informed, intelligent citizens who are concerned with the direction our new president and government are taking us; I saw a doctor, a minister, a former clerk of the district court, many teachers and other upstanding citizens of our community. I myself am a former teacher of both history and English. Members of the Tea Party movement include both Democrats and Republicans, and members of all races.
I think that Eric Swanson did a fine job of reporting on our group and our speakers. We were well behaved and reasonable people, and our speakers acknowledged the right of the protesters to disagree with us, a right guaranteed by our Constitution.
However, one of the protesters carried a sign which read “Shut down Fox News,” a well-known conservative news station. Obviously, the protesters do not accord us the same right to free speech that we grant them.
Interestingly, the photo of the protesters published in the Globe did not show this particular sign; I believe it was on the opposite side of one of the signs that did show in the photograph. (Other members of the Tea Party group can attest to the wording of that particular sign.)
I do wonder why the Globe chose to print the photo of the very small group of protesters rather than a photo of the much larger group at the Tea Party. I also wonder why the Globe chose to interview and quote several members of the protest group rather than members of our Tea Party group, especially as the protesters were falsely accusing our group of “using bad information” and stating that we were “crazy people.” All three of our speakers accorded the protest group the right to their opinions, and I did not hear anyone disparage members of the protest group.
For the full story, go to dodgecitydailyglobe.ks.newsmemory.com.
