PrintOctober 20, 2009
Confessions of a San Francisco Tea Party Mobstress
When I first donned my mobster's hat last April, clinging to it as I do my guns and Bible, I was embarking on a journey not only into the unknown but also into the unknowable: unknown because, like most of my fellow mobsters, I had never attended a protest before; unknowable because we were in the unnerving position of having to react to the endless barrage of "hope and change" that would be hurled our way. But don that hat I did along with hundreds and now thousands of others in the Bay Area.
Bay Area mobsters take protesting seriously: they study the issues in preparation for an event, confer with permit officers and police before and during an event (we even thank them), create pithy but catchy signage to deflate their anger and, why the police love us most of all, clean up after the protest.
Tea Party anger differs from the kind of ire we have witnessed from the left over the years. Theirs is the anger of youth: unbridled, unreasonable and irascible. It is visceral and emotional.
Probably due to the variety of political affiliations we have in the Tea Party group--where no particular party or ideology dominates-Tea Party outrage, while real, has been assuaged by several factors: familiarity with world history, an understanding of human nature, a commitment to a shared code of conduct and a willingness to fight for principles upheld by past generations in order to pass them on to future generations.
This is the essence of the tea party movement and it was out in full force this past Thursday, October 15th, when Bay Area tea partiers found babysitters, left work early and traveled great distances to converge on San Francisco to give President Obama a real San Francisco Treat: Opposition!
To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented: average citizens taking on a radical President, who is hell bent on eradicating our way of life and replacing it with something out of Moscow from thirty years ago, and doing so in the country's most radical city! San Francisco's tea partiers are a small but significant cog in the tea party wheel that is seeking to prevent Obama from imposing a regime on this nation that is inimical to every principle on which this country was founded, every life sacrificed for those principles and every fiber on which our founding documents were crafted.
Although Obama and his minions have tried to marginalize tea partiers, one can easily detect that he is well aware of our presence and knows we are a threat:
"I hope the election was not just a fad..." he remarked at the DNC fundraiser at the Westin St. Francis October 15th, before a crowd of acolytes, some of whom paid $15,000 apiece to dine with the President.
He continued: "I want everybody to know who are standing in the way of progress...I'm not tired...." Because we object to what He has decided is best for us, we are standing in the way of progress. In their own self-congratulatory way, progressives sincerely believe that's what they do: progress. Yet, history is riddled with the remnants of "progressive" regimes that did no more than oppress and suppress under the guise of enlightenment.
Informed people know better. Like Alla from Russia and Andrejz from Poland and Chris from Romania, all of whom attended the Obama protest desperately trying to thwart the destruction of the last best place on Earth, the shining city where they sought refuge from their own "progressive" homelands.
These folks took to the streets of San Francisco for the simple reason that every other avenue for political redress has failed them: the politicians have forgotten that they represent the people; the press have abandoned their role as a check on the government; and our parties have simply lost their way. What else is there to do other than wrest the reins from those driving and take charge, first on the streets and then hopefully back in the halls of government.
This past Thursday, in a city where the average political campaign is a battle between progressives and liberals, Bay Area tea partiers effectively snuffed out the cocky days of yesteryear, when a progressive political icon could waltz into San Francisco with "red" carpet rolled out, to the accolades of thousands of supporters.
San Franciscans greeted Mr. Obama with cheers of "Kill the Bill" and signs that read "Govt Run HealthCare Makes Me Sick." Even Obama's supporters, whom we outnumbered, couldn't help but notice us. The whisperings that we overheard included comments like ""Where did these people come from?" and "I didn't know people like this existed?" And what about this remark, from two gals who were trying to goad us (every time we chanted "Yes" they screamed "No" and vice versa): "These people are no fun; they're so boring. They don't respond to us; they don't get nasty or angry." And now for the million dollar question: after seeing us up close and personal, will those two gals question The Angry Mob Myth that they have been fed? Or will they remain part of the drugged and clueless masses?
Our little mob of thousands put Obama and every other progressive on notice that there is no longer a guarantee that they will be entering friendly territory when they pass through the Golden Gate. And the more politicians and their useful idiots in the press malign, mock and marginalize American citizens, the louder and more numerous we will grow.
While this notion alone is quite powerful, the protest against Obama was really the opening salvo in what will undoubtedly be a protracted, vicious ideological fight. They now fully comprehend that if we are in San Francisco, we are everywhere and we are a force.
But the real tale from this city is an ugly one: the awareness that we are dealing with a very dark, very dangerous group of politicians and unaccountable czars....a veritable cornucopia of Marxist, Maoist, communist, socialist and progressive megalomaniacs. Although they've been busy for years in our schools, the courts and the media, whittling away at a little liberty here and a piece of private property there, their Great Campaign Against Liberty commenced this past week with the lynching of Rush Limbaugh. Even liberals sense this.
As Alla, Andrzej and Chris will tell you, that is always how it starts: first, they target high profile, prominent citizens; then, anyone who speaks out or even thinks about it; and finally, when the fear is boundless and the punishment ruthless, all turn against one another-employer and employee, priest and parishioner, husband and wife, child and parent. Keep a vigilant watch, my fellow mobsters: when the unjustified audits start happening and jobs are denied because a standard google search unearths a politically incorrect comment you once wrote and permits are randomly denied for housing improvements, you know where this is going.
And, when this happens, marching together will no longer be enough. But cowardice should never be an acceptable alternative. We will have to stay strong and fight for one another, fight against the clampdowns to our freedoms and stand resolute, shoulder-to-shoulder, in resistance against the despots.
The real tale from this city is, quite simply, that this story has been told before. We cannot sit idly by and let it unfold again. Not On Our Watch. We have to continue the pressure; we cannot turn away; we cannot cower. We have to stay united and stand up for one another when the going gets tough; otherwise, there is nothing left of all that is precious, all that is our America.
