rutlandherald.com
Tea party rally held in capital

By DANIEL BARLOW VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: April 16, 2010

MONTPELIER — They rallied for lower taxes, accused political opponents of socialism, called for illegal immigrants to be locked up, sang songs about the U.S. Constitution and waved lots of homemade political signs.

About 100 tea party protesters staged a noontime rally outside of Montpelier's Statehouse – and across the street from the Vermont Department of Taxes – on Thursday, the day residents across the country are required to file their income taxes with the government.

"I think it is a good idea to lower taxes in a recession," said Tom Pope of Williamstown. "When you continue taking money away from people, they have nothing to spend."

Protesters called President Barack Obama a socialist and accused Vermont lawmakers of being a gang of crooks. One woman held a sign reading, "Welfare Train … Your kids can kiss their future prospects goodbye thanks to Fidel Obama."

Norman Henry of Colchester said he worried about illegal immigrants taking American jobs during the recession. He said up to one billion people want to move to the United States and unless the country begins locking them up for illegal entry or throwing them out of the country entirely, the United States will be swamped with new residents it can't afford.

Here in Vermont, Henry said, immigrants are taking farm jobs that unemployed Vermonters could be working at. And when it comes to political parties, he said sometimes Republicans can be just as bad as Democrats.

"I'm a realist, so I don't believe a third party is the solution," he said. "We need to elect real Republicans."

Jim Brock of Burlington sat in a chair on the Statehouse walkway with a sign proclaiming that the recent federal health care bill has resulted in 63 new hospitals ceasing construction. He said he heard about that on Fox News and they cited a Wall Street Journal article. The article was on the health care bill's limits on physician-owned hospitals, a new trend in health care found mostly in the South.

"They don't have the money they need to spend," he said, when asked why those hospitals couldn't be built. "There's not enough of a cash flow going to them."

Jessica Bernier is the organizer of the Vermont Campaign for Liberty, a group opposed to Obama's policies. She helped arrange Thursday's tax protest (a candlelight vigil for those who had to work during the day was scheduled for the evening) and said the tea party, generally, is a loose coalition without any organizers.

Bernier said she formed the new group because she and others had a main difference with some Tea Party members: She does not support what she called "an interventionist foreign policy."

"I have hundreds of people on my e-mail list," she said. "I don't always hear back from everyone, but they show up, write letters and send e-mails. We're very motivated to make a change in this country."

Eric Davis, a retired political science professor at Middlebury College, noted that a New York Times poll this week showed that about 18 percent of those polled in the country consider themselves members of the tea party – and typically its members are white, male, well-educated and older than 45.

That poll also found that many tea party members support programs such as Social Security and Medicare, Davis pointed out.

"They don't really see an idealogical difference in using these programs, but also arguing against an expanded government," Davis said. "So, yeah, I think there is a bit of misunderstanding out there."

The Rutland tea party rally is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Main Street Park.

daniel.barlow@ rutlandherald.com

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20 ... 002/NEWS01