‘To the harbor!’

WASILLA — Hundreds of voices were raised in discontent at a tea party protest Wednesday on the Wasilla Lake parking lot.

“We want to let our government know we want the excessive spending stopped,” said Cheryl Brooks, the organizer of the Wasilla event. “We are not in favor of the bailouts, and we don’t want any further taxation.”

With signs reading “For Sale: U.S. Government — $3.6 trillion O.B.O.” and “Get Rid of the Federal Reserve — Abolish the IRS,” it was apparent the crowd was financially motivated. Even 8-year-olds dressed in pink had signs saying “Keep your hands off my piggy bank.”

“There is no Republican or Democrat or Independent platform,” Brooks said. “It’s just Americans getting together with Americans.”

Brooks said she collected more than 800 signatures of support on Wednesday, and the Wasilla protest was just one of more than 2,000 tea parties held across the country.

In the hometown of an ex-vice presidential candidate, the party took on a more partisan tone. The crowd erupted when Eddie Burke, talk show host for KBYR, said he was proud to be a radical right-winger. Many signs were written on the back of McCain/Palin posters, and the Obama administration drew the ire of most demonstrators.

After the national anthem and Pledge of Allegiance, Frank Bettine gave some history about the Boston tea party of 1773. He compared what he called the present tax-and-spend policies to the tea tax imposed by Britain on the colonies.

“Congress passed this bailout bill in the middle of the night without giving us a chance to respond. Our grandkids and kids will be paying taxes on this forever. In to the harbor!” shouted Bettine as he threw a burlap bag marked “Bailout Bill” onto the parking lot pavement.

Next came a bag marked “Stimulus Bill.”

“Poll after poll showed the Americans did not want this bill,” Bettine said. “Congress would not listen and continued to pass the bill. That’s taxation without representation.”

He followed that with bags marked “Budget,” “Cap and Trade,” “Health Care” and “State & Local.”

“If we keep going down this road of tax and spend, we will become at best indentured servants and at worst out-and-out slaves,” Bettine said.

Politicians were not left out of the fray either. State Rep. Carl Gatto sent a letter of support that was read out loud, and Congressman Don Young stopped by to give his blessing.

“I don’t know if you realize this, but in 240 days, there has been $3 trillion spent,” Young said. “We’re not producers as we should be producing, and the government’s solution is to take your money and redistribute it. That’s not a freedom, and that’s not a democracy.”

This was a common theme among speakers, and many saw the recent government actions as violating the Constitution.

Bruce Walden, a veteran of many wars as member of the Army’s Special Forces, said he took an oath to defend the Constitution against all threats, foreign and domestic.

“It makes me sick that the enemy I fought against for so long is now in office,” Walden said.

Instead of sitting by and watching his country being thrown away, he is taking action. Before resorting to bloodshed — a method he does not discount — Walden is running for borough mayor.

“You’ve got a borough manager that I didn’t get to vote for or against, and he runs everything. You’ve got a state police force that runs this borough, but they don’t answer to local authority. That’s called a police state. That’s what they do in third-world countries, not in mine,” Walden said. “It’s time things change, and it’s time we did it.”

“Slowly but surely our rights are being taken away,” Brooks said. “When we don’t feel that something is right, we should be heard. We elected these people, but they change once they get to Washington. They do this and that, but they don’t ask us.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.