Three years after the Connecticut tea party held their first rally at the Capitol, a group activists gathered on the steps of the state Supreme Court this morning to celebrate past successes and focus on the future.
“We’re not on street corners like we used to be, but were still very, very active as a movement,” said Ron Wilcox, a tea party organizer from Newtown, said in an interview before the rally. He spoke above the din of nearby traffic, the clang of cowbells and the occasional snap of a snare drum.
About 100 people were at the rally at its start, around 11 a.m. Organizers later said they put the count at 180. Some carried American flags; others waved the yellow Gadsden flag, its familiar serpent and its don’t-tread-on-me logo has become a tea party symbol. The gathering drew several Republican politicians, among them Mark Greenberg and Lisa Wilson-Foley, who are running for Congress in the 5th District and U.S. Senate candidates Brian K. Hill and Peter Lumaj.
Greenberg praised the group’s “noble beliefs.”
“What they’re looking for is fiscal conservatism and adherence to the constitution,” Greenberg said. “These are the folks that years ago used to be called the silent majority during the Nixon years…now they’re the vocal minority.”
While the tea party movement nationally is focused primarily on fiscal matters, the Connecticut rally was joined by social conservatives. Peter Wolfgang, head of the Family Institutete of Connecticut, said the federal government’s recent policy regarding contraception shows that the two movements share similar small government ideals.
“We will stand together against this outrageous attack on religious liberty,” Wolfgang told the crowd. “If you take away the family, if you take away the church, if you take away all the voluntary institutions — there’s nothing standing between you and the government.”
The government regulation at the center of the controversy requires charities, hospitals and universities affiliated with a religious organizations to provide their employees with coverage for contraception. In the wake of heavy criticism from Catholic groups and others, the White House said religious employers would not have to provide free birth control to their workers; the requirement would fall on their insurance companies instead.
Martha Dean, the Republican nominee for state Attorney General in 2010, said she senses an “impending storm.” Dean, who lost the race to George Jepsen, later tore up some state Department of Labor regulations in a symbolic act of protest.
Joe Visconti, a Republican from West Hartford who helped organize this morning’s rally, said this morning’s rally is the start of increased activism among tea party supporters. “We’re beginning the process of coming back to the streets,” he said,
Wilcox, the Newton activist, estimated about 75 to 100 people were present this morning. “A lot of people have a problem with our government interfering with religion,” he said. “For every person that comes out there are 100 that arent here.”
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28 Responses to CT Tea Party Movement Celebrates its Anniversary with a Rally
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If the Connecticut teaparty is not supporting Ron Paul. Then they are all talk and no action i.e. useless
Ron Paul is a goof and has no chance of being President!
The TEA party lives!
you obviously have a problem with honest, consitent, politicians who do what they say and live by the constitution. Let me clarify that – politician, singular.
I attended this rally today and it was great. However, neither Linda MacMahon nor Chris Shays were there. I wonder way? Maybe they did not want to be seen with the Tea Party. I was impressed with this fellow Peter Lumaj. He really made me think about the future of this country from his perspective as an immigrant who was raised in a communist country. I think he moved all of the participants when he spoke. I would encourage all readers to go to http://www.lumaj2012.com and look this guy up.
In Liberty
I listened to Ron Paul this morning, here in cleveland, and he comes across as absolutely sincere in the way that he speaks. The mere fact that he’s not even flinching despite the media doing their very best to marginalize him as some sort of “whack job”, in my book gives him double the credibility, and makes him a candidate well worth listening to. I wouldn’t go so far as saying that anyone who doesn’t support him is “all talk, and no action” is a contradiction to the principles that contributed to the birth of the modern day Tea Party. Due to my fundamental christian faith, I am relieved to have a man like Rick Santorum giving a great fight and re-emerging as a viable candidate. I think Newt Gingrich would massacre Obama in any head-to-head debate. I admire Mitt Romney for his business sense and governorship. And Ron Paul’s straightforwardness and plain honesty is something politics needs a LOT more of. As a conservative, a Christian, a U.S.Army veteran, and a man who loves his country wholeheartedly, and see NO reason to pander to anyone in the world with apologies for my beloved country, I will support and stand behind whichever candidate emerges from these primary debates against the regime currently in charge. The last thing the Republican Party needs is infighting and people stubbornly staying home from the polls in November simply on the basis of “my candidate didn’t win”! the target is Obama and his entire regime of radical leftists and those who do NOT love this country. America, love it or leave it!
well said Greg, even though the idea of Santorum in the White House frightens the heck out of me. Zealotry has no place in politics, IMO. He was voted out of PA for a reason. This is the man who doesn’t believe in individual liberty, remember
Greg, Don’t you mean, America, love it the way Greg says you must love it, or leave it?
You conservative extremists are funny. You talk like you have it all together, while your candidates flail and falter all over the place.
You all are in nothing but denial.
But your continued blathering does give some hope to your rich masters and your hate-filled “Christian” leaders.
Alice,
In the first line of your comment you make the assumption of what I am thinking or perhaps saying in code, “don’t you mean America, love it the way Greg says you must love it, or leave it”. That is a very revealing line of your baseless criticisms. I am a proud U.S. Army infantry veteran, Alice. I served four years on active duty, was awarded the good Conduct medal, and honorably discharged. I have a WW II Marine Corp veteran for a stepfather, and a brother and brother-in-law who served honorably in Vietnam. My brother did two tours of duty and earned two bronze stars. I, myself, had no combat exposure but am a “Vietnam Era” veteran. In one family, Alice, that is approximately ten plus years of military service, most of which was done in foreign combat zones.
We were raised to love this country and having prayer in school was the forerunner to bringing out the guns and opening fire because you were bullied. We also said the pledge of allegiance. Yeah, you’re absolutely on target, I’m a “conservative extremist”. In real life, not some clouded fantasy vision you have, I actually practice what my Christian values have taught me. You have no idea how many times I have selflessly reached out a helping hand to complete strangers, only to give them a hand up and a hand out of trouble or circumstance that they found themselves in. I didn’t ask for any type of compensation, Alice. I learned a lesson in developing my “conservative extremism”, and I learned that lesson from the most radical extremist of His day, Jesus Christ, when he told the story of the Good Samaritan. I challenge you to open up a Bible just to read the story of the good samaritan. You’ll find it in the book of Luke, chapter 10, versus 25 to 37. I was taught this story by a “master” who was neither “rich” (Jesus owned nothing) nor was He “hate-filled” (He asked His Father to forgive His executioners as he died an extraordinarily excrutiating, painful death by crucifixion).
I can assure you that I have only one “master” and He does not own any business, Alice. America, Alice, in case you are trying to camouflage history, was a land sought by people living under religious oppression in England. They wanted freedom of choice to choose how they would practice their faith in a new country, which would become America. However, if you read the documents written by our Founding Fathers, they took heed and guidance by their Bibles’ teaching. Alice, this was a country with it’s roots developed from the seeds of Judaeo Christian values, as taught in the Bible and the holy book of the Jewish people. My Bible teaches me to forgive over and over and over again. That is the truth of what Jesus taught. I fail to measure up often. That is human frailty.
The Bible has guided America’s leaders since the birth of this country. The Constitution, written by patriotic human authors, has guided us for 236 years to become the greatest nation on earth, known not for it’s military might but for the willingness of it’s individual people to give up their individual wealth, but to give up their very lives fighting in foreign lands for complete strangers. Our dead American soldiers are buried all over this world, and they gave up their lives because they believed, as I do, in loving this country with all our hearts. So I’ll reiterate a little more clearly, if you do not love this country with all your heart, and you’re not willing to give it, not our misguided politicians, your absolute love and loyalty, then perhaps, Alice, you need to consider other options, perhaps Soviet Russia, Maoist China, or repressive dictatorships like Iran or Syria where one is butchered for excercising the very freedoms that our Constitution provides for us…Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Alice I stand on the sidelines watching this country implode on itself. I am disgusted. I excerise my right to freedom of speech by expressing my personal feelings, only to answer to your very incorrect judgements and assessments of who I am.
Alice, I wish you the very best in your “learn to be a psychologist at home, in your spare time” home study. Thanks so much for choosing me as your first homework assignment. I am flattered.
I want a man who’s fought for his country, believes in equality for women, and in the U.S. Constitution, and hasn’t he been a Medical Doctor in the past?
I didn’t go to the rally, but did you attend the Stick up for Israel Rally back in the summer of 2011?
I remember quite well, some rude, rather extremely State Senate aide, who came up to the speaker, a man from East Haven, I believe, right after the speaking was talking of Israel being bombed, and started to just literally “brow-beat” this man, to the point, where he was badly intimidated and started to apologize left & right!
Did anyone take a video of that very speech and have that part of the rally on camera?
If so, I’d love to see it! Better yet, play it on YouTube, this state has become badly anti-seminitic, imho.
I see Jewish people being intimidated, yelled at, harassed, threatened time & time again in recent months!
It’s outrageous too, that 2 of our state senators, Lieberman, & Blumenthal happen to me Jewish themselves and this occurs at the State Capitol of all things!
IMHO, I think Connecticut is becoming like Nazi Germany! I see lots of hatred displayed to people of Jewish origin, which I find not only insane, but badly inhumane, not to mention constitutionally unethical!
They need to take the “Constitution State” off the state license plates and put the truth up there instead, “Unconstitutional State”, because that’s exactly how it’s become!
Here’s a you tube play list of the Tea Party rally today.
New videos will be added as they are edited.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE9E87FAF0109C5B7&feature=view_all
I’ll have coffee, thank you
Thanks for the article Daniela. I’m not a Tea Partier, but was at the rally because I am a Catholic. I take exception to this one sentence, “In the wake of heavy criticism from Catholic groups and others, the White House said religious employers would not have to provide free birth control to their workers; the requirement would fall on their insurance companies instead.” You’re implying that the White House actually did something here and they did not. This is a mere shell game. The insurance policy still MUST coverage abortifacients and sterilizations and my church MUST still buy it (at this point). No accommodation has been offered. In fact this so-called accommodation was never written down but only verbally offered and the original mandate wording remains in place. Obama has over-reached again and our religious freedom, our first amendment liberties are at stake. Please dont perpetuate the White House mis-direction games. Thanks.
Well, the anger and smears that have become the Tea Party have former supporters running for cover…
http://ourqueensview.blogspot.com/2012/02/visconti-dean-fizzle-again.html
I can’t believe I’m in the United States anymore. A president who surrounds himself with socialists, communists, and tax dodgers, and an attorneys general whose job (mis) performance makes HIM the criminal, and a president whose ongoing lies are a matter of record…and an accomodating media only too happy to cover for him. We always referred to this as propaganda, a tool of our natural enemies during wartime. Well, today the enemy is within this government and most people want to deny it! It’s absolutely disgusting! And Elena Kagan never sat on a motor vehicle trial and now she’s on the Supreme Court of the United states! No there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this picture! THAT’S why the TEA Party was born, and unlike the criminal element known as Occupy Wall Street, the TEA Party is peaceful, respectful, and intelligent. How do I know that? Well, I actually participated in a TEA Party event in Washington D.C. Pelosi & Obama endorsed OWS, so you figure it out. It isn’t very difficult.
Greg: its worse than that with Kagan. She flat out lied to the Supreme Court in one of her cases and STILL was appointed to this bench. Sotomayor is not much better, if at all. This administration will destroy this country given a second term.
Kim, all we have to do to evaluate who this president is, is to look hard at the company he keeps. Here’s the short list: Eric Holder his current record of disregard for the law was pre-empted by his hand in the Clinton pardons, which were despicable! Tim Geithner,tax cheat, head of the IRS! Tom Daschle, behind $150,000 in taxes-couldn’t get appointed despite Obama’s insistence! Kagan, Supreme court Justice-confirmed liar! I just called the Judiciary yesterday, the Kagan investigation is ongoing, as is “Fast & Furious”! Valerie Jarrett, slumlord from Chicago! Tony Reszco, Obamas’ real estate agent, doing time in prison! An avowed communist, Van Jones, tossed from his Obama appoiuntment after being exposed! The list doesn’t shrink, it grows day by day. And where the hell is the resistance from the Republicans? Boehner’s leadership is weak, to say the least. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the TEA Party were to replace the Republican Party altogether in the not-so-distant future! Pelosi and Reed, by the way, are PATHETIC! Go to either Judicial Watch or Freedom Watch, and look up the details on their top ten most corrupt politicians in the federal government. Another interesting resource is “Throw Them All Out” written by Peter Schweizer. That’ll keep you up at night if you love this country, as I do! God bless America, please!
Greg: I agree with all you have written. Toss in Obama’s own autobiography and we have all the ammunition needed for an objective understanding of this destroyer of freedom. Yet still, a large percentage of blacks will vote for him simply because he is black, without using an ounce of common sense. A large percentage of all races will vote for him because he talks a good game, even though his actions are in direct contraBydiction to his words. A large percentage of peole (including my brother) will vote for him because ‘he got us $40 per week more in our paychecks’, completely ignoring the fact that this $40 was yours to begin with and was supposed to go towards your SS retirement fund. By getting it now in your paycheck, you’re losing it later in your SS benefits base amount. A great percentage of those living on the dole will vote for him because he promises to keep taking from us tax payers and giving to them.
Couple all of this with politicians’ acting and thinking only of themselves and not our country, and his wife’s clear statement that she was never proud of America until her husband ran for President, and we should pretty much agree 100% that this family is dangerous to our country and the ideals laid out by our forefathers.
It’s real simple. If you don’t agree with Martha, you’re a nazi. Got it.
Winning!
Nothing is that simple!
There was an anti-war movement in Nazi Germany.
Study this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl
Watch Dean’s speech. She was talking about how Fascist governments control the churches, a first step to eliminating opposition. It’s a history lesson we all need to learn.
http://youtu.be/Co0Ii18yMyg
No it’s not that simple, it’s called sarcasm. However, not wanting to live in a theocracy does not make a person a nazi.
You are already living in a “theocracy”. Political correctness is both uncomfortable AND dangerous.
Politically correct theocracy? How Newt like. Glibly nonsensical
Here’s mullah Martha.
“The Judeo-Christian values teach tolerance for others, a higher duty owed to God’s law when it conflicts with the laws of government…”
See how it works. Her words stand alone but references to nazi Germany and insinuations of Islamic extremism are equally simple minded and gross.
I urge anyone who cares about our future and the future of America to read this rational, commonsense case for replacing Obama: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell030112.php3
Why wouldn’t Mark Greenberg address the Tea Party rally when asked? http://ourqueensview.blogspot.com/2012/03/greenberg-disses-tea-party-visconti.html
Florida`s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, responds in Health Care Law case
See: Attorney General Pam Bondi and the 25 Other States Challenging the Federal Health Care Law File Reply Brief on Anti-Injunction Act
“The Anti-Injunction Act does not bar the Court from considering the challenge to the individual mandate because the Act imposes a ‘penalty’ on those who fail to get coverage, not a ‘tax’,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The federal government severely undermines its claim that Congress can impose the mandate under its taxation powers.”
There is but one question which Pam Bondi an other State Attorney Generals need to have the Court establish regarding the constitutionality of Obamacare. When have the American People debated granting power to Congress to enter their States and tax for, spend on and regulate their health care needs and choices, and then, as required under Article V of our Constitution, gave their consent to such power by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof? Seems to me a majority of the States have officially rejected such power being granted by filing suite in our federal district courts.
What is so difficult to understand about the un-constitutionality of Obamacare other than those who pretend the Constitution may mean whatever they wish it to mean, and without reference to the documented intentions and beliefs under which it was adopted?
Aside from the above, I remember how the adoption of Obamacare by Congress generated a great public arousal and was a primary unifying force among Tea Party Activists, inspiring demonstrations across the country and at countless town hall meetings. But now, after 26 State Attorney Generals have taken up their cause and Obamacare is finally to be argued in the Supreme Court this month, the people’s outcry over this despotic act of Congress seems to have evaporated and failed to inspired a massive demonstration outside the United States Supreme Court in support of the State Attorney Generals who will argue their cause before the Court ___ that Obamacare is an assault upon the defined and limited powers granted to Congress under our Constitution.
This is how our tyrants in Washington continue to have their way … they simply wait for the people to give up the fight and submit themselves to tyranny.
I believe it would be a productive cause to organize a rally in Washington, D.C. in front of the Supreme Court in support of the 26 State Attorney Generals who will argue Obamacare attacks the inalienable right of people being free to make their own choices and decisions regarding their personal health care needs.
JWK
Health care by consent of the governed (Article 5) our amendment process — tyranny by a majority vote in Congress or a Supreme Court’s progressive majority vote
I have a Tea Party guy as one of my State Central people. They are doing more good now by getting into the process. 2012 will be another banner year for real conservatives.
The republican party of CT has been sold to Linda McMahon since 2010, therefore, I think, that all other US Senate candidates should go home and not waist money chasing a dream which is impossible to reach in CT. Our party is very corrupt and that is way many members are leaving. The only hope we have is the Tea Party replacing our current republican party.
When is the next Tea Party Rally? I cannot get online no more, but I’d LOVE to meet with some congenial, conservative, friendly Tea Party’ers such as myself, and have a nice chat!
Anyone here ever campaign for Sarah Palin? I did, I’m proud to say! You wanna buy a campaign memoranda? We’ve got a few!
Even got a hat for McCain! I really did like John McCain. I’m so sorry, that he did NOT win!
But he’s still sticking up for basic American principles and giving Obama some flack, brave soul!
I bet we would have been done with the Afghanistan war by now…. but instead our soldiers lives are being put at risk constantly in Afghanistan!
Did you notice too, that ever since the troops were pulled out of Iraq that our gas prices have gone thru the roof? Strange huh?
Well, our country’s become so strange it’s become unbelievable. Especially on the coastal regions it seems. I’ve thought that living in the middle of the country, might be more normal, than here in the East Coast. So many want to stick up for Gay Marriage and all that nonsense, but have no respect for the elderly or the disabled at all.
Also, too, we’re paying through the roof on taxes, for people who are perfectly health enough to work, but think it’s cool they stay on welfare the rest of their natural born lives! Does this make ANY sense whatsoever?