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Sunday, July 05, 2009
Albuquerque Tea Party Rally Attracts Thousands in Protest Against Increased Government Spending
By Sean Olson
Journal Staff Writer
The Albuquerque Tea Party keeps flexing its muscles, drawing thousands to demonstrate against government spending at an Independence Day rally near Balloon Fiesta Park.
People lined Alameda Boulevard NE with signs with slogans such as "Washington would have formed another army by now," "What would Stalin do?" and "Honk if I'm not paying your mortgage."
Organizers had hoped to double the size of the Albuquerque Tea Party's last rally, held on tax-filing day, which drew several thousand people. Tea Party officials estimated 7,000 turned out for the April 15 demonstration.
Tina Carson, a founding member of Albuquerque Tea Party, said the event Saturday drew similar numbers. A police estimate of the crowd size was not available.
The Albuquerque event was among "tea party" demonstrations held around the country Saturday. The turnout at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., was estimated in a CNN report to be about 2,000.
Carson said the Saturday turnout in Albuquerque was proof the group, which supports smaller government, was not a "one-hit wonder."
Car horns were a constant piece of background noise as drivers passing by lent support to the demonstrators. A few drivers were less enthusiastic. One motorist called protesters "idiots" as she drove past.
People at the rally said they were tired of their voices not being heard by representatives in government.
"It's my patriotic duty to come out," Adrian Hrachovy, who was holding a sign for passing cars, said. He said the rally was needed to wake people up to "these congressional people who think the people's needs are not important to them."
And while most of the signs at the rally were aimed at ridiculing Democratic policies, many were quick to point out that Republicans are part of the problem.
Bruce Barrus, who drove from Los Alamos to participate, held up a sign advocating that New Mexico "fire" its three U.S. House members. He said the sign only included Democrats because New Mexico, since the 2008 elections, doesn't have any Republicans in Congress.
"If we had any Republicans, I would fire them, too," Barrus said.
The event had booths set up to register voters and let people sign up for updates from the Albuquerque Tea Party.
Carson said the group is going to incorporate as a nonprofit and use its network to become a force against free-spending politicians.
"Our representatives truly don't realize that their constituents are about to throw them out of office," Carson said.
Demonstrators were most critical of several pieces of legislation recently in front of national lawmakers, including health care reform, the carbon "cap and trade" bill and the federal stimulus measure.
Larry Carey, a protester from Albuquerque, said all the issues could be tied to a lack of common sense in Washington D.C.
"Our country is absolutely out of control — or I should say the leadership is out of control," he said. "They are acting totally irresponsibly and they say they are doing it on our behalf."
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