TEA Party Infiltration

Rather than type up a whole new thing for my TEA Party visit last night, I am just going to post what I wrote and sent out to the other KW Democrats after I returned home from the meeting and had a chance to listen to some of my audio recording:

Fellow Democrats,

I have just come back from a place where few Democrats ever tread: a T.E.A. Party meeting. My decision to go to the meeting came after I read their write-up in the Tidewater Review which said something along the lines of "The King William TEA Party will not tolerate any racist, sexist, or bigoted statements by any of its members or at its sanctioned meetings." I wanted to see if this was a true statement or not.

So, armed with just a pen, notebook, and audio recorder I swallowed what dignity I had and went to the meeting. I was greeted warmly as I picked up their handouts and then I went into the room where the meeting was about to begin. Attending were 24 people, 14 men, 10 women, all white, all but me and the Chairman's daughter were over 45, with most being in their 60s or so. The meeting was much more like a
church session or informal get together, even though they have the same elected positions that we in the KW Democratic party do and are now incorporated as a non-profit organization. There was no actual business that they conducted, but they already have $1068.68 in their account.

I have an audio recording of the entire meeting so I will not go into too many details of it now as my email would be pages and pages of me talking about what they said. Essentially though, the TEA Party claims that they are "not racist, not violent, but informed" citizens. To me, if you, as a functioning organization, have to explicitly state those things then you probably are what you say you are not.

Statements that contradicted the above claim include, but are not limited to racially profiling illegal immigrants by saying that they will be speaking Spanish and not listing a single country of Europe as a place where undocumented immigrants come from, only countries in Central and South America, Asia, and Africa. These statements were part of a series defending Arizona's new anti-immigrant law which they see as fully justified.

The members of the TEA Party also want to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants even though it is explicitly stated in the US Constitution (a document they claim they wish to return to) that anybody born within the borders of the United States or any of its territories is a citizen of the United States.

As for non-violence: one woman suggested term limits and recall measures for Representatives and Senators who do not fulfill any of their promises by 1/3 of their term. After she said "if they do not do any of them by the end of that time then they're gone" a man seated behind me asked "can we shoot 'em?" So much for non-violence..

As for "informed" all of their information material was from one source, as the Chairman admitted at the end of the meeting. I learned as a journalist and as a historian that one source does not, by a long shot, give you all the information you need in order to make an informed report or decision. This is also just common sense, something these TEA Party people believe they are full of.

I was called out at the meeting for taking "very distinct notes" and was asked if I was a reporter (25:40 of my recording). There was also a brief period of UVa/Charlottesville bashing as they are considered a "bastion of the Left" by the TEA Party -- and when the man seated next to me asked me if I would be at the next meeting I replied, "No, I will be back in Charlottesville, at UVa where I go to school."

One last bit of interesting information, they also wish for the repeal of the 17th Amendment -- the direct election of Senators. They believe that by returning the choice of Senators to the state legislatures, it will return the Senate to what the people of the state actually want, rather than by having the people decide for themselves what they want in a Senator.

Sorry for such a long email. It would be longer but I am cutting it here. If you would like more information on what I saw and heard or want a copy of my audio recording so you can hear for yourself word-for-word what went on at the meeting I will be more than glad to supply you with that information.

Thank you for reading and have a great Friday.



It was quite an interesting meeting.