Snow fell the night before and the forecast called for cool weather on Saturday, but about 3,000 people braved icy winds, rain, sleet, snow and even hail to attend the
Tax Cut Rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, May 8
th. Global warming jokes were obligatory and abundant.
The event kicked off at 11:00 AM with attendees visiting over 30 exhibitors and vendors. Maui Wowi, a frozen beverage concessioner had a continuous line, which seems puzzling until one realizes that they were the one vendor who had the foresight to bring hot coffee to sell. Unfortunately, Big Bell Ice Cream didn’t seem to fare as well.
Rally-goers had the opportunity to spend a couple hours visiting with and learning about the various non-profit organizations exhibiting at the rally, and finding out new ways to get engaged in the political process. Exhibitors included The Heritage Foundation, Intellectual Takeout, Citizens Council on Health Care, Campaign for Liberty, the Republican Liberty Caucus, Club for Growth and many others.
A Freedom Shrine exhibited reproductions of some of the most significant documents from United States History and next-door to that was the Tax Cut Petition tent, where fans of fiscal restraint could electronically sign the Tax Cut Petition and instantly send a message to their own elected representatives.
Borders Bookstore offered new releases by prominent conservative authors for sale and a number of groups were selling conservative-themed T-Shirts.
You Can Run But You Cannot Hide reported that the rally was their best event of the year. They were on site with a custom painted truck, selling shirts and DVDs. Event Sponsors,
KTLK FM, Minnesota Majority and the
Taxpayers League of Minnesota also maintained prominent booths at the rally.
This year’s rally featured a fantastic lineup of speakers. After an invocation by Danny Williams that included an appeal for accurate media reporting on the size of the gathering, Eric N, the winner of
KTLK’s national anthem singing contest gave a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner to officially start the program being emceed by KTLK’s Chris Baker.
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann was the first featured speaker. She called on the crowd to stay active and work hard for the cause of fiscal prudence. “It’s all about November,” she said in reference to the upcoming mid-term elections.
Next up was Lucky Rosenbloom, a board member for the Governor’s Council on Black Minnesotans. He asked the crowd to take a moment to ask a stranger standing near them what high taxes have done to help their family. The crowd was strangely silent when it came time to answer.
Chris Baker called for Minnesota DFL chairman Brian Melendez to introduce their endorsed gubernatorial candidate, Margaret Anderson-Kelliher to the sound of crickets chirping. Mr. Melendez had been invited to bring the Democrats’ endorsed candidate for governor to the rally to address the crowd, but he didn’t respond.
Minnesota Republican Party chairman Tony Sutton was extended the same invitation and when Chris Baker called Mr. Sutton to the stage, he came up and introduced newly-endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer to thunderous applause. Emmer kept his remarks short and led the crowd in a series of anti-tax-and-spend chants.
Elmer Beauregard was next to the podium. His organization,
Minnesotans For Global Warming had come under legal threat recently when Professor Michael Mann of Climategate infamy
threatened to sue the rag-tag organization of self-described “starving artists” over a satirical YouTube parody video they’d produced. He pointed out that Cap and Trade advocates talk about being “carbon neutral” and “carbon taxes,” hypothesizing that they use this language because carbon sounds like something black and dirty, whereas the real target of their taxing schemes is carbon dioxide, an odorless colorless part of the atmosphere that’s needed for plants to photosynthesize. “Calling CO2 ‘carbon’ is like calling water ‘hydrogen,’” he said before striking up his banjo and treating the amused crowd to the CO2 song.
Jason Lewis wrapped up the program with a few jokes and a serious talk about the largely unreported facts of taxation in Minnesota and the US. In his last remarks, he challenged rally attendees to “come this fall, elect office holders who will represent our interests and not the government’s.”
The last piece of business was voting on who brought the best sign to the rally. A pair of young sisters jointly shared the prize of $100 cash after the crowd voted their theme-matched hand-drawn signs. It was later confirmed that they had made the signs at the “Make a Sign” booth at the rally. The “Make a Sign” booth was a new fixture this year that provided free poster board and markers for people to make protest signs on-site.
It was a very successful rally. Despite the sometimes miserable weather, common-sense fiscally responsible Minnesotans turned out by the thousands.
Weeks prior, the local American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) had organized a highly publicized indoor “tax the rich” pro-tax-increase rally at the Capitol Rotunda. Only a couple dozen people attended. Most (if not all) appeared to be AFSCME employees. The local press covered that as a significant event. The same day, outside the Capitol, thousands gathered for the Tax Day Tea Party. KARE-11 reported “over 500.” Technically not inaccurate, but not telling the truth of it, either.
How much coverage have you seen on the 2010 Jason Lewis Tax Cut Rally, where thousands of Minnesotans stayed in rain and hail for hours on Saturday to protest government spending? Below are links to the scant mentions, mostly focused on portraying the rally attendees as racists. If you were at the rally, how well do these stories reflect your experience there?
Take Action: Write a letter to the editor of your local paper describing your experience at the Tax Cut Rally.