Tea Party airs array of grievances
Flags waved briskly throughout Niagara Square on Independence Day as nearly 200 people at the area’s latest Tea Party protested dysfunctional government.
Signs reading “Abolish New York State government” and “We, the people, take back our nation,” appeared prominently in the crowd gathered under the contentious banner of the American TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party.
“We are watching our government be destroyed from the inside,” Laurie Kostrzewski, an organizer for the event, told the crowd. Kostrzewski, who referred to the recent paralysis in state government, also wore a black ribbon symbolizing what she called the “death of the economy”—one of many issues of concern to the protesters.
Arleen Lipke of Cheektowaga said she was unhappy with President Obama’s pro-choice stance.
“I’m here to make a statement,” she said, a flag-patterned streamer draped around her shirt.
Others including Carol Pitas, also of Cheektowaga, expressed fear that the governmental dysfunction will further damage the nation.
“This is not what I grew up with and not what I can live with,” she said. “This country is going down due to the elected officials.”
Pitas, borrowing from 18th-century Irish-born statesman-philosopher Edmund Burke, said, “Bad things happen when good men stand by and do nothing.”
She said she hopes that someone will stand up to the government, adding, “There is too much apathy.”
With a tea bag dangling from his glasses in true Tea Party spirit, Elijah Thompson, 21, said: “Government should not be an overarching power. When the government is afraid of people, then you have liberty.”
Amid chants and cheers from the crowd, Patrick Engasser said: “We must take back our state; we must take back Albany. We will defeat them.”
Tony Kunz of Buffalo spoke of the rally’s significance.
“This draws attention to our cause,” he said. “It’s concern for our nation and a fear of tyranny in government.”
The Buffalo protest was one of nearly 1,500 planned around the nation.
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