Tea Party Attendees Solidify Platform

Organizers Caleb Coulter and Chip Tarbutton.
Organizers Caleb Coulter and Chip Tarbutton.

The most recent Roanoke Tea Party mass meeting was held last Saturday at the Roanoke Civic Center.  More than 500 people from the Roanoke Valley and beyond met to listen, gather information and join committees.  The widely varied group consisted of doctors, lawyers, the unemployed, young and old, Liberals, Conservatives, Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Libertarians and the undecided.  The group describes their common denominator as, “concerned citizens that see Washington destroying our nation.”  The Tea Party is not affiliated with any political party and is not funded by any group, but rather appear to be a non-profit, independent, grass roots organization of ordinary American citizens.

Some key items the group all agree on are:

No more bailouts.

Reduce the National Debt

Revamp our broken tax system

Stop excessive regulation of business

Create a sane energy policy

Protect the country from foreign enemies

And most importantly, follow the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

To start the meeting, Pete and Denise Pearl performed an original song, “Rise Up America”, encouraging people to take a stand and fight back when they believe our government is wrong.  (You may view the video on www.youtube.com )

The ad hoc Board of Directors for the Roanoke Tea Party events are: Christy Bowles, Chip Tarbutton, Caleb Coulter, Debbie Blackburn and John Lawless.

The group says it is guided by four principles – “to provide a quick way for people to get their heads around an issue, an easy way to communicate, consistency of their message and a way to ensure groups in their network really share their vision.  They see the Tea Party as a way to gather citizens and their concerns under an “umbrella” organization – a kind of clearinghouse for information and ideas.  One person’s main concern might be education while another’s might be taxes.

Chip Tarburtton feels if these people can all come together, they can use each other’s resources and ideas and help each other out as well as the group.

At Saturday’s meeting, the Tea Party decided to form 5 committees – Accountability, Events, Outreach & Funds, Organizational and Campaign.

Each committee is tasked with a specific goal, so that when they are all brought together they will form a whole.  They want to make sure they are fully educated on where the candidates stand on specific issues, so they can communicate, inspire and mobilize the community to make informed decisions.

The group says they first organized because they wanted the government to “hear our voices, all of our voices, and it is much easier to do that when banded together than as individuals.”  As Tea Parties grow across the country, Tea Party leaders feel that Washington is starting to listen.  It is easy to ignore one person, but not thousands that speak as one.

Melvin Williams, a Roanoke lawyer, said, “it is encouraging to see this many people willing to get involved because they are worried about this country.  The Tea Party is building momentum – it is not going to fizzle out, and they are coming and government should be worried.  We can affect change through the Tea Party and that is a great thing.”

Another attendee, Chris Head, a business owner from Botetourt County, stated, “[I’m] excited to see this many people come out on a Saturday, with no sponsorship or organization behind them, just because they want to see substantive changes in this country.  This is going to be a revolutionary process, and any one who thinks otherwise is going to be surprised.”

For more information, visit www.roanoketeaparty.com.

By Carla Bream
[email protected]

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  1. It sounds like a good event, & I wish you success. I have long been concerned about all of the above. However, I am one of those Blue Dog Democrats who was shown the possibility of efficient, high-performance Government, & I got involved. From the time of Kaine for Governor to the time of Obama for President, Politics was one long obsession for me. & now I want to take a break from Politics & get on with the entrepreneurial get-on. I would caution you I have to make America look good in places where it is hard to make America look good, because that’s how we boost exports.

    I would submit that we have finally elected leaders who are willing & able to transform our federal government into a body which is supportive of Society, rather than an agent of ruin. I think that if you give Obama a chance, you will find him thoughtful & responsive to your concerns. Anyone can go to the whitehouse.gov website, click Contact Us, & leave a complaint.

    If our new govenment proves unsatisfactory to you, then your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to recruit a better candidate, & get a bigger crowd of supporters behid your candidate. Best of luck to you.

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