Culture Clash: Tea Partiers and Obama-Nation Host Dueling Rallies on Capitol Steps

by Tony Brouner & Trevor Griffey

“I’m in the studio all the time, so I’m always wondering what my people look like,” Dori Monson said to the crowd gathered on the steps of the state capitol building Monday morning.

What they look like is mostly middle-aged and older, and overwhelmingly white.

Monson could take at least some credit for the sizable turnout at the “Push Back 2010” rally. The crowd, estimated at over 2,000, pretty well filled the Capitol steps, and then some. The event’s primary sponsor was the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. But Monson, who hosts a talk-radio show on Seattle’s KIRO 97.3 FM, had been aggressively plugging it the previous week.

The crowd that assembled to angrily “push back” against taxes at 10am was a stark contrast to the one that gathered just two hours later to “protect our future” at noon. Conservative anger— marshaled by talk radio hosts, bloggers and think-tanks— seemed to drive the morning rally. But liberal hope— organized primarily by college students, unions, social service providers and immigrant rights groups— animated a festive afternoon rally over twice the size of the morning’s event.

Tellingly, in all the day’s hootin’ and hollerin’, the liberals were plainly the better organized. There were considerably more of them and they appeared to be having a much better time of it.

Both events had something of an ad hoc feel to them, and both drew a smattering of the usual fringe elements, the people who can be relied upon to show up at such happenings: the LaRouchies, etc., on the right; the Freedom Socialists, etc., on the left; and that tall guy dressed in green and gold who apparently thinks the Seattle Supersonics can still be brought back from Oklahoma City (he attended both rallies).

Still, the two groups, who occupied the same capitol steps just an hour apart, put on display the wide gulf in popular attitudes about government, and cultures of outrage and hope that have become more distinct following Barack Obama’s election.

“Tea Party”

"Tea Party" At State Capitol

The morning’s event was less a rally for a specific agenda and more a protest against taxes and the state’s Democratic Party (whose 60 percent supermajority in both the House and the Senate has left Republicans essentially powerless). It was announced in no small part to upstage a liberal rally set for later in the day, or at least get equal press attention.

It wasn’t billed as a Tea Party, but some in the crowd apparently thought it was, or ought to be, judging from their signs. And to simply label it a Republican rally would miss the kinds of views expressed (and not expressed).

Amber Gunn of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation began the event’s speeches, and told the crowd that “government can’t create anything”— a theme echoed in numerous signs and innumerable conversations that morning. Without any prompting, the crowd at various points broke into the chant “No More Taxes.” Tim Eyman also made an appearance to collect signatures for his new initiative, I-1053, to restore a 2/3 vote requirement on tax increases, though he didn’t give any public speeches.

Tim Eyman gathering signatures for his new initiative, I-1053

The elected officials present were all of the GOP persuasion. But the anti-elitist anger on display was sometimes an uneasy fit with small-government, pro-business politics of the GOP. And the culture of the event had a decidedly libertarian streak far removed from the Christian right.

“Welcome fellow radicals,” announced Patrick Connor, the director of the Washington State chapter of the decidedly non-radical National Federation of Independent Business. The crowd cheered as he began. “Welcome fellow revolutionaries,” he followed, and people cheered again.

But for revolutionaries, the event seemed somewhat backward-looking— like America had fallen from grace, lost its way, that it had changed too much. Clint Didier, a farmer from Eltopia in Eastern Washington, a large fellow who once played pro ball for the Washington Redskins and is now running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Patty Murray, worked the crowd. He called himself a “Reagan Republican” and said he longed for the “glory days of the 1980s.” He also said to a would-be voter, “We have to relax these child-labor laws, so we can get these teenagers back working in the orchards.”

Other statements about recent changes in Northwest  demographics were more explicit. Those attending the rally had to walk through a gauntlet of signature gatherers from Respect Washington who were pushing an initiative to “stop illegal aliens” from gaining employment using false social security numbers. When Dori Monson later complained that “we give in-state college tuition to illegals,” the crowed booed in support of Monson. “We are subsidizing an education for a job they can’t get.”

Some signs at the "tea party" compared taxation with enslavement.

Monson himself struck a decidedly urgent and populist tone throughout. “We are in an enduring battle for our lives,” he told the crowd. “Government is lined up against us. Big business is lined up against us… They’ve pushed us too far and a revolution has begun. It’s time for a taxpayer revolution in our state!”

Kirby Wilbur, the former KVI talk show host who is now state director for Americans For Prosperity, similarly called the event a shot in the “great American revolt of the working class.” Another speaker pointed with approval to a sign in the crowd announcing the “peasant revolt of 2010.”

What kind of revolt is that? According to Monson, “the greatest lie is that we need to [raise taxes] for the poor, the elderly, the sick, the dying, and that the problem is that they don’t have enough money.” But, Monson said, all those people could be better served by shrinking government spending instead. “I believe government should provide a social safety net. I just don’t want a socialist safety net.” According to Wilbur, the “revolt of the working class”, rather than redistributing wealth, would make Washington “the friendliest place for business and the worst place to be a criminal.”

The contrast between populist rhetoric and free-market policy ideas highlighted the biggest difficulty conservatives have had when opposing budget cuts in 2010: explaining where to cut. Others at the event similarly fudged their way through trying to explain how they support the government provision of unemployment insurance, health care, and public schools while still opposing government spending in general. Throughout the event, there were repeated allusions to state auditor Brian Sonntag’s reports as evidence that government could easily absorb budget cuts without cutting services, but few had a specific policy proposal.

“I’m told we have a curator for prison art,” one personable Evergreen Freedom Foundation volunteer said. “I haven’t verified that, but that’s what I’ve heard.”  Such anecdotal tales of seemingly wasteful (and sometimes apocryphal) expenditures of taxpayer dollars flowed freely. While some promoted privatization and outsourcing, many simply claimed that government could perform all its essential services with less money, if only special interests did not stand in the way of doing so. Public enemy number one? Public sector unions. One person went so far as to tell us that all government employees should be volunteers.

The libertarian and even counter-cultural politics of the event were also striking.

One "tea party" attendee asserts his freedom by publicly displaying a sidearm.

Old hippie rock anthems and even some heavy metal ballads played before the speeches began, with an emphasis on personal freedom and rebellion against authority (the Who’s “I’m Free” or “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” for instance). The group seemed most comfortable in blue jeans. There were goatees and Harley-Davidson T-shirts aplenty at the morning rally. And at least one came bearing a sidearm.

But then, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” came out nearly 40 years ago, and bikers rarely portrayed themselves as political progressives anyway. Real “Americans” is how the folks at the morning event seemed most comfortable characterizing themselves – English-speaking (proudly), taxpaying (reluctantly), defenders of the values and policies that turned this country into a global leader and built a level of wealth never before seen. And what’s wrong with that? they’d ask.

Man's sign warns of tax revolt by voters this November

While the afternoon event wasn’t without a bit of name-calling, there’s really no denying that the folks at the morning rally did considerably more demonizing. What they projected, more than anything else, was anger (and rightfully so, they’d say) and victimization. A few signs in the audience even compared paying taxes to slavery.

“The coalition of so-called progressives sicced on us by the powers that be”, Patrick Connor told the crowd, could not understand the patriotism of those who support limited government. “Don’t be intimidated by the hoards amassing behind us,” he warned as liberals began arriving for their noontime rally. Don’t be dispirited, the message went out. Meet with your legislators. And don’t forget that November is just around the corner.

Obama-Nation

There was nothing dispirited about the 5,000 plus people who arrived for a noonday rally to “protect our future” and raise taxes—or, as they call it, revenue. The event, sponsored by the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition, was decidedly larger, better organized, younger, and much more racially diverse than the event that it preceded it.

The event was remarkable for its festive, upbeat air. Immigrant workers from Casa Latina paid little notice as petitioners against “illegal alien” labor left the capitol. Union members that Monson derided as “thugs” the week prior filed past the Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s table with its new periodical calling for the repeal of collective bargaining rights without incident. Loudspeakers played Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley as thousands entered the capitol grounds, and people who assembled early danced and smiled and waved signs to the music, as if the previous event had not even taken place. It was as if coalition that helped elect Obama President appeared out of time capsule from late 2008 and had a dance party on the capitol steps.

Signs at the "Protect Our Future" Rally

The event’s signs, instead of containing accusations, mainly celebrated those programs and people whose lives the participants claim would be made worse by budget cuts. Messages included “funding the future: invest in students”; “kids not cuts”; “save state work study”; “we are the safety net”; and many pre-printed signs reading “yes on revenue” and “protect our future.” Socialist Alternative even paraded an enormous “Money for Jobs and Education, Not War” sign, bringing applause early on. Other leftists led chants of “they say cut back, we say fight back!”

Speeches at the afternoon rally barely mentioned the event that preceded them. Event MC Magdalano Rose-Avila lead the crowd in chants of “Whose Future? Our Future!” and a more clunky, “Stop the Cuts! Revenue!”

Signs Countering "Tea Party" Messages

“That group at 10am was asking for representation without taxation,” Rose-Avila quipped. “They give tea a bad name.” “They said they’re starting a revolution,” he added before moving on. “But you know what? This is what a revolution looks like,” referring to the diversity and hopefulness of the crowd.

After which a series of speakers—from State Senator Ed Murray to State Labor Council President Rick Bender, from social service providers to immigrant rights advocates, all made the same point: an all cuts budget would violate the values of the Democratic party, and of American society more broadly. Bender captured this sentiment when he said, “We can’t continue cutting state services and support for those who have been hit hard by the recession… we are not going to let Eyman extremists and 34 percent of the state legislature veto our future.”

Like the rally that preceded it, the rally’s specific demands were murky, left to lobbyists and insiders to work out. But that didn’t seem to bother most of the participants in the afternoon rally, who despite their concerns about losing their jobs or access to schools or health care found a way to turn their grievances into a public celebration.

Sign from the morning "tea party" tossed aside to make way for the afternoon rally.