Seattle Tea Party Pictures
The Seattle Tea party rally at Westlake Center was massive! I’ll add some audio clips soon. Meanwhile, check out the pictures of the protest:
I am pretty sure anyone from this crowd would be a more ethical Treasury Secretary than Geithner.
More pictures after my comments.
Here are my observations:
- People passed around fliers supporting Ron Paul’s efforts to Audit the Fed.
- Lots of people talking about the evils of fiat currency.
- People talking about gold. Have they been reading Mises?
- The MC encouraged everyone to send a text message to help count size of group; doing so also registers people for the “Tax Revolt Coalition”.
- Organizers repeatedly displayed phone numbers for Jim McDermott and Patty Murray — and then everyone left Patty Murray a group voicemail (McDermott has no voicemail).
- When overly partisan speakers left the stage — some prospective Senator who only talked about cutting taxes — the MC reminded everyone that we are tired of people forgetting the need to cut spending; the group has not forgotten the results from the last time the GOP rode the wave of a small-government rebellion and became fraudulent conservatives.
- Some counter-protestors brought some obscene signs. The MC was careful to add distance from the obscenities while respecting their right to free speech.
The Seattle event felt a little more partisan to me. People calling for an end to the trillions we spend murdering
I talked with friends at the Libertarian party, Campaign for Liberty and Committees of Safety. I believe this is a great time to be a libertarian. In fact, one of the C4L members looked like he had a body guard. Of course, the body guard was at the last C4L meeting promoting a marksmanship class. I wanted to say hello but he had that serious, “on duty” attitude.
I saw many Objectivist signs: Ayn Rand was right; Who is John Galt? etc. Bill Herman, one of the leading Objectivists in the area was passing out fliers. I think this is an exciting time to be an Objectivist.
More pictures:
Libertarian-minded individuals filled the crowd.
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I was pleased to see so many people citing the true cause of our economic troubles.
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More pictures here.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:15
I just stopped by your blog and thought I would say hello. I like your site design. Looking forward to reading more down the road.
April 16th, 2009 at 4:40
How many people were there? How many counter-protestors, and what was the general idea of the the counter-protest other than obscenities?
And on a more theoretical note: are you an objectivist, and how does that differ from other forms of libertarianism?
April 16th, 2009 at 9:40
I think it was larger than the Bellevue rally, which the speakers estimated at around 1,000 people. I am not good at counting people (hence why I say 500-1,000 about Bellevue). Attendees did seem to fill Westlake Park.
There were only a couple counter-protestors as far as I could tell. One man was screaming at others about the various wars killing people and costing $1 trillion. I think this is a very valid point, but spitting into people’s faces wins few friends. He was quickly drowned own with a USA-USA chant.
Presently I consider Ludwig von Mises my favorite political philosopher. I guess that makes me more libertarian. I’m not too concerned with the various labels. Labels allow people who can manipulate the meaning of those labels to shape my thinking. I want ideas to drive my thinking.
I learned many wonderful ideas from Objectivism. Objectivism is the philosophy that Ayn Rand began developing. This is the philosophy behind Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal or Atlas Shrugged. I consider it very similar to libertarianism — I think they share almost all principles.
The principle idea is that: a person is entitled to his production; trade allows both parties to exchange a less desirable good for a more desirable one; no person is ever entitled to initiate force. Perhaps “moral capitalism” describes the common ground between them.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:55
Susan has a great description of the counter-protestor: http://thatsmeontheleft.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-its-wrong-its-wrong.html
She claims to be a Democrat and describes the event:
“The Tea Party wasn’t an angry Republican event. It was an angry American event. Everyone in downtown Seattle kept their cool (that I saw) despite the nutcases trying to get the crowd fired up. Americans came together to speak their minds.”
I am so happy to see people like her attending these rallies.
April 16th, 2009 at 14:05
Hi Erick! Nice to finally meet you, love the pics. I personally am also very heartened by the increasing focus on the Fed and fiat money. It is an esoteric topic for the mainstream. I think we’re starting to see people overcome that barrier though.
April 16th, 2009 at 18:49
[...] “Seattle Tea Party Pictures” — Erick’s Blog “I saw many Objectivist signs: Ayn Rand was right; Who is John Galt? etc. Bill Herman, one of the leading Objectivists in the area was passing out fliers. I think this is an exciting time to be an Objectivist.” [...]
April 18th, 2009 at 13:48
What sign did YOU bring? You should have had someone take your pic! I like the “socialism is where countries go to die” sign, too.