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Patriots for America
We Surround Rochester
Aug 28, 2010, Washington DC
By rochester_veteran
On a cold and very blustery day, approximately 40 concerned citizens met at a downtown Rochester, NY park on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, to participate in our local version of the Tea Parties that have been sweeping the nation! NY Governor Paterson was here for a “town hall” meeting at the Rochester Convention Center and the decision was made nine days prior that with the Governor in town, March 11 would be present a great opportunity to not only protest the Porkulus Package, but also the crushing tax burden that New York State inflicts on its citizens. Word of the Rochester Tea Party was spread via blogs on the Internet, most notably, Patriots For America, Gathering of Eagles: NY, North Shore Journal and RochesterWatch, hence the “Commando” in the title and we just showed up and did it! 
At around 5pm, I called everyone to order and got the program started.
We took a moment of silence to honor those who sacrificed for the cause of freedom and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
RochesterConservative’s own, Charlie, gave a rousing speech on the history of the original Boston Tea Party and how the Federal government has turned its back on the very principles that made us great.
My buddy Mike, spoke about how the government is overstepping its bounds and how it’s our duty as citizens to stand up and remind them that they serve us and not the other way around!
Rev. Dr. Tommy Davis spoke on the staggering amount of borrowed money that’s being spent on the Porkulus Package and the serious issues he has with the contents of the Bill.
Another of RochesterConservative’s own, phantomlord, gave a stirring speech about how the situation the Founding Fathers faced with a distant and oppressive government is like the situation we face today, with our Federal and New York State Governments.
With Governor Paterson being just across the Genesee River from us, all of the local TV stations were there to cover his visit. When they heard of the Rochester Tea Party, they came to the park and interviewed a few of us:
The Rochester Tea Party had a couple of ladies that displayed creative “tea bag” fashion statements:
As with the other Tea Parties that have been held across the Nation, the signs that are carried by the participants tell the story:
Of course, no Tea Party would be complete without a Gadsden Flag:
After the speeches were done, we formed up and marched to the Main St. Bridge:
When we were all on the bridge, we performed a ceremonial tea dumping in the spirit of the Sons of Liberty action in 1773!
Of course, we did this in an “environmentally correct” manner 
and tore open our tea bags, dumping only the tea itself into the Genesee River. It was so windy on the bridge that I got more tea on me than what went into the river! 
We then marched to the front of the Rochester Convention Center, where Governor Paterson was holding the “Town Meeting” and raised some cane there for a while.
We broke up around 6pm and went home.
I consider the inaugural and “commando” Rochester Tea Party a success. Although we didn’t attract the big crowds that other Tea Parties did, those who did show up are all dedicated Patriots willing to take the next step for a larger Tea Party in the future, this time with advance billing in the media as well as on the blogs. What was nice about it with the smaller crowd was it was easy to meet people and turned out to be a great networking opportunity! I made a lot of new friends and we were all in agreement that this was something that we can build upon.
A pleasant surprise was meeting Erik Anderson and his wife and finding out that they have already applied for a special events permit for an April 15, 2008 Tax Day Rochester Tea Party! We’ll be meeting that day at the Genesee Crossroads Park at 11am, which is just north of the inaugural Rochester Tea Party meeting spot. I’ll be reporting more in this as I get the information. I’m throwing in with Erik though and will help him in any way.
In closing, I’d like to leave you with the phrase that I closed off my speech at the “commando” Rochester Tea Party yesterday:
Government doesn’t create wealth, it takes it!!!
All POW-MIA
39 responses so far ↓
1 phantomlord // Mar 12, 2009 at 10:07 am
My prepared remarks yesterday, for those who weren’t in attendance:
Two hundred and thirty three years ago, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman and a number of other patriots that, we today, call the Founding Fathers, wrote a Declaration of Independence from a distant, oppressive government which saw the people who lived in the colonies which form these United States as tools of the state, people less than a citizen of the home country, people that deserved to be taxed to support that distant government because of their mere existence.
Before it got to that point, we first saw the Stamp Act of 1765, then the Townsend Acts of 1767. As we stand here today, Americans then… stood up to their government. Full of outrage that the colonists would oppose their government’s actions, Britain imposed the Tea Act, which was designed to cut off the colony’s source of funds, deliberating undermining the shipping industry on these shores, and favoring the East India Company instead.
Then, much as today under the legislation pushed through by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and our own Louise Slaughter, the government entered the business of picking winners and losers, favoring businesses which aligned with the government’s interests while undermining the businesses of those who simply wished to be left alone, free of the tyranny of a distant government which actively sought to harm them.
Listen to the headlines today. The United States is so deeply in debt, it would take a full year at 100% taxation with absolutely no other government spending to relieve that burden. President Obama was elected on the mantra of bringing change to Washington after years of running deep deficits. The change he has brought is a deficit twice as bad as President Bush’s worst deficit. Not only that, but he has created new entitlement programs which will need to be funded in perpetuity, he’s offering new taxes that will affect all of us, even those who currently don’t pay federal income taxes, he’s threatening to shut down America’s coal industry, and perhaps worst of all, he’s decided that your right to privacy no longer precludes the government staying out of your medical history.
We’ve seen this policy before. We here in Western NY have lived it for decades. Western NY is an economic wasteland, businesses like Kodak have been forced to flee under oppressive government taxation and regulation. Politicians in Albany, beholden to NYC cared not… for the financial capital of America thrived despite the desolation they created here. Governor Paterson has come to Rochester to announce that, he too, is following the same old, tired, big government blueprint that Obama is. He intends to raise taxes and spend our way deeper into debt. Despite all of the talk about making hard sacrifices in the budget in an effort to bring outlays in line with revenue, the Governor has proposed an even larger budget for this year than we had last year.
Friends, thirty years ago, we suffered through an economic malaise. We had high inflation, high interest rates, high unemployment and high taxation. Then, we elected a man who knew how to fix things. The thesis of his inaugural speech was quite simple, and it was the direct opposite of what his predecessor said then, and what Obama and Paterson are telling us today. He said “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”
We know the solution to our problems. Deep inside, whether you are a conservative, a liberal, a republican or a democrat, the answer is to once again believe in ourselves. To believe that we alone hold the keys of success to our future, not the government. To make the government subserviant to the people again, rather than creating a people subserviant to the government. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
The Sons of Liberty served notice to a distant government that they would no longer suffer the chains of bondage. We too, are here today, to serve notice to our distant government that we will no longer suffer their chains of bondage either. Taxation is slavery and, as Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death!”
2 phantomlord // Mar 12, 2009 at 10:08 am
It was a good time… and I look forward to doing it again. Shouting the Patrick Henry quote at the end just felt so right.
3 Dan Maloney // Mar 12, 2009 at 10:13 am
Excellent Job Everyone!
The spark of freedom has taken hold in Rochester!
Keep up the good work!
Dan
4 AAR Tea Party in Rochester NY « Gathering of Eagles: NY // Mar 12, 2009 at 10:29 am
[...] Read the after action report here. [...]
5 tigmode // Mar 12, 2009 at 11:50 am
Awesome! I wanted to be there so badly but Reagan had a 4:40 doctor appointment that we’ve been waiting 6 months for and just couldn’t miss. I’m putting tax day tea party on my calendar so I can be at that one.
6 HoosierArmyMom // Mar 12, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I salute all the New York Patriots who participated in this excellent event yesterday! You planted the seeds of freedom yesterday and made your voice heard to a few more people. That is how the passion grows.
There is a group/network working through Facebook and a website to organize Tea Party events by state. It seems to be a highly effective tool to swap ideas and organize effectly.
It would be worth setting up a Facebook page to do.
Please click here to join teapartyteam.
I’m not sure the link will work so here’s the link you can cut and paste to join the National Tea Party Wiki.
https://my.pbwiki.com/?p=setpass
7 "Bill Hicks" // Mar 12, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Excellent job New Yorkers. It is good to see the fires of Liberty and Freedom being spread from coast to coast.
8 Casandra // Mar 12, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I am so sorry I missed this! I only just found out. I did not want to risk missing another one I could participate in, so I have been doing some searching and just came across this:
http://albanysinsanity.wnymedia.net/blogs/2009/03/03/erie-county-tea-party/
Which I thought you all might be interested in. See you there!
9 Lonely Conservative // Mar 12, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Sorry I missed it. I’m going to try to round up some like minded folks here in Syracuse for a tea party here.
Great photos!!!
10 PatriotChick // Mar 13, 2009 at 12:52 am
You folks did a terrific job!! I loved all the pictures of your protest, made me feel like I was there. I came over here from Michelle Malkin’s blog, and I’m just really impressed. I anticipate being at the gigantic rally in Cincinnati this Sunday, but to me the impact is the same as in Rochester. All of us need to do this often, and loudly, until we distroy Obama’s approval rating!!
Kudos fellow patriots! God bless and keep us.
11 phantomlord // Mar 13, 2009 at 1:11 am
Well, since we’ve hit the nationally read blogs, let me throw in a little more background info.
First, we kept the advertising of the Tea Party under the radar since Rochester requires you to file for a permit at least 20 days before your protest. We aren’t professional protesters, we’re regular citizens, working stiffs. We can’t afford to be fined or arrested over something that silly.
Second, it was during the working day of a work week. To top it off, the weather was chilly and the winds were fierce. I know of at least a dozen other people that wanted to attend but couldn’t because of work, family responsibilities, car problems, etc. I’m sure the weather contributed a bit to some others not wishing to come out as well.
That said, we outnumbered the “Fair Share” (tax the rich) protesters by at least 3 to 1 and outnumbered the CSEA members that showed up to demand the government spend more money hiring their friends as well.
If any state represents the future of America under Obama’s policies, New York does. We’ve been living with the same policies for decades and they’ve destroyed upstate NY. Nobody from Albany or downstate have cared until NYC took a hit. There has a contingent of us upstate wanting to form a 51st state for years and the worse things get, the more grumbling I’m hearing.
This protest was us introducing ourselves to the Accidental Governor since he came to town. We’ll be back on April 15th with an even bigger crowd since there is more time to plan it, the permit has already been filed and the weather will be better. When you see a blue New York, remember, that is the effect of NYC. The rest of the state traditionally leans slightly red and it’s time we reminded people, especially the government, of it.
12 Mary Lou Welz // Mar 13, 2009 at 3:30 am
Sorry I missed it!
Great Work!
13 rochester_veteran // Mar 13, 2009 at 9:07 am
Thanks for all of your encouraging words!
I’m hoping that we can keep the fire burning and spark a freedom movement to reject the socialism that Obama and the Dems are trying to shackle us with.
There’s going to be Tea Parties held across the nation on April 15 and Rochester is going to have one too! It’s going to be downtown at the Crossroads Park, that’s just north of the Main St. Bridge and it starts at 11am. I’m taking the day off from work for it! Please consider attending either the one in Rochester, or a Tea Party in the city that you’re living in. If there isn’t a Tea Party planned yet for your city, consider organizing one yourself.
14 rochester_veteran // Mar 13, 2009 at 10:20 am
One more thing, I just got an email from the guy who’s organizing the April 15 Rochester Tea Party. He thought that carrying a sign announcing the Tea Party at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade tomorrow (March 14) in downtown Rochester, would be great publicity. If anybody reading this is going, please consider carrying a sign with the following information on it:
Rochester Tea Party
April 15, 2009 at 11am
Crossroads Park
Downtown Rochester
Thanks!
15 Timm Munson // Mar 13, 2009 at 12:01 pm
I, too, got here from Michelle Malkin’s site. As a Rochester native now living in Rhode Island, I am proud of my fellow Rochesterians for standing up and speaking out against the immorality of the current trend in DC. I salute your patriotism and I’ll do my part to spread the truth of liberty, self-reliance and responsibility to my fellow Ocean Staters.
What is this strange feeling I’m experiencing? I think it’s optimism!!
Thank you for your inspiration!
16 Ed Kritz // Mar 13, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Great photos of your “tea party” Sorry I missed it but really wasn’t aware of Rochester Conservatives. Is this a group that has regular meetings or events? How would one go about joining such an organization that has conservative principles? Just wanted to say hi. i will watch your web pages.
Thanks
17 phantomlord // Mar 13, 2009 at 8:18 pm
We kept this one low key since we didn’t have the necessary permits and, frankly, we didn’t want to spend the night in jail or end up paying a fine. We don’t have rich backers out there, we’re just a group of concerned citizens that believe in limited government.
There will be another Tea Party on April 15th. RV already pointed out the details.
The RC blog was originally started by RV, me and Freedom Fighter as a means of giving a voice to the silent majority here in New York that often go unheard and feel like nobody is speaking for them.
We also have a forum which largely consists of a number of people who used to post on the Democrat and Chronicle forums before they switched to the horrible new software a year ago. We have met up a couple times, but have also generally kept those low key after some lefty groups tried to intimidate us the first time around.
I do think regular meetings could be a good thing… we aren’t a political party, nor are we affiliated with one. In fact, we’re a group of friends registered to a good number of different parties that all share some common conservative/libertarian type beliefs. Regular meetings might be something to consider, especially in light of our increasing activism. Anyone that is interested in such meetings, join us over on the forums where things are a bit more laid back and informal. I’ll start a post there shortly.
18 Travis // Mar 13, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I am sorry I didn’t know about this before it happened! Nice work, everyone. Give me some advice – how can I help this cause if I can’t get out of work on April 15? I wish it was on a weekend, but I understand the significance of the tax-day protest. Thanks.
19 phantomlord // Mar 13, 2009 at 9:28 pm
If you can’t make it yourself, tell your friends and maybe one of they can. Make a sign they can bring and have your friends that support the Tea Party sign it.
Call the offices of your elected representatives on April 15th to tell them you’ve have enough. Call their DC offices and their local offices. Jam the switchboards. Make yourself heard.
Bookmark the Rochester Conservative blog and check back… we’ll have more information as the day gets closer. Maybe we can set up a PO Box for people to send a card to, to display them during the next Tea Party.
It is our responsibilities which tie us down and have kept the right from organizing in the past. I think all of us understand that and our personal commitments come before our political activities. In fact, that is a principle that defines us. We have principles. We won’t sink to any level to win, we won’t put our families at risk unnecessarily, we won’t demand from others what we won’t provide for ourselves. At the end of the day, we just want to be free to live our lives the way we see fit without interference from government.
We’ve long been called the silent majority and it is time to have our voices heard and remain silent no more. The more we speak out, be it by simply talking to a friend, signing a post card, calling Congress or showing up in person, the louder our voice becomes.
20 Pat // Mar 14, 2009 at 11:35 am
I just now found out about this from Michell Malkin’s site as well. I would have been there as well. I will plan on attending Tax Day Tea Party.
I do not know where Crossroads Park is though, I live about 30 miles south of the “Big City”. 8^)
21 rochester_veteran // Mar 14, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Pat,
Thanks for your interest in the Tax Day Rochester Tea Party! Here’s the satellite map of Genesee Crossroads Park in downtown Rochester:
We’ll have more information up on the Tax Day Rochester Tea Party, with information on parking, but there’s the nearby, Genesee Crossroads Parking Garage and metered street parking as well.
RV
22 glennbeck4eva // Mar 17, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Hope your tea party in 2008 is as big a success as the one you had this year!
Idiots.
23 phantomlord // Mar 17, 2009 at 12:53 pm
We’re the idiots and yet somehow you’re talking about 2008 in the future tense? You really showed us.
I’ve always wanted the opinion of an “actor, singer, director, lecturer, historian, and sex god” from Chicago to give me the political perspective of life in Rochester. If I need tips of musical theater productions, I’ll be sure to call you though.
In the meantime, I’ll try to grasp the relevance of a comment from someone who wasn’t in attendance and doesn’t even live in the same state…
24 Cincy Tea Party « Smart and silly // Mar 18, 2009 at 11:50 pm
[...] via Rochester Conservative. [...]
25 becon // Mar 25, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Great job! Moved from Roch 34 yr. ago into NH and have loved our LIVE FREE OR DIE motto! It was so Conservative back then and so many moved up from liberal mass. they have changed so many things here. I hope we can regroup like you are trying to do. DO NOT STOP…KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK…GET IN THEIR (LIBS) FACES LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN DOING TO US!!!!
26 Mike // Mar 29, 2009 at 3:22 am
What a bunch of clueless idiots!
Suck it up, you weenies. The left is gonna straighten out the mess you right wing nut-jobs got us into.
Thank God the adults are finally in charge again.
27 DDL // Mar 29, 2009 at 4:22 am
You conservatives are obviously showing your amateurish approach to protests, and as a dreaded lib, I can be hired as an experienced protest consultant, or perhaps as a stand-in protester for those wealthy individuals who are too busy living the good life to be bothered with anything so pedestrian as…ugh…publicly protesting!!
Carrying hand-made signs and speaking/conversing, are of course, available at extra cost, based on creativity and length/loudness/emotion.
28 rochester_veteran // Mar 29, 2009 at 11:57 am
DDL posted:
You conservatives are obviously showing your amateurish approach to protests
That’s because we’re not “professional” protestors, DDL. We’re regular people who work for a living and are getting sick of the government dipping their hands in our pockets to bail out those who have been irresponsible.
“Thanks” (not really!
) for the offer, but we’ll do this in our own, genuine way.
RV
29 JMAN // Mar 31, 2009 at 6:51 pm
40 people is unacceptable, completely unacceptable, this needs to be done again. The right way.
30 rochester_veteran // Mar 31, 2009 at 7:02 pm
JMAN,
We got notice that Paterson was going to be at the Convention Center 9 days before the first Rochester Tea Party. We did what we could, without a permit (the City requires 20 days advance notice for a permit) getting word out via the local blogs and word of mouth, while avoiding getting busted by the cops. We were televised on channel’s 8, 9, 10 and 13.
Before you start offering criticism, I’ve got to ask, why the hell weren’t you there? What have you done for the local conservative movement lately?
31 LIVE FREE OR DIE // Apr 16, 2009 at 1:45 am
PLEASE educate yourselves on the federal reserve
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173
32 LIVE FREE OR DIE // Apr 16, 2009 at 1:46 am
Here’s a scary clip of greenspan stating that the federal reserve is above the law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVmxQsvj6lo
33 LIVE FREE OR DIE // Apr 16, 2009 at 1:48 am
Here’s a great site about the ILLEGAL INCOME TAX that we are protected under the constitution against and the same income tax that the supreme court ruled against:
http://www.showmethelaw.org/
34 LIVE FREE OR DIE // Apr 16, 2009 at 1:53 am
And yet here is a great article for all to read. THE PATRIOT MOVEMENT STARTED THE DAMN TEA PARTIES AND THE REPUBLICAN/MEDIA GROUP CHANGED THE MESSAGE. THE ORIGIONAL TEA PARTIES WERE AGAINST THE INCOME TAX AND THE IRS…. WHICH IS AN ILLEGAL ORGANIZATION!!!
http://www.infowars.com/a-message-to-the-revolution-the-easiest-way-to-destroy-a-movement-is-to-become-it/
Please try to prove me wrong!
Learn your facts!
and to the moderator of this site, please do not delete my comments as several great posts from earlier got deleted. both of my own and others. If you don’t know yourself, please look into what I am sharing with you folks. I am a concerned citizen like you all…
35 John // Apr 16, 2009 at 3:02 am
Love the John Adams quote…
How about one better…
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. ”
-Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed)
3rd president of US (1743 – 1826)
36 John // Apr 16, 2009 at 3:27 am
Here’s a better site. This guy was an ex IRS agent:
http://www.freedomabovefortune.com/
37 Aj // Apr 17, 2009 at 12:08 pm
it was fun I am glad I could be a part of it, now that phase one is done though we must keep the pressure on and organize, strategize, educate and mobilize
38 Pat Ter Haar // Sep 15, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Just came back from the Washington march and it was a life changing experience. Never before have I witnessed living history. But the movemnet will be in the history books as a turning point in this country. A return to the founding fathers original principles. It is so amzing to see our voices come alive knowing that it began as a small whisper. It must be similar to the day after Pearl Harbor, September 11, when the sleeping giant was awakened. I do beleive there is nothing we can’t accomplish in unity. Proud to be an american!!!
39 rochester_veteran // Sep 15, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Pat,
I’ve heard others who marched on Washington DC on 9/12 that had a similar experience as yours. One who sometimes comments here had this to say:
a12iggymom posted:
Thanks for posting on your experience!
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