Conroe Tea Party- July 2nd, 2009

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On July 2nd I had the opportunity to attend the 'tea party' for the northern Houston area held in Conroe. It was an event held to protest what the organizers believe is the gradual encroachment of high taxes, more government involvement in people's lives and a lessening of individual freedoms. There was a lot of complaining about 'socialism' and the feeling that things in this country have been heading in the wrong direction since President Obama was sworn into office in January. Despite the attempt by the organizers to deny the partisan preferences of the gathering the mask would occasionally slip. The best speaker of the night was undoubtedly a charismatic African-American pastor who preached the evils of liberalism. Behind him was a photograph of a billboard put up in a predominantly African-American part of Houston which makes the assertion that MLK was a Republican. (This is a half truth typical of conservatives on the civil rights debate. Its akin to saying that Strom Thurmond was a segregationist Democrat. Both statements were true, but both men eventually aligned themselves with the party that was more welcoming to their goals.)

I had expected the usual extemist talk heard among the far-right and I wasn't disappointed. The speakers repeatedly invoked the idea that the United States is a Christian nation founded on Biblical principles. Its strange that this seems so confusing to many people but the Founding Fathers took pains to keep religion separate from our government. The only mention of religion in our Constitution is the First Amendments guarantee that people can practice freely and that no official church would be organized.

The main topic off the night centered on gripes from conservatives that Obamas health care plan would result in socialized medicine which would force people to accept "rationing" from government bureaucrats. One problem with that complaint is that forty six million people currently have very little access to health care because they lack health insurance. Most Americans currently have health insurance but they're often denied coverage because 'managed care' is basically designed to deny as much care to the members as possible. There are currently hundreds of thousands of people working in the health insurance industry and many of them are basically 'bean-counters' who's job is to make sure that very little is actually spent on tests or treatments. The currently situation has an eerie parallel to what the conservatives at this tea party claimed to fear most: health insurance that often denies important treatments to 'control costs.'

I left at the end off the event almost feeling a little bad for the sponsors. It was sparcely attended and the crowd often seemed to lack enthusiasm. Overall the event was a strange mixture of extremist thought and boredom. I've included photos of the 'crowd' to demonstrate the sparce attendance and of some of the signs so that the reader can get a sense of the pet issues which motivated those in attendance. This wasn't your run of the mill Republican gathering. I guess there is a limited demand for extremism.