On a day when many Americans rushed to file tax paperwork, supporters of a conservative movement in Lynchburg and across America proclaimed they have been “Taxed Enough Already.”
A few hundred people showed up for the Tax Day Tea Party in Miller Park on Thursday. A microcosm of nationwide Tax Day protests, speakers at Lynchburg’s Tea Party rally touched on taxes, health care, excessive spending and socialism, with more than one speaker invoking the words of founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.
Older participants mingled with pre-teens displaying conservative posters, Don’t Tread On Me flags and T-shirts.
Amherst County teen sisters Christina and Ciera Stringfield addressed the crowd, part of a lineup including local business owners, activists and others who stressed ideas of limited government and low taxes.
“Being an American is the idea that the purpose of government is to protect these God-given rights,” Christina Stringfield said, of the clause in the Declaration of Independence referring to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. “It is the idea that when government becomes destructive of our rights, that government, it loses legitimacy, and it loses its claim on our allegiance.”
“We now have a federal government that believes its power has no limitations whatsoever,” Ciera Stringfield said. “It is time to rediscover the wisdom and the purpose behind the idea of limited government.”
Lynchburg Tea Party Chairman Mark Lloyd closed the lineup of speakers, and encouraged the crowd that the movement was gaining steam.
“People are waking up to the fact that we are right,” he said. For Amherst County veterinarian Anne Bonda, there was no one particular reason she came to the event.
“It’s just about the way the whole country isn’t what it used to be,” Bonda said.
She said she would like to add another veterinarian to her business, but due in part to taxation she sees as overboard, that would be unrealistic.
“The whole mix is screwed up,” she said, adding “I have no clue where our government is headed, and they don’t listen to us.”
Lloyd concluded by explaining that, while protest has a place, making protests the main form of communication is not the goal.
“All protest all the time is not leadership,” he said. “Leadership is when you get off your couch, let the remote go down in the cushions and don’t worry about finding it, and go out and spread the word. Tell your fellow countrymen … about what the common good of America is,” he said.
After the crowd responded, Lloyd reiterated their answer: “Freedom.”
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement