Writes Tyler Smith:

I’m currently at a tea party rally, at the encouragement of a family member. I thought a bit of play-by-play might be fun.

The way it has unfolded so far: a prayer, mostly lauding the war dead; then a moment of silence for another recent victim of the Iraq atrocity. When I didn’t stand or remove my cap for the national declaration of adoration, I got a few dirty looks.  Twenty minutes into it, every local two-bit politician has made his patriotic fervor known on the stage. Then a woman with a beautiful voice stands and sings “To God Be the Glory” followed by the most deranged version of “Change Our Heart Oh God,” mutated with the pledge of allegiance inserted in the middle, then the hymn transitioned into “God Bless America.” Again, everyone was told to stand. More dirty looks my way. When did this gathering, advertised as a rally for economic sanity, turn into a state church?

The secretary of state spoke briefly about his current initiative to require all voters to have a valid (presumably federal) ID to vote.

They now have a 12-year-old boy reading about the importance of caring for the war ruined with tax money.  Also about the importance of using our tax dollars to pay for the retired generation! He wrapped up by advertising for Americans for Youth Patriotism. Yes! Indoctrinate a new generation of hosts for the parasitic state!

I’m sad to say that this rally has nothing to do with liberty or decreasing the tax burden on the American populace.

UPDATE from Kevin Patrick Kelly:

I know exactly how Tyler feels. Most of the tea party meetings that I go to are filled with people wanting to spread the word of God and Christianity overseas to those “brown people.” I had one elderly woman lecture me on how I was against the troops if I didn’t go along with the mass killings overseas. Another individual lectured me on how It was our duty to instill “conservative values onto our school children.” By “conservative values” does he mean more obedience to the state and its draconian policies? It is amazing how a wonderful movement that was started by Ron Paul and his presidential campaign, has now been dwarfed into a movement with bible thumping conservatives who want to spread the word of God overseas by force and hope to relive the “glory days” of George W. Bush. Tragic.

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.