Amy Hemsley celebrates the Fourth
Tax protesters gathered in La Habra at the corner of Beach and Imperial yesterday, carrying flags and signs, and waving at drivers in the busy intersection. They called it a tea party, a fitting way to honor the birthday of a country that was born out of a tax revolt.
In 1773, colonists in Boston protested tea taxes that were imposed on them by the British government rather than by their own colonial governments by throwing tea from Britain into the harbor before it could be offloaded. Their slogan was, “No taxation without representation.”
Today’s tea parties, springing up all over the country, involve no actual tea, but explain their name with a new slogan: “Taxed Enough Already!”
Amy Hemsley, a 25-year-old from La Mirada, organized Saturday’s event because she believes the $787 billion stimulus package is being badly spent.
“They should just put our money where it’ll grow something. Forgive the expression, but as Dolly Levi says in Hello Dolly, ‘Money is like manure. It’s not good unless you spread it around.’ You have to put it where it’s going to grow something. You can’t just put it on pavement. It’s not going to do any good. And these special interest groups and everything that they’re supporting is really just like putting manure on pavement.”
Demonstrators, who found the tea party online, arrived singly or in small groups, waved their own signs for a while, then drifted off to be replaced by new arrivals. Drivers honked and waved as they passed. One curious man pulled into the gas station on the corner to ask what the demonstration was all about, then flashed a thumbs up.
“We haven’t had one bird yet,” said Hemsley with a smile.
–Cindy Cotter
8/25/2009: Amy Hemsley is planning another TEA Party on Sept. 12
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