Motley bunch at tea 'revolt'

By DANIEL BARRICK
Monitor staff

They came to protest socialism, communism and fascism. They booed Barack Obama and John Lynch, bankers and bailouts, the gas tax and the estate tax. Some wore pistols on their hips, others hung tea bags from their ears, and a few hoisted plywood pitchforks.

It was a motley group gathered in front of the State House yesterday for a "Tax Day Tea Party," one of several held across the country on the last day to file income tax returns. The only unifying theme seemed to be a general sense of outrage against the government.

"This is a revolt," said Ted Maravelias of Windham, one of the protest's organizers. "People are fed up, and there's just a feeling of disrespect from the government."

About 600 people packed the State House plaza, many of them waving homemade signs that indicated the range of opinions: "Get Barney Frank's Dirty Hand Out of My Pocket." "Obamanation, No Taxation." "Welcome to France." "Think Libertarian." "Taxation: The New Terrorism."

April Welches of Manchester brought her mother, Angela Diener, to the rally. The two hoisted signs reading "Revolt Against Socialism" and "Socialism . . . Not the Change We Need."

Welches said she was inspired to attend the protest by "this Obama thing." She said she fears that the president wants to push the country toward a "one-money, one-world system."

"He's got his own agenda, and it's toward socialism," Welches said. "It's made me afraid actually. I think there's going to be a lot of trouble, a lot of desperation. It's getting to be time to store up food."

Susan Olsen of Warner carried a pitchfork-shaped slab of plywood; stapled to the handle was a sign that read, "You Are Not Entitled To What I Have Earned."

What motivated her to come to Concord? "Obama has no respect for the 10th Amendment," Olsen said.

Corey Lewandowski, state director of Americans for Prosperity, which organized the rally, said his group had used Facebook, Twitter and e-mail to attract attendees, "all very fiscally responsible ways of communicating," he said.

Lewandowski said the recent decision by the House to approve a capital gains tax and an estate tax, as well as increases in the rooms-and-meals tax and the tobacco tax, made it easy to generate interest in the rally.

Speakers included office holders and would-be office holders, conservative activists and grassroots organizers. Tony Schinella, co-chairman of the Concord Taxpayers Association, railed against the city's trash pickup policy and the new downtown parking garage. Sam Pimm, chairman of the Reagan Republicans Victory Fund, urged members of the crowd to run for office themselves next year.

"That's the only way this madness is going to stop," Pimm said.

And the high point of the event came at the end, when Tom Thomson, son of former governor Mel Thomson, led the crowd in a chant of "Ax the tax," his father's favorite catchphrase. Thomson then approached a stack of wooden crates, each one labeled with the name of a different tax: "gas tax," "property tax" and others. He slammed an ax into one of the crates until it was reduced to splinters. The protesters roared their approval.

Jeremy Olson and Rich Paul stood on the edge of the crowd, holding "Ron Paul 2008" signs.

"We haven't started printing up 2012 signs, but we will," said Rich Paul, no relation to the politician.

Olson, who described himself as a "full-time liberty activist," and Paul both moved to New Hampshire with the Free State Project, a libertarian-leaning movement. Paul said he had put all his money into silver and gold. "My hope is that when we hit the bottom of the depression, there will be enough silver in New Hampshire to buy Massachusetts for a song and then sell it to Castro," he said.

As the rally broke up, Rep. Fran Wendelboe offered to lead a tour of the women's bathroom on the third floor of the State House. Republicans have used the $72,000 recently spent on restroom renovations as a new rallying cry for Democratic excess.

Democrats say that the upgrades were necessary to make sure the bathroom met requirements for access for the disabled and that the expenditure was approved by both parties.

Among those taking the tour was Rachel Senter of Kingston.

"I heard there were chandeliers in there," she said upon exiting the restroom. "I guess they're actually more like sconces."

Still, Senter said she was surprised by what she said was the use of marble in the stalls.

"It's like our state is in la-la land," she said. "It's worse than a crack addict."