The following was published in the Daily Texan

Hundreds of people braved the scorching summer heat at the Texas Capitol Saturday to protest the federal stimulus bill, taxes, President Obama’s proposed health care program and illegal immigration. Others protested the speakers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

Many in the crowd carried anti-Obama signs with words such as “Stop the Obama Coup,” “Obama Marxist Traitor,” and “Washington, You Have Run Out of Money.”

The “tea party,” held outside the Capitol, was one of 40 scheduled across Texas during the Fourth of July weekend. The rally was organized by the Texas office of Americans for Prosperity, a nonpartisan group that advocates economic freedom.

Wayne Allyn Root, the 2008 Libertarian vice presidential nominee, who spoke at the event, said the media calls him the “anti-Obama.”

“My friends call me ‘war’, and that’s a good thing right now, because we have a war with people who want to raise your taxes to socialist levels,” Root said, setting off an uproar of applause.

Root also told the crowd that he has four words for politicians who voted for the Trouble Assets Relief Program: “Throw the bums out!”

Cornyn was greeted by a mixture of boos and applause. He recently came under fire from conservatives when he voted for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which bailed out failing national banks last year.

The senator was drowned out by boos as he thanked Americans for organizing the Tea Party and praised the Founding

Fathers for their patriotism.

“I realize not everybody wants to listen, but maybe some people do,” he said. “If you’ll let them listen.”

One audience member who said she wanted to listen, Austin resident Wendy Burchick, sat in the shade of a low hanging sycamore in a folding chair with two American flags sticking out of the cup holders, wearing a red, white and blue shirt covered with stars and stripes.

“I’m sick and tired of being taxed to death,” she said. “Enough is enough. We are headed towards a Marxist socialist society.”

Almost yelling into the microphone, Perry criticized the federal government to the screaming crowd.

“It’s nice to see a bunch of people who understand that the shenanigans that are going on in Washington D.C. are not just some misguided attempts at social engineering, but they are legitimate threats to our freedom, our finances and our future,” Perry said.

Perry’s public stance on the federal stimulus bill has made him popular among those who oppose big government, but some crowd members booed him, while a few scattered chants of “traitor” reverberated through the crowd as he spoke. The governor rejected $550 million in federal economic stimulus money slated to help Texas’ unemployment trust fund this year.

Kevin Smith, a cattle rancher in the Austin area, said the governor’s rhetoric may sound good, but he hasn’t followed through on any of it.

“Everything out of his mouth is junk,” he said. “He’s trying to make all roads toll roads. He’s selling all of our assets to foreign companies and foreign governments.”

For some at the rally, political party affiliations and politicians were not the main concern.

Paul Smith, Gulf War veteran and speaker at the tea party, emphasized the importance of law enforcement and the military.

“I’m going to speak to the law enforcement and military today because they are so important,” Smith said, before addressing the hundreds of people gathered at the capitol. “They are the arm of this new world order. If they wake up to what’s going on, then the government has lost their fire power in a big sense.”

Smith said that he can’t really be defined by any political affiliation.

“I think that’s a big part of the problem is that people get caught up in all these labels and titles — Republican and Democrat,” he said. “I don’t like to call myself anything. It really comes down to the constitution. I think that’s what brings us all together and allows us to focus on what’s important.”