The Detroit News original article
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing – Under sunny skies, they gathered in Lansing today to protest a government they say has grown too fat, overtaxes its citizens and intrudes into their daily lives in matters far beyond its intended reach.
The Michigan Taxpayer Tea Party drew at least 5,000 people to the grounds of the Capitol. The well-behaved crowd filled the area out front. Many brought their children, and hundreds were carrying signs with slogans such as “If everyone paid taxes we would all be equal,” and “Cut taxes not deals. You have run out of our money.” Another one said, “Obama Yo Mama. No Socialism.”
Most of those at the rally arrived in their own vehicles with very few being bused in, as is common with protests in Lansing
The rally was one of hundreds being staged on Tax Day around the state and across the country by citizens angry at higher taxes and frustrated with growing government spending.
Keynote speaker “Joe the Plumber,” who made a name for himself when he questioned presidential candidate Barack Obama over taxes, was greeted as a rock star. After being given a rousing introduction, Joe — whose name is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher — walked down the Capitol steps to the podium, soaking in the cheers.
“I’m here because I love America,” he said in his roughly eight-minute speech. “The mainstream media wants to paint us as a bunch of extremists, and we’re just practicing our First Amendment rights.”
Wurzelbacher described himself as a guy who likes to stand on a soap box and express his ideas. “Six months ago, people didn’t listen to me. Today, I guess I’m sort of famous.”
In his comments, he quoted Ben Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt, and closed by saying, “Bring common sense back to America. That’s it. Thank you.”
As he ended his speech the crowd chanted: “You go, Joe. You go, Joe.”
No politicians addressed the crowd, and few were in the audience. At one point the crowd was implored to show their displeasure at lawmakers in Lansing, but their protestations went unheard. The Legislature is nearing the end of its two-week spring vacation.
“We’ve had enough of oppressive taxation that is shrinking our paychecks and killing our jobs, and saddling our children and grandchildren,” said Joan Fatiano, a suburban Lansing woman who was the co-organizer of the rally, to cheers from the crowd.
Wendy Day, a school board member from Howell, mother of four and wife of a decorated Iraq veteran, said this was the start of the second American Revolution. “It will be waged not with bullets and bloodshed,” she said. “It needs to be about ideas and action.”
Nathan Hull, a 36-year-old self-employed design engineer from Ionia, brought his wife and three sons to the rally. His son, Caleb, carried a sign reading, “8 Years Old and Already In Debt.”
“We believe in the Constitution and what it stands for. We’re drifting away from that,” Hull said. “Being a business owner, I know these are challenging times in Michigan right now.”
The event was sponsored by the Americans for Prosperity, a national free market advocacy group, and the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, an anti-tax group headed by former state representative and current Macomb County commissioner Leon Drolet.
Drolet, who attended the rally, said Michigan was alone in 2007 when business and individual taxes were dramatically increased.
“But now there is a growing national momentum in tax and spending outrage. We’ve seen these bailouts and quadrupling of the national debt,” he said. In Michigan, “we’re in a defensive position with all the talk about a graduated income tax and changes in the gas tax, which would cost motorists more.”
Drolet brought his 8-foot, pink, hard-foam pig to the Capitol. It was displayed outside the Capitol in the fall of 2007 when lawmakers were ushering in major increases in individual and business taxes.
“It takes 100 days for the average Michigan taxpayer to pay their taxes and an additional 50 days to pay their share of this year’s federal debt,” Drolet said. “We spend more on taxation than we do on housing, food and clothing combined. That’s absolutely wrong.”
He then asked the crowd to pull out their cell phones, gave them the phone number to the Congressional switchboard and told them all to dial it.
Once they all hit the send button, he led them in a chant: “Are you crazy? Wasting money. People are suffering. Cut your spending.”
His hope was that the flood of calls to the switchboard would temporarily shut it down.
Before the rally, Wurzelbacher was mobbed by the anti-tax demonstrators, some yelling, “Thanks, Joe,” and, “Great job, Joe.”
Beaming at the attention, he thanked the mobs that surrounded him and signed copies of his book, “Joe the Plumber — Fighting for the American Dream,” with the message: “Action, Not Words.” They sold at a brisk pace, at $15 each.
Wurzelbacher spent the morning answering questions from the media and doing radio interviews.
Dressed in blue jeans, a blue polo shirt and wearing a Bass Pro Shops ball cap, he told The Detroit News: “Some people buy into the mainstream media, but when people meet me, they see I’m not some dumb redneck plumber. We all want less taxes and less government control. That’s not a Republican or Democratic theme. That’s an American theme.”
Carol Malewska, a grandmother from nearby Ovid, said of Wurzelbacher, “I think he’s great. I wish he’d run for governor. I’m tired of paying taxes, and I sure don’t want to pay more for programs that don’t work.”
The Detroit News original article.
