10 Year Anniversary of the Tea Party : What was Accomplished and What is left to accomplish?

n 2009, Mike Wilson was frustrated with the direction of the country under the Obama Administration. His concern prompted him to spend a Sunday afternoon 10-years ago booking Fountain Square for 3 weeks out, creating a website, and starting conversations with family and friends about building an event. He had low expectations for attendance for what would become the Tea Party’s first march on Fountain Square March 15, 2009.
Mike had read that morning about a few rallies that occurred the day before against the recently passed stimulus bill in cities out west. With that inspiration, the Cincinnati Tea Party was born and with the help of those family and friends (and several people that heard about the plans and got involved early)three weeks later, more than 6,000 people showed up with signs to Fountain Square to ceremonially dump tea bags and listen to speakers from all walks of life.
During the three weeks leading up to the event in Cincinnati, other tea party events had been held across the nation, but this was the first to draw national media coverage and it unleashed a wave of momentum leading up to Tax Day 2009 where thousands of events were held and nearly a million people attended to advocate for three core values – free markets, fiscal responsibility, and limited government – first championed by the group in Cincinnati and adopted by national groups created to help coordinate efforts and provide resources moving forward.
In Cincinnati, the tax day event was held on a cold and wet Wednesday afternoon and still drew more than 4500 people to Fountain Square for a few speakers followed by a march to City Hall to deliver a petition. For the first time, many regular people felt like they had a voice in politics and found out that participating in politics could actually be a little bit fun as they fought against Cap and Trade (and won), Card Check (and won), and Obamacare (which ultimately passed but with massive consequences to the Democratic Party).

Recorded on April 15th, 2019

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