Tea Party Rally, or How I Made a Fool of Myself

Yesterday the kids and I went to a Tax Day Tea Party Rally at the County Courthouse in Provo, Utah. We made signs, brought flags, and generally had a great time.


It was a little crazy for me, because it was me versus four kids, usually all going in different directions. Thankfully, Zee and Em are big enough to listen to instructions ("Stay where you can see me" and "Don't go anywhere with anyone, even kids"), so I only had to really concentrate on the little ones. Still, they are both pretty fast, so I had my hands full.

While I was trying to keep track of Hebs (even just tripoding, he is very fast), and Gee (interested in whacking things with his little flag), a photographer for the local paper, the Daily Herald, stopped me and asked if she could take pictures of my kids, for possible use in the paper.

Sure, says I. She asked their names and ages, and my name, and then started asking me why I was there. So I tried to explain a little: about how I was worried about the federal deficit, the impact it has on business and the general economy, how the Health Reform Act made things harder instead of easier, and was WAY too expensive.

(Keep in mind: During the five minute conversation, I had to excuse myself four times to scoop Hebs off the stage stairs. This was not a very calm or fluid discussion.)

She asked if the Health Reform Act impacted my life, and I started to explain how the act puts limits on your ability to use Flexible Spending Accounts, and discourages saving for health emergencies, and...she interrupted and ask, "Now, in layman's terms, what does that mean?"

I said, "Well, it means that before we could use more of our pretax dollars for healthcare, and now we can't use as much."

She thanked me and moved on. And then I started kicking myself.

Of all the things to say at an anti-tax, anti-government rally, I chose to complain about not getting a tax break? Lame, lame, LAME. And that's not even the thing I hate about the Health Reform Act, it's just the easiest thing to explain that directly affects me.

I tried to comfort myself that she wouldn't use it, that she was the photographer and not the reporter, that I had said plenty of other things...but deep down inside, I knew she'd use it. I knew I'd end up look really dumb.

And I was right. She did use it, as a caption under a picture of Gee waving his flag. (Of course, she got his name AND age wrong, using instead Hebs' information. I called and left a message at their corrections desk about that; not that it really matters.)

I'm not blaming the photographer, she did not misrepresent what I said. I was just distracted, flustered, and incoherent. Why couldn't I have said what I wrote to the editor of National Review Online, earlier that day, in response to a request for information about local tea parties:

I and my four small children are going to a Tax Day Tea Party Rally today. I am going not only for my children and (future) grandchildren, but for myself—at 33, I'm still pretty young, and I know that the runaway spending and good-intentioned waste going on in Washington are going to have a detrimental effect on my life. I agree
with healthcare reform, but I don't agree with (a) the encroachment of the federal government in our lives; (b) the underhanded, shoddy, and shady way the Reform Bill was passed; and (c) the expense and effects on small business it will have. I am still angry about TARP and the stimulus bill.

Although I can't do much (see above about four small children, number five is expected in August), I am trying to do whatever I can. That means participating in my local caucus, donating what little I can to the candidates and parties I believe in (and to NRO!), and trying to teach my kiddos about self-reliance, charity, and good governance. And going to this rally today.

Anyway, that's my side of the story, and I'm sticking to it. I'm really not as silly and inconsistent as I sounded in the news story.