Tea Party Express Stop Southeast Michigan: My Report, with Pictures and Video

Just got back from the "National Tea Party Express III, Just Vote Them Out! Tour" stop in Clinton Twp, MI. Clinton Twp is a little north of Detroit in southeastern Michigan. It was a pretty good event- I'm not good at estimating crowds, but people just kept coming, and I guess there was anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 people there.

Although the Tea Party doesn't endorse any particular party, there were no candidates there from the Democratic Party, and not a single Democratic candidate for any office was out there talking about liberty, freedom, or limited government.

I did see four of the five Republican candidates for Governor of Michigan there- Mike Cox, Pete Hoekstra, Mike Bouchard, and Tom George- and they all gave a speech to get the crowd fired up. Mike Cox gave the best speech and still remains a guy I like for our Governor. I'll also point out that the one candidate for Governor who was not there was Rick Synder- apparently he doesn't support the things that Tea Party people believe in, like limited government, constitutional government, human freedom and liberty, less regulation of society, less bureaucracy and red tape, and lower taxes.

There were other candidates there as well, all Republicans running for various state offices here in Michigan- Judge Mikael Warren was there promoting his book America's Survival Guide, Mike Bishop was there just hanging out with his family (he is also running for Michigan Attorney General but really wasn't campaigning today), and I also saw my good friend and chairman of the The Michigan Taxpayers Alliance Leon Drolet there enjoying the crowd and talking to friends (he also is running for State Senate but wasn't really campaigning today).

Okay, enough name dropping, because the real fun of being at a Tea Party event to me is not the speakers and comedians and music- which the Tea Party Express had going- but talking to real people. There were discussions that I overheard about the Constitution, about our Founding Principles, and about how we should never compromise in our fight for liberty. There were more specific discussions that touched on economics and history. People talked about how they don't like all the bailouts for companies, about how the alliance between big business and big government and the big unions is bad for America, about how the nationalized healthcare plan that Obama is setting up is going to be bad for our country, about how cap and tax will destroy our economy, and about how our energy policies are holding back American industry. People talked about drilling, lower taxes, less regulation, less red tape, and less control over our lives will lead to greater freedom and prosperity. Average every day people talked about this stuff- I talked to a retired janitor for a good bit who said that government isn't the solution to our problems, it is the problem, and he was right on.

It was a good day- there were the smells of hot dogs cooking on the grill, people selling flags and shirts that talked about freedom and liberty, petitions circling, and lots of good people. Here are some sights and sounds from the event- pictures that I took on my cell phone- enjoy, and try to get to one of these events yourself in the future!


UPDATE: For another report, check out theblogprof's REPORT (with pics and video): More than 3,000 show up at Tea Party Express in Clinton Twp, MI.