Orange County Tax Day Tea Party Held in Irvine, California April 15, 2010

OC Nissan at the Irvine Auto Center hosted a Tax Day Tea Party event from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. April 15, 2010 in Irvine, Calif. There seemed to be more than 1,000 people there at any given time, with people coming and going as the afternoon went on. It appeared that more and more people were arriving rather than leaving, and soon the entire area reserved for the event was full to capacity.

"Angry white men?"

The crowd was very peaceful and in fact largely cheerful. There was more a celebratory feeling than one of anger. Attendees were about half older whites, which may in part be due to the proximity of the Laguna Woods retirement community. The remainder was a smattering of many ages from very young (including a tiny girl holding a sign that read "I'm already broke and I'm three years old") to very old, from very well dressed to those who arrived on choppers with the appropriate clothing, and included many ethnicities. I saw blacks, Asians, Latinos and others who appeared to be Indian or Pakistani. There were even a few that looked more at home at a Ramones concert, with piercings and metal band tattoos. The ceremonies of the very informal "program" were opened by the "surf guitar" sounds of the Duo-Tones, a pair of older gentleman playing instrumental 60s beach standards.

There were booths for food at reasonable prices. Spread around the periphery were booths for quite a few gubernatorial campaigns, House and Senate campaigns, and state and local races including Orange County Sheriff. Many candidates were given two minute slots to speak during the day. The most interesting was a fiery speech by self-described conservative Democrat Joe Symmon, who is running for governor of California. Mr. Symmon spoke passionately about the value of the family unit in a tone reminiscent of the Bible-thumping Baptists pastors of old and in a thick Kenyan accent. Despite the mainstream media template of the angry white Tea Party activist, the crowd cheered this foreign-sounding black man quite enthusiastically.

The Motivations

There were also booths for various advocacy groups, including the SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY 912 - Tea Party - Grassroots SOC912, a local group based around Glenn Beck's 912 Project. Here I met Kevin Richardson, 59, from Capistrano Beach, who said that the frequency of their meetings sometimes interfered with his other interests, but that "we're the founders, so we kind of have to be there!" Kevin had once been a plumber for Teresa Heinz Kerry, and said that between her and George Bush's second term he knew he had to "get off my butt and do something." This was a recurring theme from several people I talked to. They were tired of complaining about the abuses of government, and they wanted to do something about it. Cindy Brown, 55, of Tustin said "being here gives me goose bumps. The media makes you think you're the only one who thinks this way, and it's really nice to see so many others who are like-minded."

Other stands were promoting the military and conservative organizations on college campuses. One of these sold mock pitch forks and torches, which were quite popular at $10 per pair.

Local press was present, including the Orange County Register and Los Angeles television station CBS 2/KCAL channel 9. Appropriate to the Internet Age, USTREAM was webcasting live. Contrary to the Register's version of events, there was no "roiling."

It was more of a carnival atmosphere with some speeches than what one might expect at a political rally. Many held signs or wore t-shirts against Big Government, high taxes, Obamacare, and socialism. I searched for signs or shirts that were offensive or racist and saw none. There were some fringe elements, such as a single "9/11 was an inside job" t-shirt and one elderly gentlemen carrying a "show me the birth certificate" sign. People were giving him a wide berth, and he was almost always standing alone.

Where's The Hate?

Taken as a group, the media portrayal of Tea Party activists as angry, white racist types proved universally false at this rally. Even the most passionate speeches promoting limited government, lower spending, and a return to following the Constitution stressed the political process. While attacking the "Obama/Pelosi" agenda, the tone was one of what I would describe as optimistic anger. The overall mood was one of anger at the current situation, but optimism that the country had a bright future if the current party in power could be stopped. There were no calls for violence, and in fact quite the opposite. On that theme, there was a prayer to open the speaking program that stressed the refusal of violence and the defeat of the opponents of the Tea Party agenda "at the ballot box."

There was even a call from the stage that anyone "behaving inappropriate to the standards of good citizenship" be pointed out to security so that they could be removed. I observed no problems, and there was only a single police officer in evidence at the rally and one motorcycle officer ticketing cars parked in fire lanes. One of the speakers also announced a ten-minute warning on that issue.

I observed no signs, shirts, or speech of any kind advocating violence of any kind against anyone. Agree or disagree with their politics, one cannot continue to paint the Tea Party rallies as being full of gun-toting extremists or Neo-Nazi types.