TERRE HAUTE —
Heated discussion sparked the chilly air Saturday afternoon, as Wabash Valley Tea Party members rallied at Fairbanks Park.
But if Republicans mistook the Tea Party as a warm safehaven, they’d have felt a cold breeze beneath the shelter.
“I don’t care if it’s a Republican. I don’t care if it’s a Democrat. I don’t care if it’s a liberal. I don’t care if it’s a conservative,” said guest speaker Mike Delph, a Republican state senator representing Hamilton County’s District 29.
The topic was the need for adherence to constitutional principles, and the afternoon’s theme was skyrocketing debt.
Delph was among speakers addressing a crowd of about 100, all huddled in and around the Lions Club shelter as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees with a damp wind.
Tea Party organizer Fred Lamb credited the organization’s progress despite what he described as distorted facts and combative liberal protests.
“The world has changed since my grandfather’s days. For the most part, the violent, disruptive elements of our society are the liberal radicals now, who can muster a cadre of servants from unions, various social rights organizations, minions paid to demonstrate and destroy,” he said. “We, the members of the Tea Parties, back law and order, due process, officials and politicians who do what they promise, for it was these promises that got them elected in the first place.”
Lamb was among the speakers deriding Republican Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, who, according to Lamb, suggested he has Tea Party support via a news release. Lamb accused the Lugar campaign of intentionally juxtaposing two statements involving meetings with the Tea Party and the successful acquisition of $1 million in donations. The positioning of the statements implied endorsement by the Tea Party, Lamb said, adding, “I have asked that a letter be sent to Lugar expressing our disappointment in this type of tactic. There are certainly more than enough problems with his recent terms as senator, but the senator has had no opportunity yet to explain his positions. It would be most unfortunate to add intentional dishonesty to that list of problems.”
Meanwhile, petitions supporting Republican Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock’s bid to unseat Lugar were passed about for signatures.
A phone message seeking comment from Lugar’s Indianapolis office Saturday was not returned.
Lamb also blasted what he described as hazy federal budget compromises which hinged upon a possible government shutdown, noting that “As for me, I can’t tell if $30 billion or $300 million or 10 cents was cut from the budget.”
Tea Parties in Ohio and Virginia will address Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, while the local group will express its “concerns” with Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Evansville).
Jim Bratten, Indiana state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, told participants to face their legislators on the issues.
“Get to know your representatives. Get to know them well,” he advised.
Bratten said if GOP officials won’t confront the spending policies of President Barack Obama, they need to be removed.
“We elected our leaders to stop the insanity, not compromise,” he said. “[Boehner] should have Obama on the ropes after last November.”
Stating that Tea Party support brought Republicans back into congressional power in 2010, he said those votes were not a blank check.
“We are the reason the House was taken back in 2010,” he said. “What we did in 2010 we can do in 2012.”
Former 8th District Congressional candidate Kristi Risk said the real “entitlement mentality” threatening America is that of politicians once in office. Invoking the memory of George Washington’s troops fighting in the snow without shoes or coats, she said that same dedication is needed to keep Congress in check.
One member of the audience shouted that America doesn’t need congressmen since they all vote along partisan lines.
“We don’t need all these people. We only need three or four. They all vote together anyway,” he said to laughs. Others broke into Risk’s speech, adding that once elected, legislators have to vote with their party or face ostracism.
Risk agreed, stating she was outspent by Bucshon. She added that she refused to accept money from certain sources.
“They don’t all smell like roses,” she said of GOP officials.
Risk said a continued “perversion of the law” is en route to make all Americans criminals in one way or another. Speaking to recent food safety legislation which would have regulated the sale of home-grown vegetables, she said America was founded by people seeking freedom from government control.
“And that’s on a downward slide,” she said.
Meanwhile, citizens must “cross the line” and discuss politics with family and friends, she said, arguing others are already hard at work in that direction.
“They’re going after our youth. We have to go after them harder,” she said.
Tea Party organizer Mary Wright said college students are being intimidated in their classrooms by partisan professors, and public school children are not being taught patriotism, or even patriotic songs such as “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
“They’re not singing them now,” she said, contrasting the modern atmosphere to generations past.
Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett introduced Delph as the rally’s keynote speaker. Noting that he hadn’t had much legislative experience prior to election, Bennett said he’s frustrated with efforts to remove “home control” from cities and take it to Indianapolis and Washington D.C.
Delph, an attorney and major in the U.S. Army Reserves, drummed the importance of constitutionalism throughout his speech. Nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is management of “education” given to the federal government, yet initiatives such as “No Child Left Behind” and others continue to invade communities, he said.
“And yet we allow the federal government to intrude on state sovereignty,” he said. “Where’s the power supposed to be?” he asked the crowd.
“The people!” the group shouted back.
“Don’t you ever forget that!” he returned.
Pointed references to the month-long walkout by Indiana House Democrats were made throughout his speech as he said military personnel are court-martialed for being absent without leave, employees are fired for “job abandonment,” but the Democratic representatives got a “paid vacation in Urbana.” These people and their supporters, he said, need to be taken to task next election.
Republican or Democrat, Delph said people should support officials willing to cut spending and adhere to constitutional principles.
“God bless the Tea Party,” he said. “You’re bringing the Constitution back into vogue.”
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
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Tribune-Star/Rachel Keyes Still here: The Wabash Valley Tea Party held a Tax Day Rally at Fairbanks Park they had over one hundred people in attendance.
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Tribune-Star/Rachel Keyes Knowing your rights: Aaron Harvey buys a copy of the U.S. Constitution at a rally hosted by the Wabash Valley Tea Party Saturday.
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