In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was going to conduct an interview with the organizer of the Northern Virginia Tea Party, and I followed through with this by interviewing Ron Wilcox, who is organizing the Tea Party, which will be taking place at the Merrifield Post Office on April 15th from 5-7 p.m. I would like to thank Mr. Wilcox for his time, and I hope to see everyone at this event.
CCC: Why did you decide to throw a tea party?
RW: I was fed up with the out of control spending by the current Administration. The Administration is closely coordinating with the media to tamp down any opposition to their policies. Americans feel that NO ONE in Washington is listening to them. The silent responsible majority needs to be given a voice to counter the daily spin in the mainstream media.
I also felt the need for the I decided to organize Northern Virginia Tax Day Tea Party, because I felt that there was a real need to organize Northern Virginia for this and future Tea Party events. The DC event is in the middle of a work day preventing participation by many and others who simply do not like to go into DC for logistical reasons. Organizers say that we are on track to have 1250 tea parties nationwide with the goal of as many as 2009.
CCC: How many people do you anticipate to have at the event?
RW: I anticipate 200 or more people that are fed up with out of control Government, the area I have selected will be seen by every single person going to pay their taxes and could facilitate hundreds more demonstrators stretching down both sides of Lee Highway.
CCC: Have you experienced any issues with arranging a site for the tea party?
RW: We do not require a permit for our area but are working with the traffic authorities for everyone’s safety.
CCC: Will there be any guest speakers at this event? If so, who?
RW: We have invited State Senator [and current Attorney General candidate] Ken Cuccinelli and Congressman Frank Wolf.
CCC: Do you hope that this will spur other activist events in the future?
RW: Do I ever! Silent majority no more. We have a form on our web page so that people can sign up to get involved and be informed of this and other similar upcoming events.
CCC: What other groups have partnered with you to make this event possible?
RW: We are working with a number of civic minded individuals and groups. We are working with the DC Tax Day Tea Party and the Virginia Tax Day Tea Parties to help publicize our events. Also, we are coordinating with the Reston Tax Day Tea Party for maximum impact and attendance. The Reston event is being organized by the American Conservative Party. We will be posting their event on our website shortly when we have worked out a few details. We are also looking to work with the Leadership Institute for a 4th of July Tea party at their annual Conservative Soiree at Bull Run Park.
**Cross Posted at Virginia News Platoon
3C, thank you for posting this. I would not have known about the Merrifield Tea Party otherwise, as it is not listed at taxdayteaparty.com. I look forward to seeing you there.
My husband and I and 4 other friends plan on attending the Merrifield Tea Party. We may even go to the one in DC earlier in the day. We normally would never had had the time to do this but work in the remodeling/real estate business is poop. The man wants to control the environment now??? What is up with that? Soviets proposed that stuff back in the 70′s. He does not want missile defense but wants to send sulfates into the stratosphere to change the Earth’s temperature to what? Immigration streamling with 5.8 million Americans out of work? What rock did this guy crawl out of? He is so conflicted!! Could the Congress be anymore corrupt with power? I get it, they won. But, should we all lose because of it? This is like some bad B movie from back in the 70′s. I have heard that ACORN will be out trying to disrupt these teaparties. We all should just laugh in their faces and ignore them with vigilance. I miss Chris Plante!!!
Check out http://taxdayteaparty.com/virginia for more information.