Today I went to the local Portage County Tea Party meeting to protest against what I see to be an anti-education, anti-worker organization. I'm worried that the Tea Party Republican backed Congress will cut or take away the Pell Grants I rely on to help fund my education. I don't want Governor Kasich to cut funding for for higher education in Ohio, since the recession caused massive unemployment here, our many good universities are the one of our best hopes for the future.
Coincidentally, Ohio State Senator Tim Grendell was speaking at the meeting that night, a Republican who voted against the anti-worker bill SB5. In the speech on the Senate floor here, Grendell said that SB5 would turn collective bargaining to "collective begging", and spoke in defense of police, firemen, and teachers, that it would allow muncicpalities to "impose their will" on public employees, and make city councils free to make "stupid decisions."
I showed up in a little scratched-and-dented Obama-bumper-stickered car, alone in a sea of pickup trucks and nice cars. I brought a big sign that read "Don't Take My Pell Grants!", and did an extra lap around the parking lot to show off my Obama bumper stickers. I was fired up, and tired of right-wingers that saying people who need some assistance from the government are lazy. I was tired of tea partiers who want to take away the rights of teachers, cut workers' wages, and give the money to millionaires through tax breaks that we can't afford. And, I was tired of keeping my mouth shut.
I hopped out of the car with my sign and yelled "Democrats are represented here!" and then marched towards the entrance of the vocational school where the meeting was held and yelled again "Don't take my Pell Grants!" I found a spot near the door where everyone had to walk past, and people stared at me as they walked by. I noticed that they were almost all over age 50, and were not quite the gun-toting angry mob I was expecting. A man in a Tea Party hat came out and told me not to harass people, and I told him I have a right to be there. I decided to stop yelling though, a 30 year old man yelling at senior citizens may not look too good.
The next 45 minutes more and more right wingers walked by, a few told me to "get a job", some laughed at me for standing in the cold. A few stood and debated with me that we can't afford the Pell grants, others denied that the tea party was for cutting education (but of course they are for cutting Pell Grants). One guy said he felt sorry that my children would have to pay off the national debt, and of course I mentioned that George Bush ran up most of that debt before Obama was in office. I was expecting to have things thrown at me, for people to call me worthless lazy slacker or a traitor, and it didn't happen.
What made this all worth it was when a man in a suit walked by and said he was a Republican, and didn't want to cut Pell Grants. When I realized who he was, I said "Senator Grendell", he turned around and I shook his hand and told him "Thanks for voting against SB5.", and he quickly replied "It was the right vote.", and walked in the building. Republican or not, at least one Ohio lawmaker has shown some common sense. I feel like I'm participating in democracy in some way, and I'm not ashamed to be the one crazy liberal with a sign at the entrance to the Tea Party.
And, I'll be back next time.