Showdown in Searchlight

You may’ve read that this past Saturday a bunch of folks showed up in Searchlight, NV.  Some news sources (CNN, for example) reported that hundreds came out while others (LA Times, Fox News and so forth) reported closer to ten thousand turned out for the event.  My daughters and I didn’t do a head count but the line of cars extended for miles on both sides of the Highway 93 heading into Searchlight.

There were signs aplenty, mostly hand made, being carried into the event by the long lines of people, some who hiked many miles, to attend the rally.  We arrived at about 12:30, just in time to hear Gov. Palin’s speech.  The place was crowded with a jovial air in the crowd.  Since the event was being held in a large open lot riding my electric scooter was a bit of a challenge but there were plenty of gentlemen who stopped to help me each time my scooter got stuck in the dirt.

I spoke to people who came from around the local area, and many from California, including a gentleman from San Francisco also Palin’s supporters from Alaska.  And though the Tea Party movement has been characterized as “malcontents”, “astroturfers”, “uniformed”; just pick the pejorative word of your choice, I found most to be good, honest, civic-minded folk out to participate in a little old fashion peaceful demonstration.  This was my first Tea Party event and you could’ve easily confused it for a large 4^th of July party instead of a political rally – everyone was just having fun out in the beautiful desert with the wind blowing the numerous flags.

There are those who seem to fear the Tea Party movement or have attempted to marginalize those who participate in Tea Party events.  The sociologist in me says that the more people marginalize the Tea Partiers the stronger the likelihood that that strategy will “bite” those marginalizing the movement in the proverbial derrière.  As I pursued various comments made about the recent Searchlight Rally many commenter’s seemed to take issue that there were not the usually quota of identifiable groups, comments such as nothing but a bunch of angry white people was a common thread throughout.  I think this is what mystifies those who oppose the Tea Party movement the most, namely that no one seems to go out of their way to ensure that there are quota of people to represent interest groups.  All who wish to participate in a peaceful manner and believe in limited (smaller) government are welcomed; there are also those who wish to show their displeasure with the Obama administration — the broken promises, the lack of transparency and of course the coup de grace  which was the health care bill being pushed down our throats using misinformation and the apparent quid pro quo that it took to get enough votes to pass it.

I was with ACT-UP at its nascent beginnings in Los Angeles and I see many parallels between these two movements.  The first is that they both have a very real grassroots and organic feel to them, and second like ACT-UP the Tea Party movement needs to evolve from its loosely knit organization to one that has a better defined “command” structure.  To make this transition doesn’t mean that the Tea Party movement must lose its identity, but it can only have “fly by its seat of the pants” leadership for so long before the group will begin to disintegrate.  Showdown at Searchlight was one such event that though marked by an air of peaceful enjoyment there was also a undercurrent of disorganization that if not addressed can lead to bitterness and frustration – this needs to be avoided.  Examples of this are 38 “Andy Gumps” for an estimated crowd of thousands, and though many who attended came in campers folks who came in their cars had to in some cases walk 2 or more miles to find the nearest restroom.  The Searchlight merchants handled this with great aplomb, but after awhile everyone gets a bit annoyed when creature comfort is lacking.  And finally, how they handled the press.  The press doesn’t need to have the red carpet treatment, but members of the press generally have an expectation that they can easily identify and find the event press contact – before, during and after the event.  Tea Party movement organizers should keep this in mind.

What seems to frustrate many of those who have chosen to ignore, marginalize, deny, etc., the Tea Party is that they can’t seem to understand what draws people to the movement.  After all so much of their media lap dogs have been good at demonizing the movement, and yet still people seem to flock to the events.  The mainstream media has done its best to fail to exercise journalist integrity and fairness by purposefully underreporting the numbers of people that have turned out at some of these events.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that CNN had used the phrase hundreds turn out at Searchlight, hundreds?  The aerial photographs as well as eyes on the ground know full well and good that if there were well more than hundreds.  I think the movement is growing in part as push back to the elitist attitude of politicians who want to “pooh-pooh” the movement (remember Pelosi’s astroturf comment) and the mainstream media rabid attempts to paint the Tea Party as some come of aberrant, un-American activity only seems to ignite even more passion for the Tea Party movement.

So in the meantime enjoy the photographs of Showdown in Searchlight.

I’ve had the chance to snap numerous photos, a few of which are attached to this post.  I’ve also added several aerial shots (courtesy of Hack Wilson’s blog – http://hackwilson.blogspot.com/2010/03/pictures-from-showdown-in-searchlight.html).