Nearly 600 attend protest at Capaha Park in Cape Girardeau

After nearly two hours of speakers airing their grievances during the Cape Girardeau "tea party" protest at Capaha Park, the final speaker asked the crowd to take a look at themselves.Everyone on hand benefits from government programs, either by accepting a regular check from Uncle Sam or by participating in a government program that adds money to their pocket, Larry Bill of Jackson said to the crowd announced at nearly 600.

Bill noted that he receives a pension as a retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He's received it for 15 years and expects to live long enough to get the regular monthly check for 30 more years. He noted he received a tax credit for buying a hybrid car, a tax credit for installing a geothermal heating system in his home and recently sold a new home to a buyer eager to gain the $8,000 tax credit that came with the purchase.

"Trust me, most of us are benefiting from congressional actions," Bill said. "We have to recognize that we are also the problem."

The solution, Bill said, is to demand more responsibility from both citizens and their representatives. One way to do that, he said, is to put limits on the time any person can serve in Congress.

"If the same person is responsible for creating solutions for term after term after term after term, will we get new solutions?" he asked.

After he finished, the protesters sang "God Bless America" and tossed their tea bags into barrels set up for the purpose.

Two hours of speeches touched on almost every complaint conservatives have with the size and scope of government. The speakers complained about taxes, foreign aid, the courts, gun control, stem-cell research, separation of church and state, eminent domain abuses and a lack of respect for the principles embodied in the founding documents of the republic. There were also complaints about environmentalists, plans for national health care, federal intrusion into education and intellectuals.

What is new is the energy bringing divergent groups together to oppose the growth in spending and government involvement in the affairs of major corporations.

"I hope they take it home with them, and I hope the American people realize how close we are to losing the country," said Tom Young, lead organizer of the protest.

Organizers billed the event as nonpartisan. No politicians took the stage, and on only a handful of occasions did the 13 speakers stray from the rule that they were not to name any particular politician as responsible for the nation's current situation.

People began crowding into the park well before the 5 p.m. start time. By the time Doug Austin took the stage as master of ceremonies, more than 300 people were on hand and that number continued to grow. Austin told the crowd they numbered 587 as the rally neared the end.

Many in the crowd held signs displaying the issue they deemed most important. Dan Shandy of Cape Girardeau held a sign denouncing the Federal Reserve Bank system, created in 1913 to stabilize U.S. currency. "Not Federal, No Reserves, End the Fed," read Shandy's sign.

"Congress are you listening?" read the sign held by Gayle Steele, also of Cape Girardeau. She said her anger has been building since the first federal bailouts of failing financial institutions last year. "I am angry," she said. "I am angry about the debt we are leaving our grandchildren. We need less government, not more."

The most prominent name to take the stage was David Limbaugh, Cape Girardeau lawyer and conservative author. He denounced recent decisions by President Obama to allow federal funding of overseas groups that promote or perform abortions and embryonic stem-cell research at home and federal bailouts of big business.

The nation's fate depends on whether the trends can be arrested and reversed, Limbaugh said. "You have to be illiterate, deaf and blind to not know what is going on," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KVdMw4TZGA4&hl=en&fs=1"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KVdMw4TZGA4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="350" height="280">

Pertinent address:

Capaha Park, Cape Girardeau, MO