Although Boston is the home of the most famous tea party in history, the city is no longer as welcoming as it used to be to the tax-phobic, anti-big government sector of the population. When former vice-presidential candidate and avatar of the Tea Party movement Sarah Palin arrives at the Boston Commons Wednesday morning for a rally, she is expected to be met not only by supporters, but a slew of protestors opposing both Palin as an individual and the Tea Party as a whole.
A conservative populist movement that cropped up last year, Tea Party activists oppose taxation and big government programs, while exhibiting a diverse variety of other right-wing beliefs.
Although Massachusetts isn’t leaning as liberally these days as it traditionally does, with the election of Republican Scott Brown to replace Democrat Ted Kennedy in the Senate in January, Bostonians seem to still be unready to embrace Palin and her ultra-conservative following, especially when those Bostonians are liberal college students who will jump at any opportunity to voice their political views via a loud, dramatic protest.
While other such rallies across the country have drawn large crowds in recent weeks, there is still much resistance in Boston, even from the GOP. Three major leaders of the Massachusetts Republican Party, including Brown himself, have said they will not participate in the rally, with Brown declining a personal invitation from the event organizers.
Meanwhile, a Facebook event for an anti-Palin protest, created by a Boston University student and titled “Let’s show Sarah Palin the real meaning of tea party,” has 130 anticipated attendees, including students from several student political organizations.
While college students should certainly take advantage of their constitutional right to protest, it is important to remember to do so respectfully and appropriately, rather than protesting just for the sake of protesting. Most people, especially in a city like Boston, give little credence to any thing that comes out of Palin’s mouth. The Tea Party, though they have been very vocal over the last year, are still a very small minority of the population and will most likely remain so.
Speaking out is a right that Americans love to exercise and more power goes to any student who wants to do so. But when what is being said is so inane that very few people take it seriously to begin with, it might be more effective to let Palin and her cronies speak for themselves. Peacefully protesting and making one’s views heard are admirable endeavors, but in the case of the Tea Party, nothing speaks louder than the actions of its own members.
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