Speakers Held Most of Crowd for More Than Four Hours
A brisk afternoon breeze eased the sting of the hot sun as speaker after speaker took the stage rigged on the bed of a large trailer at the side entrance of the Bi-Lo Center.
Vendors and spectators began arriving hours before the program was to begin at 1 p.m.
No elected officials were scheduled to speak at the event and most stayed away. A few candidates for office with opposition paid $250 for space for a table and small tent from which to display signs and pass out campaign material. A few elected officials and candidates were dispersed through the crowd, but not very many compared to previous events.
It was difficult to estimate the total numbers present, however, some who attended the previous tea party at the Bi-Lo Center said the crowd was smaller this time.
Pastor Stan Craig of Choice Hills Baptist Church gave the Invocation and proclaimed that what this country desperately needs is a “knee party” in addition to the “tea party.”
Musical entertainers came from as far away as Texas, but none could surpass the beauty and talent of Greenville’s own home grown Kendall sisters: Prentiss, Christiana and Lisë.
The festivities actually started Friday night at the Airport Marriott, where a dinner attended by more than 100 invited guests were to hear an address by former Colorado Republican Congressman, and 2008 Presidential Candidate Tom Tancredo. Tancredo was more than 6 hours late having been held up in Chicago due to flight delays.
Organizers and attendees alike were fortunate that American Policy Center President Tom DeWeese had arrived from Virginia by car and accepted the invitation to speak with only a few minutes notice.
Those present were served a verbal platter full of information from which most Americans have been shielded and some have been unwilling to hear.
DeWeese explained that all the hooey about global warming was never about protecting the environment. “It’s nothing more than the excuse to enforce global governance on the planet by creating a new global economy based on the environment rather than on goods and services.”
DeWeese explained that in short, “it’s all about wealth redistribution. Your wealth into a green rat hole..
“During the Cold War, communists tried to get us to surrender our liberties and way of life for the wisdom of Karl Marx. Americans didn’t buy it.
“But now they have taken the same clap trap and wrapped it all in a nice green blanket, scaring us with horror stories about the human destruction of the environment – and so we are now throwing our liberties on the bonfire like a good old-fashioned book burning – all in the name of protecting the planet.”
DeWeese explained that Sustainable Development is the process by which America is being reorganized around a central principle of state collectivism using the environment as bait. There are four specific routes being used to transform our society. All four are embodied in the Long Range Plan developed by Greenville County and has not yet been implemented.
“Right here in Greenville, ICLEI (the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) is being paid dues from your tax dollars, as they teach your local representatives how to set up non-elected boards and councils that will dictate policy over your property, industry, and families – and you will have no say in how they operate,” DeWeese concluded.
Other Speakers included Dr. Jerome Corsi, author and reporter for World Net Daily; Congressman Ted Poe, Republican of Texas, and former Congressman Tom Tancredo, among others.
In future issues, we will cover more of the important issues discussed by speakers at the tea party.