San Juan Capistrano Tea Party, July 3, 2010

As mentioned earlier, I attended an "Independence Day" tea party today in San Juan Capistrano. There's in fact another event tomorrow, so today was more in the Spirit of '76. The colonists had the Declaration of Independence prepared on July 2nd, of course, so I'm in the ballpark either way.

There were fewer patriots with protest signs today than I've seen previously. Below are a few that captured the feeling among the activists assembled:

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Okay, here's the chronological set of photos. It was great roster of speakers, although I socialized and took pictures more than listened to the speeches. I was happy to see my very good friend Opus 6 from MAinfo, and she's got some great posts with pictures and summaries: "Great Speakers at San Juan Capistrano Tea Party," and "Rep Ken Calvert Speaks in San Juan Capistrano." (GOP congressional candidate Star Parker, who is endorsed by Sarah Palin, spoke before I arrived --- so be sure to check Opus' links.)

Here's the entry to the event, at Historic Town Center Park:

That's Opus 6 sitting up front at center (holding a BlackBerry, which she used for instant blogging from the event). She recognized me right away and waved. There were well over 200 people by Noon. Most folks brought lounge chairs to kick back:

The setup at the stage. Activist Eldon Alexander speaks:

Long-time readers might remember this sign from my previous O.C. tea party coverage:

Immigration policy was completely off the radar thoughout 2009's tea party mobilizations, but it's big nowadays. San Juan Capistrano's long been under a gang injunction from the state:

Here's the setup, with a Spanish colonial feel:

At the stage, each of these panels featured one of great colonial revolutionaries and founders. Thomas Paine was in the colonies just two years when he broke out with Common Sense:

James Madison might not seem the model for the tea parties, but as the "Father of the Constitution," tea partiers are hoping to restore Madison's venerable tradition of thwarting corrupt and unjust majorities:

This is Brian Watt, the Barking Dog of the Radical Right. He was recently featured in the libertarian Orange County Register, so I sat down and listened to his speech. Knowledgable and very well spoken. He hammered President Obama on all the Marxist scholars who're drafting policies for the administration, including Robert McChesney and the FTC's Reinventing Journalism campaign:

Below is Representative Ken Calvert of California's 44th Congressional District (Norco/Riverside). I listened for just a few minutes before cruising around to take more pictures. Calvert said he spoke at the big congressional tea parties on Capitol Hill, and constituents from the district flew out to be in attendance. Speaking of the current crisis, Calvert noted, "We only need to look at Greece and the EU to see what happens with unrestrained spending. My father used to say you can't spend yourself out of debt, son."

Another friendly tea partier:

This was really cool --- kinda like flag row over on the south end of the lawn:

A friendly patriot:

Below, at one of the booths, a map of the gang injunction area. Big Hispanic population in San Juan Capistrano, with no doubt a large illegal enclave. While I don't think the entire event was about immigration, the Orange County Register's report suggests otherwise, "Hundreds Rally Against Illegal Immigrants." The piece quotes Representative Calvert's comments on the possibilities for immigration reform this year:

As he finished, I went over to thank Representative Calvert. He graciously posed for a photo:

I was distracted from some of the speakers by a group of radicals that was hanging out by the street. Members were engaged in discussion with a very attentive and patient conservative woman. I roamed nearby for a few minutes. Soon I heard one of the young men discussing Israel. He was arguing that Palestinans in Gaza lived in squalor, etc. I listened further. When he began arguing that Israel had no "Biblical right to occupy Palestianian lands." I couldn't remain silent. I told him that's not true. I said first Israel wasn't "occupying" the land, and secondly, the Jewish people have a biblical claim on Israel going back to before Exodus in the Old Testament. The fellow got agitated and walked toward me, calling me a "fool" for speaking out. I said to him: "Why are you calling me names? I'm simply rejecting your claim that Israel is 'occupying' the land ..." He seemed to mellow after that, and I imagine we could have conversed reasonably for a while. He said, for example, that he wanted "a two state solution" in the Middle East. So I asked him if he supported Hamas? He said, "No, I'm against violence, a peace activist." I told him that's exactly what the folks on the Gaza flotilla said. He told me he rejected the violence, and I said, "then we're in agreement." Basically, call these folks out on propaganda and if they're amicable, you might be able to get through a bit.

That said, the Register article notes that there was some additional conflict going on, which I missed:

While the event was mostly peaceful, a small group of anti-TEA party protestors gathered at the back of the park to engage in political discussion with the TEA party activists.

Alex Galindo, 23, from San Juan Capistrano, said the reception from the TEA party supporters was not friendly.

"It's gone exactly as I expected," the Saddleback College sophomore said. "I was arguing about the North America Free Trade Agreement and how it asks migrant workers to obey two unjust laws. Those would be the current immigration policy and the North America Free Trade Agreement. Only one person agreed with me.

Galindo said the rally's speakers had nothing important to say.

Adrian Castillo, 22, who met Galindo at the TEA party event, said h
e has felt discrimination since he was a child in elementary school.

"I want people in South County to know there is an opposition and that it's not just old, white, rich people," he said.

Galindo later got into an argument with members of the American third Position, a group based out of Westminster that wants to halt all immigration and expel illegal immigrants, after they started taking pictures of Galindo and his friends.

The story does not mention this woman below, who was much more outwardly militant than the young man I debated (who is not pictured). She was attacking the legitimacy of the United States, arguing against the U.S. government's "genocide" of Native Americans. When I said that in fact Native Americans were among the most brutal and oppressive populations in North America --- that they were not victims --- she got angry (she yelled at me, saying "I hate you"). She didn't want her picture taken, either, and perhaps refused to be interviewed for the Register's story. They're college students apparently, and somewhere they've been instructed by some extremely radical professors. It was almost a Ward Churchill seminar out on the lawn:

At left, partially obscured and wearing a cap, is the conservative woman who was trying to help the young militant woman see reason:

The event was winding down by now. I cruised back over to the front to say goodbye to Opus 6. I think I'll buy her a patriotic cap for next time to keep the sun out of her eyes!