Nobody Wanted Her Constitution

"Get your free copy of the constitution, no obligation"

I listened that line non-stop for about 5 hours on Saturday and it was painful.

I participated in the Bath Community Day festival this past Saturday.  Bath, Pa is a quaint little borough in the heart of Northampton County and like many of these small communities it has seen better times but the residence of Bath are fighting back and working hard to improve the quality of life and culture of their little town.

Bath Community Day is one such effort.  It is an opportunity for vendors, merchants and organizations to gather on a Saturday afternoon and showcase their services. The event took place at the Green Street park. The park is just recovering from devastating flooding last year and the highlight of the day was the dedication of the new performing arts stage and pavilion.

One of the community groups participating in the festival was the Lehigh Valley Tea Party.  All day long the shrill woman staffing their booth shouted and berated people passing by.  She would wave a copy of the Tea Party edition of the U.S. Constitution shouting at everyone who passed by; "Get your free copy of the constitution, there is no obligation."  As people walked by and politely turned down her offer she would then scream "It explains where your freedoms come from."

I thought the tea party believed that our freedoms come from G-D not government.  I am confused by her assertion that our freedoms come from a document that sets up the government.  But, then the tea party is not known for their consistency.

As people continued to turn down her offer and they walked further away from  her she would then get even louder and say "What's the matter don't you love your country enough to learn about your freedoms and how they are protected?"  Very few people took the time to speak with her but, then why would anyone want to speak to someone who was questioning their love of country.

By her insults this crazed tea bagger assumed that people did not already know and understand their constitutional freedoms, she assumed that only the tea party had all the answers and exclusive knowledge of the constitution and she assumed that she could insult people into compliance.  She was wrong on all accounts.

I would have loved the opportunity to confront this woman but I was not there representing myself I was there representing my employer so just stayed at my booth and promoted my wares.  A number of my Republican friends came up to me to make sure I was OK and not suffering too much by listening to this diatribe all afternoon.  I assured my friends that I was fine and was really enjoying watching people shake their heads in either disgust or dark humor at this fanatic as they quickly walked out of ear shot.

She did not do her cause any favors on Saturday so in some perverse way I was glad she was there and I left with a sense of satisfaction that her presence had the opposite effect of her intent.


Note - I will continue to use the term Tea Bagger as long as they continue to deny the President is a natural born citizen, call him a Nazi and make racist comments about his wife.