From a Commentor:

For those in SUSPENDED DISBELIEF that these Tea Party rallies and events are NOT a grassroots effort:

Last week, I was contacted by a man who wanted to take part in our local July 4th Celebration Parade, representing the Tea Party Movement.

He obtained my email from some else’s email distribution list, and simply asked: “Would you be interested in walking in a parade on the 4th?” (since there is nothing else planned in our small community)

I said “yes”.

Retired and in his mid 60’s, he had NEVER USED THE INTERNET, until about 1 month ago. He had never organized such an event in his life. He could not believe that he was doing this – but felt compelled to do SOMETHING!.

He made contact with a handful of people and sought to find a spot in his neighborhood parade.

He went through the hassle of getting a permit, he had expenses out of his own pocket (decorating a truck, printing fliers, making signs). He emailed complete strangers who shared his ideas: Taxation Without Representation.

WaaLaa, his Tea Party Truck made it to the parade, and a small group of folks who had never met each other, before that morning (@ 7:15am on a Saturday), marched in their local parade, carrying signs, waving… NONE of which had ever done so before in their entire lives.

Each sharing a similar story, that they feel they must do something… they cannot stand by and do nothing about this spending rampage our government is leading. AND that none of them had ever ventured out to make such a statement in their entire lives.

No “bells and whistles”… no music, speeches, celebrities…. just people walking, smiling, waving, holding signs pronoucing their belief that our government is spend crazy, with OUR money.

What made this event MORE GRAND, is that we were applauded and LOUDLY CHEERED, by the watching crowd, during the ENTIRE route of the parade!!

Our little group of walking parade participants had spread to the sidewalks.

Strangers came off the sidewalks and into our little parade to shake our hands, voice their opinion, give us the thumbs up and say, “HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!”

This was delightfully UNEXPECTED and very satisfying.

Note: I saw some local coverage on some of the Tea Parties, and FOX has covered them ( I refuse to give MSNBC any ratings, so I don’t know what they had to say yet. As the $$$$ spending spree sends us more into Obamageddon (see TrendsInstitute) the movement will grow.