PATRIOT’S EXAMPLE INSPIRES EAST MOUNTAIN ACTIVISTS

The British branded him a radical for denouncing corrupt officials and agitating for individual freedoms.  His Stamp Act Resolutions amounted to the first shots in the Revolutionary War.  He gave voice to the spirit of American independence with words that retain their power more than two centuries later:

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give me Liberty, or give me Death!

“If Patrick Henry were alive,” says Therese Cooper, “he would be coordinating a Tea Party today.”  Cooper is an eighth-generation descendant of the Virginia revolutionary.  She and her daughter Emily channel Henry’s spirit into their activism as coordinators of the East Mountain Tea Party, a grassroots organization based in the mountains and high plains east of Albuquerque.

“I remember my great-grandmother talking about our family history,” says Emily, age 25.  “I am very proud.  Patrick Henry gave everything to fight for his freedom.  Why should it be any different now?  We all need to be willing to give everything for the country we love.”

The mother and daughter team runs the local Tea Party Internet outreach and phone tree.  They are also currently circulating petitions to encourage the New Mexico Attorney General to join 19 other states attorney general in a constitutional challenge to the health insurance legislation President Obama pushed through Congress.

“As a child, I didn’t understand the significance of having Patrick Henry’s blood,” says Therese, age 45.  “But then all these things, like the health care bill, started happening.  I now realize that all of us are in effect descendants of Patrick Henry and the other patriots who won our freedom.  We all have to stand up right now and put our lives on hold.  Thomas Jefferson said, ‘When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.’  That is the truth.  The health care bill is a good example.  It’s not about health care, it’s about giving the government more power.  The people are supposed to control the government, but it’s been totally turned around.”

Their family and friends launched the first Tea Party rally in the East Mountains on April 15, 2009.  With only a week of work, they helped turn out a crowd of more than 80 people.  Their latest event, a meet-and-greet for candidates for political office, drew over 150.  They are planning for an even larger crowd for the second anniversary of the Tea Party Tax Day Rally.

The Coopers are volunteers who spend most of their time building their grassroots organization.  Emily was recently laid off from a job at a call center.  Therese and her husband own a small carpet cleaning business struggling in the current economic recession.  She has taken on a second job, but strives to always find more time to work for the Tea Party.

Aside from larger crowds, they are seeing other returns to their efforts.  “A year ago, all my friends were totally in love with Obama,” says Emily.  “I mean totally.  They would get mad at me, say I didn’t know anything.  A good friend stopped talking to me completely.  But recently she came up to my Mom in a store.  ‘Tell Emily she was right,” my friend said. ‘I’m sorry.’”

Emily takes that as a message to never give up.  “Keep trying.  They may wake up one day and say, ‘Hey!’ and understand what this is about.”

Therese has been busy delivering to small businesses petitions to encourage the state’s Attorney General to jump into the litigation against the Obama health care legislation.  She initially thought businesses would shy away from displaying a controversial political petition to their customers.  “But I’ve been really surprised,” Therese reflects.

Managers and owners of the area’s small businesses have eagerly taken the petition and taped it to the counter front and center in their stores.  One restaurant owner made additional copies for each of her waitresses to take out to customers at their tables.  “Instead of backing away, they’re jumping on the petitions to help us collect signatures.  As small business owners they know that what’s going own is putting their businesses in jeopardy.”

The East Mountain Tea Party Tax Day Rally will be held 4/15/10 at Crossley Park in Moriarty from 11 a.m to 1 p.m.  Then, as they did last year, the group will caravan to Albuquerque to join the Albuquerque Tea Party in its rally at 4 p.m. at San Pedro and Menaul.  For more information visit www.EastMtTeaParty.com.