Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald April 26, 2012

Complaints about Tea Party ‘unwarranted’

To the Editor:

As the lead judge among six who graded participants in the Rockville Centre St. Patrick’s Parade on March 24, I spent a good part of this past weekend with other judges, watching video clips of the parade and, in particular, the Rockville Centre Tea Party’s participation.

The reason for the rerun was to investigate charges leveled in a letter to the Herald, “A shameful show of disrespect,” in the March 19-25 issue, in which the writer criticized the Tea Party for the improper use and placement of flags during the parade and made other assumptions that we feel need to be addressed. After unanimous agreement, we found the complaints unwarranted for the following reasons:

The RVC Tea Party is not a political party, it is a patriotic civic association concerned, according to its mission statement, with outrageous and unwarranted taxation originally imposed on American colonists by the British, for which the original Boston Tea Party was conceived. The current Tea Party phenomenon is based on those same principles regarding our own government. The Tea Party favors no political party, but urges government at all levels, no matter which party, to honor and obey the U.S. Constitution as written (and amended) by the Founding Fathers.

There were no “official” Tea Party flags displayed during the parade. But Tea Party members have adopted the Gadsden battle flag, which was one of many flags used by American colonists during the American Revolution. That is the often-seen yellow flag with a coiled rattlesnake with the words “Don’t Tread on Me.” It was a symbol and a notice to the British not to mess with us. The Gadsden flag, along with any of many other flags used during the history of our nation, is authorized for use by any American as a patriotic gesture.

The marchers displayed another Revolutionary War flag that day. It was the Navy Jack flag, which was also used on colonial American warships. It has red and white stripes, a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Don’t Tread on Me.”