By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com
— Several hundred area residents attended a Saturday Burleson Tea Party rally held at Forrest Auto Group in Cleburne.
Republican candidates competing in local, state and congressional races shared the stage with other conservative speakers.
Signs critical of President Obama’s administration and the Democratic agenda dotted the crowd, although two women displayed signs denouncing Republicans and the Tea Party movement.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina promised to fight to eliminate property tax and fight eminent domain abuses if elected.
“Private property and gun ownership are essential elements of freedom,” Medina said. “If the national government or state takes from people what they work for, they quit working and producing.”
Medina said her opponents — Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — will attempt to revive the Trans Texas Corridor project if elected.
“Property is more than just the dirt and land under your feet,” Medina said. “It’s the product of your labor, and eliminating property tax would be the first big step in Texas. Don’t let fear and doubt take root. Texas is not a state of we can’t. It’s a state of we can, and we will, by golly.”
Medina asked audience members if they’ve noticed that where there is freedom there is prosperity.
“We need to work to get the weight of the federal government off our back, work to nullify illegal government action,” Medina said. “We are an independent state, and Texas will take care of Texas.
“We need to tell the Environmental Protection Agency that we’re not doing your dirty work in Texas anymore. You have no authority here. Get out of Texas energy and Texas agriculture.”
Without such restrictions, Texas has the ability to create thousands of jobs, and supply energy to the state and the nation, Medina said.
Tea Party activists, Medina predicted, will change the tide in Texas and the nation.
After the rally, Medina said she believes the tide has also turned for her campaign and that she’s gone from being a relatively unknown candidate to a true contender.
“There’s no question the debates changed the game,” Medina said. “Prior to that, I received pretty good coverage, but the debates, actually even from the announcement that I’d be included in the debates, made it into a three-way race. It’s maybe even moving back to a two-way race between me and Rick.”
Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams told audience members that he came to praise them and talk about what’s good in America.
Williams spoke of recent Republican successes.
“You shook things up in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts,” Williams said. “You killed Obamacare. Obama say’s he’s for change, and we hope he changes. But if he doesn’t, we’re ready. Ready to fight to cut spending, end earmarks and stop the country’s slide toward European socialism.”
America welcomes those who want to come to our country legally, Williams said, but the country has to work harder to control our borders.
“Coming to America is about more than just coming here to get a job,” Williams said. “It’s about coming here to be an American, and part of that involves learning English.”
Williams challenged the crowd to return the country to conservative principle.
“We’re sitting in the greatest state of the greatest nation on earth,” Williams said. “And we can keep it that way by cutting spending, unleashing the markets and fighting to win the war on terror, and if we remember that we are one nation under God.”
Pastor Stephan Broden of Fair Park Bible Fellowship in Dallas, told the crowd that conservative candidates who support tax cuts and fiscal responsibility are important, but they are only half the story.
Broden said America is engaged in spiritual warfare, and he believes the country faces two major threats under the Obama administration.
“First is a socialist agenda to redistribute wealth, forcing egalitarianism through a Marxist frame,” Broden said. “This is tyranny, and we must resist and push back. The second is social and economic Darwinism, which seeks to eliminate God from our history and replace him with a power elite who will determine what is right and what is wrong.”
Broden called the present a sobering time when the nation faces the threat of internal treason and the socialization of the free market system.
Broden also called the present a special moment. He said Tea Party members and those who attended town hall meetings on health care reform have stirred a “grass roots awakening” in America.
Broden called Republican candidate Scott Brown’s recent election to the U.S. Senate the miracle in Massachusetts.
“God in his majesty pushed the pause button on health care reform,” Broden said. “And this is our moment. We must work to elect candidates that will work God’s will. It’s about what God says is right for this nation. Because [the current administration] is setting up for one-world government, and that’s what’s going to happen if you sit on your couch.”
BTP Chairman Angela Cox said she was very pleased with the event.
“We had a great turn out,” Cox said. “Americans showed up, participated, and took information they’re going to use in the continuing fight to take our country back.”
