About 125 area residents sat quietly on benches by the bandstand on the Iola square Thursday evening to listen to a parade of speakers espousing more personal control of government.
The tax day tea party began with a Biblical reference to gathering information and a recitation of the lyrics of “God Bless America” by Lloyd Houk, who was dressed as an American flag.
Houk was followed by Virginia Crossland-Macha, who told people to graduate from being attendees to activists by participating in grass roots training sessions and town hall forums to be held in coming weeks.
“You love your country, “ she said, “You just need information.”
Lisa Wicoff continued in the same vein, with active parenting her platform.
“Be a student of your child. Be a better advocate for your kids. Have high expectations,” she told the crowd.
She, too, told attendees they must become more actively involved.
It doesn’t take much, she noted.
“Attend a meeting now and then — commit to attending a couple meetings a year,” whether school board or city council, she said.
Without doing so, Wicoff said, people really have no reason to complain.
“What game do we play after dropping the ball? It’s called passing the blame.”
Instead, she urged, local citizens should watchdog government in progress.
Attendees came from Buffalo, St. Paul and Chanute as well as Iola. Many carried signs directed at Washington with admonitions like “Our vote is your job security,” and “Congress is revolting — so are we.”
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