August 1, Rally at the Satehouse

The Ohio Liberty Council held a Rally in Columbus this weekend. Here is some after-Rally media coverage of the event.

Fox 8 News:
Ohio Group Protest Federal Government Power

and,
The Columbus Dispatch:

Anti-tax activists stage protest
Group slams federal, state, local government at Statehouse
Sunday, August 2, 2009 3:24 AM
By Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shari Lewis | Dispatch
Cheering messages of limited government, lower taxes and states' rights, thousands rallied yesterday at the Statehouse, hoping to continue a movement that began in the spring with nationwide tea parties.

The enthusiastic crowd took aim at government bailouts, rising national debt, "socialized" health care and even Columbus' proposed income-tax increase.

If approved, the tax would increase from 2 percent to 2.5 percent and generate $90 million to $100 million a year. City voters will decide the issue on Tuesday.

"That's $1 billion over the next 10 years taken out of wallets and given to an institution right over there that has proven to us that they can't manage our money at all," City Council candidate Matt Ferris told the crowd while pointing toward City Hall.

"Say 'no' to this massive tax."

Organized by the Ohio Liberty Council, people arrived by the busload and expressed anger over issues such as taxes and government intrusion.

Some collected signatures in hopes of eliminating Ohio's estate tax with a 2010 ballot initiative. Many wore or carried messages with them, such as a sign that read, "Grow your own dope plant a politician."

"I want the right to drive a gas-guzzler and choose my own health care," said Amy Chauvette, 45, of Toledo, who held a sign that read, "America home of the free? Not lately."

"Government is losing sight of what they are really there for. They are not there to run car companies or health care. They are there to keep this country free."

The featured speaker, Andrew Napolitano, a New Jersey Superior Court judge and a Fox News commentator, got the crowd into a "freedom" chant and blasted the expanded government authority and lack of oversight contained in the Patriot Act.

"Remember, the government hates freedom. It is an obstacle to what everyone there desires," said Napolitano, whose speech ended with Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It blasting from the speakers.

Though there was plenty of anti-Obama sentiment in the crowd, speakers took aim at both parties.

Liberty Council co-founder Mike Wilson asked everyone to punch the numbers of U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and George V. Voinovich into their cell phones.

"If they have voice-mail, I suggest you blow them up today."

Jason Rink of Clintonville, a member of the Liberty Council, reminded the crowd that President George W. Bush got the ball rolling by approving the federal bank bailout.

"Now that Obama is in office, all of the Republicans oppose the bailouts," he said. "They are born-again fiscal conservatives. That's convenient."