Retired commercial fisherman Frank Ross Jr., has spent the past six weeks collating information on the Tea Parties. He estimates that 2 million people have attended the protests this year.
(Courtesy of Justine Combs)Photos (1 of 1)
One man’s quest to size up the Tea Parties
Are the antitax protests bigger than reported? It's not easy to tell, but a retired fisherman is keeping count.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer/ July 8, 2009 edition
Atlanta
How many Americans have participated this year in “Tea Party” events?
The scattered nature of the antitax protests makes it hard to know for sure – estimates run from less than half a million to close to a 1 million – but one unlikely enumerator thinks he has the answer.
Frank Ross Jr., a retired commercial fisherman on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, has spent the past six weeks contacting organizers and combing through hundreds of news accounts and blogs – in between tending his backyard turnip greens. Counting dozens of mini-protests in small towns such as Purvis, Miss., he estimates that total attendance at Tea Parties this year approaches 2 million, at least half at events held before July 4.
Mr. Ross is not a reporter or researcher, so why does he care? He says he’s a worried American with a mission: Quantify a movement he believes can change the country. “I think the people of this nation need to see how many people will stand up against excessive taxation,” he says.
“Sixty years in the Gulf of Mexico makes you a troubleshooter par excellence and … I decided to use that knowledge in pursuit of something I wanted to know,” says Ross, in a phone interview from his home in Lumberton, Miss.
Other groups have estimated the number of protesters at these Tea Parties, but they say the task is difficult. Getting an accurate count is important for two reasons, says Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). One, it becomes part of the historical record and, two, it gives organizers a base by which to measure future rallies.
According to ATR, 615,000 people have attended 640 events this year, though it stopped counting in late April. Statistician Nate Silver estimates that 311,460 people attended 346 events on April 15 alone.
The conservative Pajamas Media blog network, which used citizen reporters and local video for the April 15 protests, estimates that there were about 1 million protesters that day. It did not try to count the July 4 rallies.
“It’s very difficult to do because it’s so dispersed and so ad hoc,” says Roger Simon, CEO of Pajamas Media in Los Angeles. “[I]t’s not just calling up a fire department to say, ‘How many people are out there?’ This is like hundreds of little demonstrations across the country, and how do you know the accuracy of each person reporting in?”
The Tea Party concept grew out of libertarian Ron Paul’s electoral campaign last year, gaining traction after the passage of the $787 billion stimulus package in February. Tea Party organizers call it an electrified third rail of American politics. Critics say it represents a vocal but marginal section of the right wing, egged on by conservative think tanks and media talking heads.
Even if Ross is right about his numbers, the scattered nature of the Tea Parties – an asset if it is an indication of grass-roots support – may also be a liability.
“If you had hundreds of thousands of people coming out to things everywhere, then I think you would have a game-changing moment, but I don’t think we’re even remotely close to that,” Marc Cooper, a former journalist and professor at the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Southern California, said earlier this year.
No one knows for sure where the Tea Party movement is headed. But at least one man in America is trying to ascertain – exactly to the man and woman – where it’s been. Lucky for him, turnip greens don’t need that much attention.
“I’m a persistent son of a gun,” Ross says.
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Comments
2. V. VanCamp | 07.09.09
May have been more or fewer but the 4th of july weekend means staying in backyards picnicking or visiting family so the count could be down. Local participation in my area was good but less concentrated in fewer spots. The TEA parties are a real thing and apt to grow.
3. Chris Temple | 07.09.09
This is quite the social studies lesson. Two centuries ago, and even before this nation was truly formed, the people were definitely united in their revolt against “taxation without representation” and an over burdensome government in general. That’s why they came here.
But I wonder if the king of England was mocking the Boston tea party the way President Obama mocked our current tea parties; “people waving tea bags around”. He might have, hence the revolution.
Have we come full circle? Are we trying to get back to our British roots? Just the fact that people and the media in this country would dispute the validity of these current tea parties demonstrates how far this country has devolved.
Two centuries ago our government was a necessary evil, to protect our basic human and property rights. Now our government, not unlike the king we revolted against, has assumed the role of guarantor of all things deemed good. We are promised health, wealth, love and long life if we will just give the king a little more power and a little more money.
The American Revolution was just one battle. The war for freedom must continue indefinitely.
4. Ann Madden | 07.09.09
The media repots what the media wants to report. How many anti-Obama signsa and rallies have been held, especially where he is visiting. I have yet seen nary a one but have seen non-media pictures from these events. Lets get an unbiased media and some backbone for disgruntled Americans. It is also time the Libertarian party was treated as “dissenters” and “has-beens”. I am a proud Libertarian and believe in the platform, less government, less taxes, personal freedom. Our country was started by “dissenters”, where would we be now without them? Singing “God Bless Our Queen” instead of “GOD BLESS AMERICA”
5. Dan | 07.09.09
Aren’t fishermen notorious for exaggerating the sizes of their catch– especially the “ones that got away”? I think this fisherman might be trying to exaggerate the size of his tea bag parties a bit as well. I live in a small town in Kansas that voted 1600 to 300 in favor of McCain. The tea bag party here had seven people on the 4th. I saw it with my OWN eyes. The local paper had a picture with ALL seven people in it.
But, let me make absolutely sure that I have the “science” behind all this figured out though. Mr. Ross takes all the stories from every right-wing blogger he can find in the country (who obviously have no vested interest in exaggerating anything), then multiplies those stories a few times over because he “can’t possibly have read about them all”, and then extrapolates from that bloated, inflated figure (that has absolutely no foundation in reality) to show that there must be a great conspiracy of the media to not show the millions of Americans who are attending these massive, popular outpourings of indignation everywhere, on every corner, all the time– and somehow only “TV” isn’t able to see them? And we’re all that dumb?
I guess when he’s baiting the hook every pond must have a “whale” in it and every lake a “Nessie”!
I thought this was the Christian Science Monitor– not ‘Fish Stories Today’.
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1. popseal | 07.09.09
The obvious fact that the Tea Party movement represents the level of frustration in the general populace. I figure as long as the MSM continues to down play them, that frustration will grow. Until unconscionable politicians start feeling the heat and actually begin to represent the naive souls that set them to work, frustration will grow. As long as the Obamanation and RINO supporters move left, frustration will grow. Rue the day that this frustration reaches a tipping point and peaceful demonstrations are abandoned. My under grad’ work was in the study of people in groups, and I learned that people in groups can do stupid and dangerous things. This lone Frank Ross is my hero!