RI Tea Party banned for handing out Constitution at 4th of July Parade
In a temper-filled tempest, the Bristol Fourth of July Committee has barred the Rhode Island Tea Party from taking part in the annual Independence Day parade next year — or any other year.
Marina Peterson, treasurer of the organization — it opposes government spending and new taxes — said she was told “not to waste the stamp to send in an application” to appear again in the Bristol parade, which the town says dates to 1785 as the oldest continuously observed Fourth of July celebration in the nation.
In the latest march, on Saturday, Tea Party sympathizers handed out copies of the U.S. Constitution as they ran alongside the organization’s first-ever float, a replica of the Beaver, the British ship ransacked by Colonists during the Boston Tea Party, in 1773.
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On Wednesday, Jim Tavares, chairman of the parade’s float committee, called Peterson, a fellow Bristolian, to tell her the group could not come back.
“I told her they broke the rules and regulations,” which were spelled out in writing, said Tavares.
“They endangered public safety,” he said. Tavares said he personally confiscated some of the handouts.
Peterson said the rules prohibit solicitation and the U.S. Constitution is not a solicitation. Tavares said Peterson was playing with words.
Peterson suggested the real issue is the enthusiastic reception spectators gave the Tea Party float — much more enthusiastic, she said, than those afforded other contingents.
The fliers were distributed by Tea Party sympathizers from Westerly who were not part of the float contingent. [my emphasis]
You can’t ignore it, you can’t stop it, so don’t even try.
