Anti-Socialism Rally Held at City Hall

A group called the Pasadena Patriots held an “Anti-Socialism” rally featuring Saturday Night Live‘s Victoria Jackson, a Russian band from Moscow and a speaker portraying Patrick Henry on the steps of Pasadena City Hall.

The group, whose Facebook page lists 398 members as of Friday morning, says the demonstration protests against “big government politicians in Washington [who] are threatening the American way of life.”

Organizer Johnathan Wilson says that although the event used some humor the subject is very serious. “Socialism is becoming a real threat in this country,” Wilson said Thursday night.

Ben Mathis, who conceived the idea of the rally after attending a Tea Party protest in Pasadena on April 11, says the rally was intended to “take May Day back.”

“Instead of this being a socialist May Day rally, this event is saying ‘No’ to socialism, ‘No’ to new taxes, ‘No’ to big government,” Mathis said.

The Tea Party protest which inspired today’s rally was a local version of a series demonstrations which developed last month across the United States.

Named in reference to the Boston Tea Party, the protests have sought to evoke images, slogans, and themes from the American Revolution. The acronym T.E.A. reportedly represents the phrase “Taxed Enough Already.”

In a press release Wilson issued earlier this week, the Pasadena Patriots say that “powerful unions and free-spending politicians have driven the state to the brink of bankruptcy. High taxes and the draconian Proposition 1-A, continue to drive businesses away from the state. The Pasadena Patriots want to draw attention to the real cost of this path to socialism, both in dollars and in liberty. “