The Tea Party movement stopped in Starkville Saturday to spread the doctrine of non-partisan conservatism.

With approximately 400 people in attendance at the Starkville Sportsplex’s newly opened gym, Tim Buchanan, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Sturgis, set the meeting’s tone in the opening prayer by stating “the nation is in trouble.”

The remaining speakers focused their remarks on what concerned citizens can do to deliver the nation.

Fox News political analyst Angela McGlowan served as the meeting’s big gun. The keynote speaker took the stage along with Dr. Philllip Ley, a Jackson surgical oncologist, and Grant Sowell, head of the Tupelo Tea Party movement.

Each speaker tackled a separate topic before fielding questions from the audience as a panel, but all three agreed and emphasized the power for change lies with the voting citizens of America.

“In 2010, we can vote our conscience. Keep tabs on your leaders,” urged McGlowan, referring to the forthcoming 2010 congressional elections. “Elect individuals that are great motivational speakers and can solve your problems. And if they don’t, vote them out.”

That standard, McGlowan told the largely conservative audience, should be applied to all elected officials.

“I’m not saying Democrats are bad. Some of the best times in Washington were when (former Republican Speaker of the House) Newt Gingrich was in the House of Representatives and (former Democratic President) Bill Clinton was in the White House working together,” she said.

McGlowan also took issue with the perception of the Tea Party as an all-white movement.

“It’s not a black thing. It’s not a white thing. It’s about green ... As a black woman I decided to join the Tea Party because it’s what our forefathers wanted. For us to state our grievances,” she said.

Health care reform

Ley focused his comments on the pending health care bill, opening his remarks with criticism of the lack of information regarding the bill’s Senate’s version. He criticized President Obama for not following through on his campaign promise to make the legislative process transparent. He criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., for openly admitting they hadn’t read the bill. (McGlowan later noted staffers and lobbyists read the bills and report to congressmen.) And he criticized the notion that socializing health care would improve the medical process in America.

“In every socialist country, health care is the cornerstone of control,” Ley warned.

He agreed the country’s current health care system is flawed, but suggested allowing citizens to cross state lines to seek treatment or promoting health savings accounts rather than passing the current bill.

Encouraging activism

Sowell sought to transform Tea Party participants from concerned citizens to political activists, urging attendees to call, write and email their elected officials with concise messages of what they want and where their votes will go if they’re dissatisfied.

“Government needs to fear the people — not through violence, but by voting them out,” he said.

But in order to be truly felt, the Tea Party movement needs numbers and knowledge, he said.

“So many people don’t have a clue. They don’t care about politics. That was me (at one point) and that was a mistake,” said Sowell.

He also took a moment to re-emphasize the movement’s non-partisan philosophy.

“The Tea Party movement gets misunderstood. People say, ‘Where were you when Bush was spending?’ And that’s a valid criticism,” Sowell said.” There’s enough blame to go around among Democrats and Republicans.”

Passing the mic

The three scheduled speakers were joined by some unexpected guests. Republican Mississippi District 3 Rep. Gregg Harper spoke briefly on the need to curtail government spending, and Matthew Perdie, an activist who is walking around the country to draw attention to political issues, spoke to encourage individuals to educate themselves and get involved.

When the panelists began to answer written questions from the audience, the first question asked was, what can be done to ensure government employees receive the same health care as average citizens? As McGlowan delivered her reply, Nekita Gandy, a political activist from Starkville, spoke out of turn to ask if Harper would accept the same health care as the rest of the country. McGlowan rebuked Gandy, telling her to submit her question in writing.

Gandy’s question was not presented to the panel. She later criticized the event for not asking Harper to respond.

“People here are being courted on fear and not facts. They should listen to all sides of the equation. Like Mr. Harper has specialized health care, and he’s not going to give it up,” said Gandy.

Blue Dogs

Moments later, as McGlowan criticized Blue Dog Democrats — moderate and conservative Democrats — for not living up to their conservative ideals, Henry Foreman, chairman of the election committee for the Mississippi Tea Party, spoke out of turn from his seat in the audience and was allowed to speak.

In an effort to illustrate the Blue Dogs’ lack of conservatism, Foreman stated Democratic Mississippi District 1 Rep. Travis Childers voted Democratic on 82.6 percent of votes, and Democratic District 4 Rep. Gene Taylor voted Democratic on 84.6 percent of votes while offering no vote on 4 percent of votes.

Taylor, who is retired, said one of his roles in the Tea Party is to keep up with elected officials and investigate people running for office. An “insider in Washington D.C.” helps him keep tabs on Mississippi officials’ voting records, he said.

Challenging the Tea Party

Gandy wasn’t the only person in attendance to disagree with the Tea Party’s message. Sule Alli, owner of Boardtown Insurance in Starkville, submitted a question asking why the Tea Party chose this particular time in history to form. The question was meant to illustrate how a faction of the country is becoming active just as the first black President is beginning his term.

“It’s an indictment of the new President,” said Alli. “The government has been taxing too much since the ’80s, and there has not been this kind of protest. I came here to see if there’s some reason.”

Where Alli saw the Tea Party as being suspiciously too conservative, Robert Loyd of Louisville saw the meeting as too liberal. Merely debating socialized health care is validating an un-American process, he said.

Overgrown government

“I think the whole thing needs to be thrown out. Taking from one group to give to another is stealing. Nobody is wise enough to do that correctly. Every year (social programs) are getting more and more. (Government) is getting so big it’s going to cause the economy to fail,” said Loyd.

Todd Cherry of Starkville found the atmosphere at the Tea Party to be just right.

“It enlightened me to a lot of stuff I really didn’t know about. You hear it on TV, but when you’re here in person it sets in your mind a little firmer,” he said.

Carolyn Oswalt of Sturgis said the meeting has inspired her to become more politically active.

“There are things that you know that you don’t do anything about and I think I need to do something,” she said.