Woodbridge Tea Partiers Unite Against Obamacare

The  should be prime time for Tea Partiers. The name is derived from the 1773 Boston Tea Party, one of the events that helped ignite the American Revolution, and more recently caused a loose amalgamation of groups nationwide to join together and against what they see as unprecedented taxation, debt, and governmental spending.

This Independence Day, they are turning their disapproval on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion last week which .

It was a bitter shock to Obama opponents that a chief justice considered to be the lead conservative on the court struck down the commerce clause justification for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, only to uphold it on the grounds it's a tax.

Tea partiers nationwide were in disbelief at Roberts deciding vote.  was no exception.  tea partiers, many of whom belong to the county group, are still reeling.

"I'm just floored," said Janet Feeley of Fords, who believes the decision "sets a very disturbing and dangerous precedent. I think all Americans should be very worried about it. Their ruling in effect confirms there is no limitations whatsoever on the powers of Congress."

Feeley said she had never been involved in politics before.  "I see all the things that made America great when I was growing up, being deliberately destroyed, and I fear for our future," she said.

Nora Brower, who is a devout Catholic, has been politically active in protesting an abortion clinic on upper Main Street. Her opinion on the SCOTUS decision was scathing.

"Quite simply, this is why I've gotten active in the Tea Party and as a [Republican] committee person. Voting is no longer enough," said Brower, who lives in Woodbridge. 

"You have to educate your neighbors. This happened because the electorate is not educated. People of all faiths don't know their history or the Constitution, because if they did, they never would have voted for Obama."

"The job of our elected officials, as put forward in the Constitution, is to protect our freedom and property, not to regulate it or redistribute it," said Richard Zoppo, a resident of Woodbridge Proper.

He believes that the SCOTUS Obamacare decision is the biggest move toward slavery and totalitarian rule "since FDR and [it] opens the door for the takeover of all other previously privately-owned industries. If this is allowed to stand, [industries] will fall one by one until finally there [will be] only one employer left - the government."

Rebecca Brown, another Woodbridge resident, agreed. "The way this so-called healthcare act was rammed through, regardless of whether people wanted it or not - and on Christmas Eve in 2009, no less - demonstrates exactly the contempt this president and his party have for Americans," she said. 

But rather than being dispirited, the Woodbridge Tea Partiers say to a man - and woman - that the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare has energized them to work tirelessly with an eye on the November elections.

It's been less than a week, Brown said, since the SCOTUS decision came down. "Give us a few more days. We're still getting over the shock of it."

Many joined in a with the Bayshore Tea Party to protest Obamacare.

Brower laughed. "Just because we aren't behaving badly like OWS [Occupy Wall Street], doesn't mean we don't care. We care very much.

"If they thought [the Republican House sweep in] 2010 was a route, they haven't seen anything yet," she promised.

Feeley was in accord.  "We need to change our direction and restore freedom and sanity to this country.  We will not lose hope and will continue to fight for our freedom, because if we lose it here, there will be no place left to go," she said.