This afternoon I participated in a small protest of the income tax. We met at the Hilton downtown and walked to the Federal building. Alone the way we chanted, “Income tax is theft! End the IRS!” I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who took pamphlets from us. I’m sure most ended up in the garbage, but I’m hopeful that some of them were actually read. I’m hoping we changed at least one person’s mind today.

The most fulfilling part of the event was meeting and conversing with more Ron Paul Meetup members. There’s quite a variety of opinions in the group, which makes for lively debates. 🙂 The worst part occurred after we moved from the Federal building to the Omni William Penn hotel, where John McCain was having a fundraiser. Most of us stayed across the street from the hotel, but a few picketed right in front of the entrance. I wasn’t comfortable doing that, but I didn’t have a big problem with others being there. What I did and do object to is picking a fight, which I believe one of the group was trying to do. He was hoping one of the hotel staff would bump into him, and when one did he made a scene. Thankfully, a cooler-headed protester diffused the situation with polite banter.

Pictures can be found here.