Cass County 912 Tea Party Group — Southwest Michigan Patriots is having its third annual Tax Day rally from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday outside the 1899 courthouse in Cassopolis.
Tea Party Chairman-elect Wally Berndt said they expect to have a keynote speaker for an assessment of the country’s status and to promote activism.
Last year’s march was all but rained out.
Berndt said the Tea Party has been busy with grassroots organizing — township by township — trying to reach out to everyone, raise interest in politics at the precinct delegate level and “educate at the same time” about the importance of involvement.
Candidates for local office are welcome to attend Tea Party meetings the first Tuesday each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Cass District Library in Cassopolis.
There are also executive board meetings on third Wednesdays.
Berndt’s activism took him to Wakarusa on Aug. 5, 2009, when President Obama visited Elkhart County’s Monaco Coach.
Berndt said he also traveled to Washington for Glenn Beck’s Aug. 28, 2010, rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Berndt, who has been around Cass and Elkhart counties since 1979, credits Rick Santelli with “emotionally inspiring the Tea Party movement to be what it is.”
Santelli reports primarily from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade for the CNBC Business News network.