Who are we?   

On April 15, 2009, an almost spontaneous grassroots “Tea Party” demonstration erupted on Boiling Springs Road next to Mike’s Dry Cleaners. Everything about it was significant and appropriate to the feelings and attitudes of people who feel they are being taken to the cleaners by an insensitive and self-seeking government.  Lacking big money for a proper demonstration, people brought home-made signs or bought the “Taxed Enough Already (TEA) signs quickly printed by Mike Brady’s Upstate Printing. They stood beside the highway and waved signs and flags at the oncoming cars. 

All across South Carolina and the nation, other patriots were holding their own tea parties. Inspiration for this new Tea party movement comes from the success of the 1773 Tea party which helped ignite protests against British policies and taxes throughout the colonies. 

Mike Brady, who, dressed like Thomas Paine, has become the face of the tea party movement, is a printer like Benjamin Franklin; also, like Franklin, he is an admirer of Thomas Paine’s incendiary text, “Common Sense.” 

Common Sense appeared in January, 1776, and was an immediate success. Franklin sponsored Paine's move to America, where he continued to make the moral argument for secession from Great Britain. Some of the language of the Declaration, written only a few months later, seems to be influenced by  Paine's Common Sense. 

A second organizer of the Boiling Springs Tea Party is Mike's wife, Maria, the REAL Tea Party organizer.  Although she publishes two magazines, Boiling Springs Today and Spartanburg Today, she finds time to keep everyone straight. Maria has the ability to bring order out of chaos. 

The Brady's friend, Dr. Christina Jeffrey, also helps organize and recruit talent for the Tea Parties. She teaches Foundations of American Government (The Constitution, Declaration, Federalist Papers, etc.) and believes that running against an incumbent congressman is the ultimate protest. She is, running against the 4th District Representative, Bob Inglis.   

The April 15th Tea party 

The April 15th Tea party attracted a few hundred people; the second Boiling Springs Tea Party took place on July 4th and brought thousands of people to Boiling Springs Park. There Mike and his crew of volunteers erected a stage, brought in a band and attracted nationally prominent speakers. 

The national speakers were personal friends of Christina Jeffrey’s.  Alan Keyes, who has been a Republican Party nominee for Senate three times and has run for President several times on both the Republican and American Independent Party tickets spoke about the need to celebrate July the 4th the way the Founders intended.  They wanted us to read and ponder the words of this historic document because the words are important, all of them. Another Christina friend, Louis Wilson Ingram, is an author, lecturer, patriot, and voluntary ex-lawyer. A graduate of the USC School of Law, he successfully opposed the IRS in its efforts to tax Christian Schools.  The final nationally known speaker was our own Christina Jeffrey, who served as historian of the historic 104th  Congress ,until Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, Patsy Schroeder and Maxine Waters demander she be fired. 

We have just participated in the historic March on Washington and took hundreds of patriots with us. Stay with us as we continue to make our voices heard.