DISCLAIMER: The Tea Party Reports is edited by Bill Kelly and Laura Grock and features numerous independent voices in today's Tea Party movement. Tea Party guest submitters are in no way affiliated with The Washington Times and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person other than the contributor.

Illinois. It's President Obama and Rahm Emanuel's home turf. But when Sarah Palin took the stage in Rosemont, Illinois, something changed. It wasn't Obama country. It was Sarah Palin country. Conservative country. Independent country. Tea Party country.  Here's one prominent Chicago tea partier's first-hand experience  - a good guy and great American named Frank Napolitano. Cheers to you, Frank!

An Evening with Sarah Palin...in Chicago of all Places

It was a night, not unlike many other nights in Chicagoland. Yet there was something different: there was excitement among conservatives here in the area. The excitement was due to the fact that Sarah Palin was in town. A friend of mine had an extra ticket for the event in Rosemont, and was nice enough to invite me along.

Now, I have been to many sporting events. I was a Bulls and Bears season ticket holder. I have been to playoff games both in the United Center, and at Soldier Field. I have also been to many sporting events at many other venues. The emotion you could feel in the room last night at the Rosemont Theatre in Illinois when Wayne Messmer sang the National Anthem was very high. You could tell how proud those 4,000 plus people were to be an American. The noise level of the crowd applauding after the National Anthem was louder at Wednesday night’s event than at any other event I can remember. Certainly the fact that it was indoors had something to do with that, but I have been to plenty of basketball and hockey games where the crowd was excited, but not like Wednesday night.

My point is this, the mainstream media would have you believe that some of Sarah Palin’s supporters - those from the Tea Party - are anti-government, and anti-American. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have been to several Tea Party Events, and we are not anti-government, and anti-American. We love our country, we love our freedoms, and we are anti-big government, and anti-government waste.

 Governor Palin also spoke about the issues in Highland Park High School, where the Assistant Superintendent decided not to let the girl’s basketball team go to Arizona, as a move to boycott the state over the new immigration law. This is a school that allowed students travel to China, and Sarah pointed out very well how China so terribly treats women. So, while it is “ok” for students in Highland Park to go to China, it is not “ok” for them to travel to Arizona, simply because Arizona is enforcing the immigration laws of the land. 

Sarah also talked about Republicans, Conservatives, and the Tea Party, and the credit we deserve here in Illinois. She talked about our great history of leaders like Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan. She said we in Illinois need to get back to the core conservative values and principals of Ronald Reagan. She also said America owes Illinois gratitude for giving us Ronald Reagan. She gave us in Illinois credit for the modern tea party movement as well. She said we should be proud for starting the movement back in February of 2009 and remembers Chicago-based Rick Santelli on CNBC saying, “Let’s have a Chicago Tea Party” and how the movement has grown from there. How true!

 There was more. Sarah than talked about a very important issue with regard to how the Republican Party needs to act. She again, went back to Ronald Reagan and said we should do what he did. We should not move to the middle, but we need to stand on our conservative values and principals, and move the middle to us. She went on to say that bi-partisanship should not be a platform, and anyone who is campaigning solely on bi-partisanship probably doesn’t have a platform. Sarah said bi-partisanship makes sense when it accomplishes something that fits in line with your and the parties core values, not just for the sake of be bi-partisan. Since she herself worked with Democrats in Alaska to pass ethics reform, it wasn't just talk. She does what she says. We need more of that - especially now.

 

Most notably of all, there was no teleprompter – she spoke from the heart. It was an honor for me to be able to hear Governor Palin in person and to be in the company with so many other passionate citizens who deeply care about their country.

About Frank Napolitano

Frank Napolitano is a Village Trustee in Bartlett, Illinois where he chairs the Public Works Committee. He is involved in several conservative groups including a new Tea Party Group, and the following facebook groups; Founder of DuPage Conservatives, Illinois Coordinator for Facebook Conservatives and Jr Congressman of Illinois Conservatives.Frank is fiscally conservative, socially conservative, and constitutionally conservative and is a member of the NRA and ISRA.Frank is married to Carmel, they have two children and are Catholic. 

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