PRINCETON, MN – Freezing rain coated already slick roads on the 21st of January, making travel inconvenient, even by Minnesota standards. Despite the weather, as proceedings commenced in the Princeton library, late-comers to a Milaca Tea Party event continued to trickle in. Additional folding chairs were placed along the edge of the room to accommodate. The folk were plain, mostly older, orderly and attentive. The meeting opened with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sue Bican took the floor and emceed a series of announcements and appeals for involvement. On February 4th, the start of the legislative session in Minnesota, there will be a rally south of the State Office Building in St. Paul. The Minnesota Sovereignty Project needs advocates to contact state legislators. Though the Tea Party organization is non-partisan, Minnesota caucuses happen February 2nd, and participation is strongly encouraged. Action was the theme common to each topic, and the struggle was local.

Elaine Philippe, described by her cohort as one who “works harder than anyone else”, delivered a report of the seven-member school board for District 477. Only two members had voted against a recently passed teacher pay increase which will cost the district $400,000. Philippe wanted those gathered to know their names. The measure passed during a period when financial reserves are all but depleted and money will have to be borrowed to keep schools running. Board members Kathy Kraft and Susan Spain may be thanked for their effort in spite of the outcome, Philippe said.

Mike Byrd, a local Tea Party coordinator, appealed for greater involvement from the attendees. Though the recent victory of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts senate race was heartening, “We can’t put our faith in someone out there in Massachusetts,” he stated. “We’ve got to do the same thing here, from a local level, school board, city council, county commissioners. Those are the people that graduate up, become senators, congressmen, and go on to the state house.” He encouraged people to be respectful of those who disagree and be wary of provocateurs who wish to cast the group in a bad light.

The keynote event was the hour long documentary film Fiat Empire, which details the creation and operation of the Federal Reserve System. The film laid out in concise detail how the privately controlled monetization of federal debt enables Congress to continue spending money without having to raise taxes. Inflation acts as a hidden tax, the film states. This arrangement enables politicians to have the best of both worlds, able to continually appease voters with largess from the public treasury while avoiding the political suicide of increased taxes.

When the meeting adjourned, many attendees remained to converse. On a cold wet school night, these citizen activists were gathered toward a purpose. “We’re going to outgrow this,” Bican stated privately, glancing around the conference room of the Princeton library. “The trouble is finding somewhere bigger that won’t charge for the space.”