Thousands rally against taxes, spending at State Capitol

The annual springtime ritual on the Minnesota State Capitol lawn known as the tax cut rally morphed a bit Saturday into a budget-cutting rally, as well.

"A lot of people in Washington need to hear your voices loud and clear," U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., told thousands of people spread out across the green on a sun-splashed afternoon. "It is not that Americans are taxed too little. It's the United States government spends too much."

Members of the crowd -- self-identified Republicans, Tea Partiers, libertarians and conservatives -- roared in approval.

A May institution for more than a decade, Saturday's rally, which also featured U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, had a dose of triumphalism, with attendees still reveling in the GOP's shellacking of Democrats in Washington, D.C., and the Minnesota Legislature last November.

Cravaack, who by unexpectedly knocking off longtime Rep. Jim Oberstar in that election was a major player in that conservative tide, said the new GOP majority in the House "has changed the tone in Washington, D.C."

Targets of ire at the rally ranged from what attendees contemptuously call "Obamacare" to gun-control advocates and the state's Legacy Amendment, which funds conservation and the arts.

A small plane dragging a banner touting presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul circled the Capitol grounds.

Among the lyrics:

"The right will win out in the end ...

"Washington must know exactly where they can go, and they can't tread on me ...

"Every single day, they take a little more away."

Dressed in a colonial costume complete with a powdered wig and wearing a button that said "Socialism sucks," Colin Wilkinson, a bank employee from St. Paul, banged the drum he had draped around his neck in time with the music.

"The government's out of control and insane morons are running it," he said. "We've got to get it back into the constitutional corral because they've spent all the dough we've got."

With that, he hit a loud tattoo on his drum and shouted, "Freedom is fun!"

Unlike recent years, when the ways of Washington were the primary focus of the rally, Saturday's also homed in on the budget negotiations underway at the State Capitol, where Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled Legislature remain miles apart.

"They've been standing up for fiscal sanity," House Speaker Kurt Zellers, a rally speaker, said of his caucus. "We're going to have to live within our means, only spending what's in the checkbook."

Added Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, "We will not be raising taxes and we are getting out of here on time" -- a reference to the adjournment date later this month that looks unlikely to be met.

Overshadowing her colleagues was Bachmann, the Sixth District representative and Tea Party stalwart who is mulling a run for the presidency.

"How are you fellow lovers of liberty? Are you ready to rumble? Time to revolt?" she asked, greeted by roars of approval.

Bachmann added: "I think this is the message you sent to Washington -- let's see if we got it right. I think you told Washington, 'Don't spend more money than what you're taking in.' I think you told them, 'Don't raise my taxes.'"

Regarding Democrats in the nation's capital, she said, "It's time that they go." There were more roars of approval.