In an afternoon devoid of humidity, several hundred activists spent part of their Saturday in downtown Tampa's Lykes Gaslight Park, the latest in a series of protests in the Occupy Tampa movement — itself one of the hundreds (or is it thousands?) of offshoots of Occupy Wall Street in New York City.
Demonstrations were also held throughout the world on this October 15 in what was billed as an international Day of Action protesting the financial system.
The crowd in Tampa was most eclectic, including a self-proclaimed Rick Scott Tea Party Republican named Rob Uptaggrove, a Plant City citizen and member of the Utility Workers of America who held a sign that said "Middle Class Out of Gas."
Uptaggrove, who appeared to be in his sixties, said he participated in Tea Party events back in 2009, but says that movement has now gone in a "different direction…and forgotten some of the folks who were participating in it. It's the working class of America."
The union man confessed he voted for Rick Scott last year for governor, but now says that "70 percent of his agenda is self-interest," and doesn't represent the values of those Floridians (presumably like himself) who voted him into office.
"Utilities, police and fire, most are conservative," he said, describing the political bent of the people he knows best, his colleagues in the unions and local law enforcement. But he said he feared that the offspring of those police and firefighters won't be able to get into the same work their parents have.
"Where are they gonna work?" he asked. "Where are they gonna live? Are we going back to 'The Waltons' where we all live in the same house again?"
This article appears in Oct 13-19, 2011.