IF YOU GO

>> The Rio Grande Valley Tea Party Association meets at 7 p.m. every other Friday at the Christian Fellowship Church of McAllen, 2201 Trenton Road, McAllen. Meetings are open to the public. Visit www.rgvtp.com for more information.

McALLEN — Lady Liberty wants Republicans and Democrats to clean up their act.

"Both of them need house cleaning. I'd like to fire them all," said Becky Hanshaw, a McAllen resident and stay-at-home mother who dressed up in Lady Liberty regalia to promote the principles of the U.S. Constitution.

Dissatisfaction with both political parties was a common sentiment among members of the Rio Grande Valley Tea Party Association, which celebrated the Fourth of July at the Rio Grande Speedway on Saturday evening. The 1/4-mile dirt track is located on the east side of South 10th Street, about four miles south of Expressway 83.

Festivities included a reading of the Declaration of Independence, a car race, and fireworks.

The association is a local manifestation of a grassroots conservative movement that lobbies politicians to strictly adhere to the Constitution when they write legislation.

The Tea Party movement came to the fore in April when conservatives gathered in cities across the nation - including in McAllen - to protest wasteful spending and new taxes. The name references the Boston Tea Party, a protest against British taxes organized by American colonists in 1773.

"We're fiercely nonpartisan," said Eddie Zamora, an Edinburg resident who dressed up as Rep. Francis Lewis of New York, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. "We're conservative but we put the Constitution above all else."

Tea Party supporters are troubled by what they perceive as a leftward shift in U.S. politics. They consider recent legislation such as the bank and auto bailouts unconstitutional.

"Both are contrary to what the majority of Americans stand for," Zamora said.

Although the local association is only three months old, members hope to turn the organization into a forum where residents and politicians from both parties can share their views.

"I hope we grow and people become more educated and make informed choices," said Ludivina Garcia of McAllen as she worked one of the event's many booths.

Garcia and Roxanna Herring encouraged people to sign a copy of the preamble of the Constitution, which they plan to present to the Valley's elected officials to encourage them to follow the document's principles.

"The Constitution seems to have been misplaced in Washington lately," said Herring, a McAllen resident. "We would like it to come back in style."

____

Spence Kimball covers general assignment for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956)683-4423.