Basile Featured in Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" Edition
Not the best photo of me ever taken, but I was still honored to be asked by Time Magazine to participate in this Person of the Year compilation. As Co-Founders of Tea Party 365 in New York - one of the nation's first independent Tea Party organizations - David Webb and I were asked to represent the movement in this spread they were doing about activism that aims to make a difference in government. I was more than a little uncomfortable because David and I are well aware that the Tea Party doesn't have a leader or a spokesperson. I is a grassroots movement. It was important however ensure that the movement which has been the driving force in American politics for the last three years, was included in a piece that would also feature Occupy protestors.
I am pictured alongside Egyptian protester Um Treka. My quote from a larger interview with Time - "The movement remains a largely grassroots movement. This is in thousands of communities across America, but our organization is really not about making the organization larger. It’s about spreading an awareness of the dangers of oppressive debt and taxation and how that burdens the American dream."
