Budget debate launches new tea party
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff Writer/ February 27, 2009 edition
ATLANTA
Several thousand neopatriots – some shouting “Give me liberty or give me death!” – took to the streets in over 30 US cities Friday, representing what some of them call the beginning of a new conservative counterculture in America.
“The spark has been lit,” says Ben Mihalski, a “house husband” from Cobb County, Ga., one of at least 300 protesters who gathered in a hefty downpour outside the Georgia Capitol on Friday to protest what they see as profligate spending by Washington.
Protesters with sign-slogans like “Pillage and plunder: At least the Vikings did it openly” fanned out across capitols and courthouses in cities from Nashville, Tenn., to Los Angeles, objecting to bailouts and policy changes since the inauguration of President Obama.
The Tea Party USA movement also added some symbolic flourish, vowing to gather tens of thousands of tea bags to be dumped on the floor of the US Congress. In Atlanta, the brand was Luzianne.
Critics call the protests a predictably partisan, ill-informed and unhelpful development in the midst of a deep-sink US recession.
But the largely grassroots show of force hints at a sharpening thorn for Democrats and a potential powder keg that could threaten to blow ahead of the 2010 congressional elections.
“It’s worth remembering that the rise of the New Right and the Christian Right, one after the other, were both spurred by tax issues, the whole idea of paying for things they don’t believe in,” says sociologist Eugenia Deerman at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston who studies conservative social movements.
To be sure, the federal spending package includes tax cuts for most Americans, and Obama has promised to eventually halve a US deficit the Democrats have largely blamed on the Bush administration.
But protesters like Kevin Tanner of South Dakota said deficit spending by both parties has unnerved Americans.
“The Republicans have their own problems because we elected them and they didn’t do what we wanted,” says Mr. Tanner.
Many protesters expressed a sense that basic American freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are threatened by new Washington policies seen by many as more socialistic than capitalistic. The proposed taxpayer bailout of homeowners who may have inflated their earnings in order to secure mortgages is one example, says Jeff Crawford, a protester from Dacula, Ga.
“The first year after the Mayflower arrived, the colonists tried a communal method of storing and sharing food and it failed miserably,” says Mr. Crawford. “Why are things any different now?”
Eighteenth-century symbolism was rife at the Atlanta event as speakers drew comparisons with the Boston patriots who dumped the King’s tea in Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation, an act that began the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.
Some kids at the Atlanta protest wore tri-cornered hats, and one held a sign that said, “When I grow up I want to be free.”
In Tampa, two dozen protesters held handwritten signs with slogans like “Keep Your Bailout; I’ll Keep My Freedom.” About 300 people showed up in 25-degree weather in Wichita, Kansas, and someone brought a pig.
In St. Louis, local media expected about 50 people to show up while actual turnout surged to over 1,000 people.
Sparked in part by the unity of House Republicans in saying no to the $787 billion stimulus package and a well-publicized rant against a proposed mortgage bailout by CNBC reporter Rick Santelli on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the protests represent the largest turnout of conservative activists since the anti-gun control rallies of the early 1990s, says Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform.
“Fiscal responsibility is the new counterculture, and that’s what we’re seeing here,” says conservative columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin. “People were so mad about how the bill was passed, not just what was in it, and the lack of deliberation that preceded the signing.”
“It’s given voice to a fledgling grassroots movement … a ragtag bunch of homeschooling moms and little bloggers and a lot of people who are really deciding to get into grassroots activism for the first time,” she says.
How grassroots the movement really is, is debatable, says Ms. Deerman at Eastern Illinois University. “I’m suspicious only because … the conservative movement has repeatedly used this tactic of creating an appearance of grassroots activism when they’re actually very well orchestrated,” she says. “It allows them to mask this ongoing ideological battle that’s super-invested in small government, low taxes, and a free market.”
The protests have happened with remarkable speed, spread by Twitter and Facebook groups and the now famous TV rant by Mr. Santelli, who yelled “It’s lunacy!” as he complained about the spending package. The White House has fueled the fire, protesters say, by taking on conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and even Mr. Santelli by name. Some rallies that took place Friday were organized in less than 48 hours and had a raw, unrehearsed edge to them.
“One of the challenges the Bush administration had when they decided to invade Iraq … was they took the MoveOn.org institution from a sleepy group apologizing for Clinton’s personal behavior and turned it into a juggernaut,” says Mr. Norquist. He says a similar phenomenon is happening now with the tea party movement. “When you do things that poke the other team, they react.”
The tea party phenomenon has largely been derided by progressives who say it’s fueled by big-money Republican interests opposed to the philosophical shift in Washington that they say will benefit working class Americans.
“Something tells me … that the Republican leadership has a lot more tea parties to throw – and a long way down the rabbit hole to fall – before they see what really concerns Americans nowadays,” writes Huffington Post blogger Jeffrey Feldman.
But Mr. Crawford, one of the protesters, says it’s not easy to get conservatives to take to the streets. The protests, he say, speak to a deepening concern about the direction of the country, especially future tax obligations.
He says the $13-a-week tax cut for individual Americans included in the stimulus bill is small change when it comes to the tax implications of the country’s growing deficit, now tagged at $1.75 trillion. In a recent study, the Rockefeller Institute estimates that states will have to raise at least an extra $100 billion in revenue to cover new obligations once the stimulus bill monies run out in 2012.
Calls to roll back the spending bill are farfetched, protesters agreed, but said the real prize is the 2010 Congressional elections.
“These protests remind people that there’s opposition to taxpayer-funded bailouts, and people in the streets means that Americans will be asking, ‘Why are they objecting? Tell me what’s happening here,’” says Norquist.
Given the dramatic circumstances of the Boston Tea Party, tax revolts are actually quite unusual in the US.
“The most interesting thing about the American people is that we are generally compliant in paying taxes, and tax revolts that seem surprising here are fairly common in a country like France where those farmers, if they get upset, they simply don’t pay,” says Mary Segers, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. “Americans are a strange people with respect to taxes, so this revolt is very interesting for that reason alone.”
Comments
2. Membery | 02.27.09
Let’s see how much they like it when they can’t drive their SUV’s to the rally because they’re broke. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have a family to care for, I would be all for the conservative plan of do-nothingism. Who is going to spend money to rebuild the economy? Is it the private sector or individuals? - no, they are too busy paying down debt, which causes inflation. The government must shoulder the responsibility of mass spending. The only shortcomming of the stimulus plan is that it doesn’t spend enough. it needed to be around 1.5 trillion to do what it was supposed to do correctly.
3. NoNeopatriot | 02.27.09
This is the kind of snide reporting that helped kill Christian Science Monitor as a print publication. Please explain to us where the word “neopatriot” fits within the style guide.
7. lh | 02.27.09
America is going down the tubes. This administration is going to kill us. This bowering is just promises. We do not have that money and are going to have to either print it or try to borrow it probably from China. This economy is going to be Jimmy Carter on steroids.
8. Erica | 02.27.09
@ Lucas,
If there had been one to go to - I would have been there. I called my Congressman and Senators and demanded they vote against the TARP bill. John McCain lost my support when he voted for it.
I was in Philly today at a tea party - and I’ll go to more if they have them. Call the stimulus bill the “redwood tree that broke the camel’s back” if you like.
9. Nicole | 02.27.09
Personally I do not care what Bush or any other previous president did or did not do. We cannot go back in time and fix their mistakes. I did not like the spending increases by Bush either. I guess for me the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back is a trillion dollars spent in one bill that not one single representative read. Then yesterday the Senate passed a bill to grant DC a voting representative in the House. The Constitution clearly allows only states to have representatives. Perhaps that is another document they haven’t read.
I kept an open mind about who to vote for in this last election. The one issue that was determinative was the card check issue. Obama supports the termination of the right of employees to decide by secret ballot to unionize or not. This is legislation that even George McGovern opposes. When I learned of Obama’s stance on that issue I knew that he had no respect for freedom or liberty. But I guess there are many people who will give up their freedom and liberty for short term government handouts.
10. Sam | 02.27.09
Neopatriot? ***?
The author of this article hasn’t a clue what the definition of a neopatriot is.
11. Jackie | 02.27.09
Just the fact that the Democrats believe this is a Republican ploy, tells me that they DON’T GET IT. They have no idea what middle America is feeling. Who actually voted for Obama anyway? From what I hear these days, nobody wants his policies!
12. Sabrina | 02.27.09
Cheers to the folks supporting the Tea Party. It’s about time people started to state how they really feel about Obamanomics. If the spending continues as it is going, we will all be bankrupt. Wake up, people. We can’t keep printing money. Who the heck do you think is going to pay for all of this? You and me. If you think not, then you should be looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I don’t give a damn about former budgets…I care about what is happening now. I don’t want to support the banking system; healthcare that won’t work (as proven through the world when healthcare gets nationalizsed); the housing industry (why should we pay for the minority group of people when the rest of us have been able to “make it”). I am not working to support those that won’t. When I have been unemployed I managed to cut where I needed to and make my house payment. I didn’t expect anyone to bail me out and further, there was no one there to do that. Since when do we rewards those that have bad habits? I agree…Give me Liberty or Give me Death.
13. Sabrina | 02.27.09
I say yay for the Tea Party! I am hoping to be able to either attend, support or implement one in my area. About time people spoke up and let Government know that we are not going to keep picking up the tab.
14. lssmc | 02.27.09
We were there protesting the first bail out, we just weren’t able to organize quickly and you didn’t hear us. You ***** baby liberals just don’t get it do you? . We are independent, hate government interference, love the USA, constitutional loving, stand alone conservatives.
If you try to step on our flag, like some of Obama’s cronies did, we will be in your face.
15. commensense | 02.27.09
Are you guys serious? It’s not just Obama’s budget, it’s the 800 billion stimulus and the estimated trillion or more for the banks that are the problem. Absolutely in hind sight George Bush and Senator Obama at the time should not have supported the first bail out. So why would Obama push this stimilus(NOT) spending bill through when: A it didn’t address what got us here, which was the housing issue and B there is no evidence that the first bailout has done any good. So he talks about how George Bush got him here and his answer to that is to spend more money than George did, but what sense does that make? Do two wrongs make a right? Get over George, he’s gone find a new person to hate or how about worry about America, not George. The republicans didn’t propose to do nothing, they said that more time should be spent to go through the bill and questioned when in history has this kind of spending turned around a bad economy? Never! Roosevelt did it for 7 years(spend spend) and it didn’t work. His own treasure secretary publicly said so. This isn’t about parties people, this is about common sense. If your business is going under, are you going to spend $ on advertising and cutting prices to attract customers or are you going to re-surface the parking lot? This bill is full of projects that don’t provide any immediate relief to the average everyday person. It’s not coincidence that everytime Obama opens his mouth the stock market dives faster than a seagull after a fish. Please think!!!!!!!
16. Al | 02.27.09
Americans are finally responding to the Obama administrations daily bailouts, stimulus packages, nationalization efforts and country bankrupting budget proposals and saying “enough is enough”.
17. K. Gordon | 02.27.09
This is no longer a Democrat or Republican issue! It is both and it’s time to stand up and demand our representatives do what is right for the people, for the country. When’s the next “tea party”?
18. Margaret Pereida | 02.27.09
Had I know that there were going to be protest, I would have been right there with the protesters. Had it started during the Bush bailout I would have joined. We were all in shock then and I suppose no one thought of it. We all stupidly thought that the Obama administration and the liberal left Congress might come to their senses. But when I get a tax decrease of $13.00 per week, that’s $676.00 per year but have to give up a $3,000.00 tax deduction for interest on my little condo, I’m furious! I’ve been had and so has America. At age 65 and still working, I’ll be glad to take time off for a protest!
19. Lance C. | 02.27.09
People have the right to protest peacfully under the 1st amendemant. These people were simply showing their dissaproval of a governmanet policy/action that has been instated. Through their actions it can become clear that the support for the stimulus bill is not unanimous by the citizens of the United States.However, in response to Teri, the majority of the increase of the national deficit under the Bush administration went largly unnoticed by the public due mainly to controversy over the War. Secondly, as stated above, the majority of the protestors are not protesting the bill in its nature but in the way it was passed.To Membery, is it some stereotype of these protestors that they are imagined all to drive Suvs, care nothing about the enviroment, or participate in costly lifestyle activities. From their discussions with reporters the majority of these protestors were working class citizens who showed concern over the issue of the stimulus bill.Finally, I would have to dissagree with Jeffry Feldman, not in the sense that the belief about what Americans want is either one thing or another. However, what Americans want can easily change. History has shown that it is near impossible to have a total consensus among Americans over even the most miniscule of items.
20. Dr Trent Saxton | 02.27.09
I challenge other business owners to do the same.
If this money is spent, I will only hire conservative Republicans in my small business.
I don’t have to hire a liberal! Before you hire check the voting registration of your employee! It is legal to discriminate by “Party”
If they want to spend our money for pork, then I can cut the fat and hire only lean conservatives that have fallen on hard times. I will fire democrats and hire conservatives to take their places.
I am sending this out to as many small business owners as I can!
I only own 122 drug collection sites. The purge starts March 15th!
21. CAROLINE | 02.27.09
I want to join this group, we got to stop all this presidents from spending our money. Those that talk in favor of Obama are really ignorants.
22. Hazel | 02.27.09
I agree and would like to know when the next march will be in Atlanta, Ga would like to participate. Thankfully there are people as upset as I am and willing to protest. This spending has got to stop.
23. Bigmoney | 02.27.09
Spend your way out of a financial crisis? Who wrote this bill? Spielberg? When you are old and dying, make sure to thank your grandchildren for loaning your generation their future!
24. Mike Smith | 02.27.09
Teri B. — You say you do not get it……do you get this?
Our Federal Government has given Eminent Domain as collateral to China for the U.S. Debts! This means Teri, that in the event of US Government defaults on its financial obligations to China, the Communist Government of China would be permitted to physically take (here in America) land, buildings, factories, YOUR HOME TOO etc., to satisfy the financial obligations of the Federal Government. Mr. Obama is building the debt to an astronomical amount. Mr. Obama has betrayed every man, woman and child in this country.
25. Jud Williams | 02.27.09
NeoPatriot is a grassroots movement in contrast to the neocons which were contrived by the hawkish Eastern European Marxist Jews who decided that it was time to take control of conservative thinking here in the US. It started with Reagan and his trickle down economic scheme which launched the super rich greed based economists and banking system that is now the basis of globalization. They all fit together and they are destined to fail together as their evil empire is in the process of collapsing. If the truth be known, these “capitalists” are the very crowd who have done the most to limit free enterprise and small business.
26. Margaret Pereida | 02.27.09
Had I known that there were going to be protests, I would have been right there with the protesters. Had it started during the Bush bailout I would have joined. We were all in shock then We all stupidly thought that the Obama administration and the liberal left Congress might come to their senses and quit spending. But when I get a tax decrease of $13.00 per week, that’s $676.00 per year but have to give up a $3,000.00 tax deduction for interest on my little condo, I’m furious! I’ve been had and so has America. At age 65 and still working, I’ll be glad to take time off for a protest! Where is the next one!!!
27. badogin | 02.27.09
Terri B., It is blatantly obvious that current behavior is being justified by past behavior. Your argument is flawed at its root. Idiocy is still idiocy. Insane government spending is still INSANE. Those are MY dollars! I worked for them and they belong to my family for our benefit. It is not about political party but about reigning in the EVER increasing spending of government in general. When government will not respect individual accomplishment then individuals will not respect government.
Membery, I am mystified by anyone who thinks that additional public debt is the answer to excessive personal and corporate debt. Wouldn’t you think that would just create more debt? History has repeatedly proven that government spending will NEVER rebuild an economy. Only private capital can do that. But I know you wouldn’t want the facts to get in the way. You must be a union member.
28. HondaV65 | 02.27.09
Thumbs up for the tea parties! Obama has spent more money in 30 days than any President or National Leader in the history of this Universe!
He’s sold out my kids and grandkid’s futures. Well keep it up bammi … because the backlash is coming! 
29. Gyrfalcon | 02.27.09
Oh, sure. Real grass roots. Amazing how people can just spontaneously print up a bunch of very slick signs to wave with just the right slogans on them in 48 hours. And more’s the miracle, the people in different cities had the exact same idea and designed the exact same signs with the same colors and slogans! All spontaneously!
Great astroturf there.
30. ryan | 02.28.09
Notice this wasn’t on front page of google. I am democrat but feel for these people. Every time I turn around someone is getting a handout except for me. Just the other day I read thew back of my sprint bill and if your on public assistance you can get a reduced fee cell phone plan. who pays for that? Since when do people on public assistance get a cell phone? Why can’t they get a landline? Just another example of the attack on middle class
31. Walter | 02.28.09
Obama’s overall spending has gone up over 3.6 trillion in 40 days and some of that is only a down payment.To only include the actual 6 month budget is not very smart. The federal government has never been able to spend it’s way out of anything.It didn’t work in the great depression and it’s going to to repeat history here.
32. pBeez | 02.28.09
Teri, your comments are offensive, yet typical. You don’t get it. There is not a single person at any of these rallies who’d defend the Bush budgets. For goodness sakes, he’s not president any more. We are talking about the here and now, and the future. If you don’t see that, I’d have to seriously question you right to vote or frankly, be allowed in public with out an escort.
33. dg | 02.28.09
It is time for America to stand up and put a stop to this pork spending . Don’t ask me to bail you out because you made $50,000 and spent $100,000
or if you could only afford a 100,000 house but bought a 200,000 house Gov. get out of our pockets.
34. Cardinal Fang | 02.28.09
Teri B you come so close to a real fact in a few areas but never quite make it. I thought I’d take your argument apart piece by piece but it’s late and you probably couldn’t see the truth anyway due to your agressive myopia.
35. Cicero | 02.28.09
#2 Membery
Excuse me, but paying down debt does not cause inflation. That is simply false. We are entitled our opinions, but not our own facts. In fact it is increased public spending that is more likely to cause inflation.
Now maybe you believe the Keynesian theories that increased public spending will increase demand and thus lift us out of a recession, that’s fine. Personally I agree with the neo-classical economists that what we need is for people to save more (and spend less) thus providing more resources to be spent on investment to rebuild our economy. But even if you think I’m wrong and that Obama and the Keynesians are correct, you should not make false claims about the effect of individual savings.
36. Tim Pancoast | 02.28.09
Lucas | 02.27.09
“Where were these protests when we had the first bailout?”
To answer your question, when the first bailout was happening many of us were writing letters, sending emails, and making phone calls to oppose it. That is what I was doing. However, in spite of those efforts the bailout was passed. Then a stimulus package, then a housing plan, and more bailout funds were released, and it keeps coming. All the while we have been writing and calling to no avail. Instead we are rewarded with form letters delivered 2 weeks or more after the fact. These letters show that our representatives in Washington didn’t read our emails and letters, but a staffer scanned them to make sure they had the right topic and then sent out a generic response indicating that our input is valued, but our representatives are still going to do what they planned to do in the first place.
During the immigration debate we had to make so many phone calls that we shut down the phone lines just to be heard by Congress. Even then some were unresponsive to the voice of the people. During this stimulus debate, we have made similar efforts, we overwhelmed the phone lines again and yet this time we were not heard. The unresponsive nature of Congress to the people is growing. Are a people with representatives that don’t listen to them any better represented than a people with no representatives at all?
The original Boston Tea Party occurred because of “taxation without representation.” Well I am certainly being taxed, but as to whether I am being represented, that is seriously in question. I don’t feel like I am any more represented by the government that taxes me than the colonists in Boston were by theirs. (That goes for my Democrat Senators and my Republican Congressman. What an issue to be bipartisan on.) In light of this I would say that revisiting the Tea Party is very appropriate. I wanted to be at the one in DC but my dad had his wedding scheduled for the same time long before the Tea Parties were planned.
37. Agirdude | 02.28.09
To Ms.Deering, who obviously doesn’t get it and has her own “Mega-Government” agenda to advance. Consider this,to juxtapose the Big O’s comments with respect to the stimulus/spending bill to Tea Party II,”of course they are super-invested in small government, low taxes and a free market. That’s the point”. We Will Overcome!!
38. Kevin K. | 02.28.09
Membry, government does not create wealth (the economy)–private industry and individuals do that. Paying down private debt does not cause inflation–massive government borrowing in order to spend causes it. (Well, mostly.) Then there are going to be other problems when the new projects all compete with each other for the same supplies (more money chasing too few goods), which will also add to inflation.
It seems to me that if people take time off from work, with minimal notice, to do something that conservatives rarely do, then something significant is afoot.
Except for “neopatriot”, which is a neologism that should not be, nice coverage CSM, even though I could ask for more on this topic.
39. Russell | 02.28.09
Where does this term “neopatriot” come from? As the 3rd word in the story line, it seems like a play on “neocon” and is meant to paint everyone who participated in the demonstrations, right from the start, as some kind of “neocon”. How about some straight reporting. A reporter should report. This kind of terminology applied to the group is “issue journalism”, not reporting.
The Monitor should not become O’Reilly, Hannity, Matthews or Olberman. This is beneath the standard of the Monitor.
40. zeezil | 02.28.09
See Chart Tracking Stock Market Reacting to Obama’s Campaign - Win - Swearing In - and Now
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_L6pDyjqqsvY/SadsME4cYUI/AAAAAAAAaQk/Tot38ezhYVM/s1600-h/obama+depression.jpg
41. Northlander | 02.28.09
Who will pay for all these handouts when REAL AMERICANS start evading taxes like the TAX CHEAT who runs the IRS?
42. zeezil | 02.28.09
Economist Peter Morici Slams Obama’s “Arrogant” $3.6 Trillion Economic Plan (VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7UOx5_1rQI&eurl=http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/
43. Fact_Check | 02.28.09
The only reason Obama is including Iraq War spending in his budget is because he is being DISHONEST about his budget, not honest.
1. His budget assumes Iraq war spending would remain at 2008 levels even though everyone knows US involvement has been and continues to decrease. And
2. The very reason war spending was not included in the budget was to keep spending for a temporary event, the war, from becoming the permanent baseline of the budget. Which is exactly what Obama is attempting to do.
Obama knows that if he includes the inflated estimates for war spending in his budget, that when the war is over, he can cut SOME of the war spending, while keeping most of it to pay for Democrat wish lists, and claim to have “cut” spending when in fact he has made wartime spending the permanent baseline of the US budget.
44. zeezil | 02.28.09
St. Louis Arch Tea Party Draws 1,500 Protesters!
Pictures: http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/02/tea-party-at-st-louis-arch-draws-1500.html
45. zeezil | 02.28.09
Tea Party Photo Album from various cities across the country:
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/27/fiscal-responsibility-is-the-new-counterculture/
46. zeezil | 02.28.09
Scenes from the D.C. Tea party…pics and video: http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/27/scenes-from-the-tea-party/
47. zeezil | 02.28.09
Pictures from Chicago Tea Party:
http://www.foundingbloggers.com/wordpress/2009/02/breaking-chicago-tea-party-pictures/
48. lin | 02.28.09
Clearly you have no problem voting for your neighbors money. When you have someone coming into your house taking what they want for their own pleasures, I guess that shouldn’t bother you either. Does anyone here study both sides of history? There are two sides, the truth and what someone else wants you to believe is the truth. I’m sure names like Limbaugh and Beck make you sick, but if that is true, you probably have refused to not educate yourself on issues from the right.
The left always sounds good, but usually results in loss of freedoms of some sort. Once politicians have learned (and they have mastered it)that they can promise one group someone else’s money, how happy and large that group gets. But only those who work and pay taxes, especially the wealthy top 5% who pays 60% if ALL the taxes collected create the money, not government. Government confiscates from someone for every program you get money for. Why should it not anger those taxpayers who don’t want to work harder to pay off someone else’s debt when Mr. Obama launches this campaign of our patriotic responsibility to spread the wealth and bail out the bad decisions of others? We did the right thing! It’s not our fault. The govt
treats the problem by throwing our money at the problem. Would you pay a homeless alcoholic to get off the streets and get a home? Of course not. He’d just buy more alcohol. It’s all the same, cause it’s not their money.
49. Starlite | 02.28.09
Why should I have to pay for tatoo removal in Las Angles? I am not feeling
Stimulated!
51. aalamaram | 02.28.09
900million to GAZA rebuilding, 2 billion as aid to Israel etc etc, why not just bring back all our troops back from all around the world, we will save a lot of money. Did not Obama said we will not send our troops outside our shores?
Obama has a fuzzy math, taxing $250,000 and above is not 95%. most of the small business comes under this and they will be taxed heavily.
bailing out people who can not pay their mortgage is really a bad idea. You can not reward bad behavior.
I bet Obama can not stop ‘pork’ in his budget. There is not going to be any transparency either. When they criticize Bank people going to Vegas for an annual celebration for the workers, Senators go to retreat at tax payers expense for hair implants and botox treatment, just look at Nancy Pelosi she is full of botox she can not even smile! At tax payers expense.Rangel defends his largest SUV as a status symbal!
Obama is in for a surprise when he finds out that without pork and pet projects he will not be able to pass his budget. Then all you guys going to shut up. I wish I did not vote for him, a known devil is better than an unknown angel.
I wish I did not vote for him.
52. Kaypers | 02.28.09
Dear Teri B., Membery, No Neopatriot etc…
Read your (pre-revisionist) history books and the U.S. Constitution. If you don’t like the contents within then please feel free to leave. In the U.S.A. we are free to succeed, and FREE TO FAIL. People with imaginations and heart LIKE IT THAT WAY. If you want security from cradle to grave, perhaps prison would be a better option for you?
53. Rational Jenn | 02.28.09
Thank you for taking the time to cover our efforts today. The stimulus plan will only exacerbate our current economic problems. Not only that, it is immoral to take money from one group of people and give it to another group of people–no matter what the reason. This kind of plan rewards failure rather than success.
By the way, my kids were the ones in the tri-cornered hats, and my daughter was carrying the sign that said “When I Grow Up I Want to be Free!” :o)
54. DL13 | 02.28.09
People are angry today, and they have a right to be. Democrats are blaming the Republicans for being obstructionists yet, they barred any input from them in the House part of the Stimulus bill and only from the 3 defectors in the Senate. On top of that no one in Congress read the final bill; they gave an 1100 page document to everyone at 11PM and were told they would vote for it first thing in the AM. Something is wrong with this picture. We were promised transparency and a five day review period for all legislation; it was a campaign promise, and we were lied to about it. Then it had to be signed before anyone could read it. So, yes, we are angry, because, like our Forefathers, we have Taxation Without Representation. It is Reckless and it is Dangerous because it is going to cost a lot more to have the same standard of living before it is fully implemented and it could drive us deep into a depression if it fails. There are better ways to turn our economy around than what we have been presented. Destroying our small businesses with higher regulations and taxes are not one of them. For every dollar businesses are taxed to produce an item they will have to raise the price of that item at least one dollar, so we, the consumer, end up getting hurt. If business doesn’t raise the price they won’t be in business for long and then we add to our unemployed. Bring on the Tea Party.
55. Cindy | 02.28.09
To report in this article that this “grass roots” movement is probably backed by big money GOP shows how paranoid liberals are and the misguided reporting in this article. If the Monitor had properly dug into this they would have found that this is an authentic grass roots movement. Go to http://www.newamericanteaparty.com and you will see where this started and that it was pulled together in about 4 days.
I would have been there if I had enough notice and I know alot of other people too. If this was a big “orchestration” then there would have been more notice.
Can’t wait for the next “tea party” in Denver!
Any true American can plainly see that what is going on with this spending is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! Obama is speaking out of both sides of his mouth and has proven to be WAY less than honest with the American people.
I was totally disgusted with the MSM during the election and that disgust has pesisted based on their pitiful reporting. I have been interested in subscribing to the new publication format of the Monitor but have been very hesistant since I feel that it definitely leans to the left. There have been good stories without the bias, but I feel like this story could have been reported more honestly.
We as Americans have a right to speak our mind to try to communicate with our illustrious politicians so everyone that wants to slam this kind of protesting should get over your fine self!
57. Starr | 02.28.09
Wow, all the previous commentators really know their stuff! Just kidding. Teri: these people are not protesting the Obama administration, or Obama’s budget. They are protesting inflationary government spending, which has taken place in every presidential administration since the 1970s. I’m glad people have finally had enough of it. Bush didn’t lead the way. Nor did Clinton. Our national debt hasn’t gone down one cent since 1971. And propping up unsound business practices with government bailout money only creates corporate dependents upon the government. Likewise, doling out strings-attached money to the states will only increase the amount of power the federal government exerts over all of us. And is anyone even paying attention to the fact that this sevenhundredwhatever billion dollars is not real money? The Fed is just gonna print it out in big fat sheets, not backed by anything of value, and hand it over to the government. Then we get to pay the Fed back by the sweat of our backs. And our children’s backs. And so on and so forth.
Membery’s clever statement that “they are too busy paying down debt, which causes inflation” is not true. Inflation is caused by too much cheap money. The Federal Reserve has got the printing presses going at full capacity, and this valueless money is just flooding the country. The more valueless currency you print, the less each unit will be worth. And another thing: you deride SUV owners, and in the same breath tell us that the stimulus bill should have spent more money. On what? Bailing out more corporations so that people can keep their jobs making SUV’s? I rest my case.
58. anorm | 02.28.09
I am glad people are rising up and speaking out on this terrible spending bill. I am all for stimulating our sluggish economy but the earmarks in this bill are insanity. I live in Dallas. We are building a fancy bridge designed by Calatrava costing many millions of dollars already voted on by the citizens of Dallas in a bond package. It is behind schedule and over budget. Go to stimuluswatch.com and checkout the very first item on Dallas Texas’ list of stimulus spending…that’s right…the Calatrava Bridge. Check out your own state and city and see if you seriously approve of the earmarks that OUR Tax money (now and future) is paying for. I think your eyes will be opened and if they are not, I don’t know what to say to you. Being Democrat or Republican is hardly the issue anymore, it’s insanity in spending that is the issue.
59. Joe Maine-iac | 02.28.09
“Americans are a strange people with respect to taxes”
…because…
“tax revolts that seem surprising here are fairly common in a country like France where those farmers, if they get upset, they simply don’t pay”
Let’s just think about that for a minute, shall we?
60. shane rovetti | 02.28.09
its about time, i’ve been saying the same thing these people have for at least a year! glad to see America waking up!
61. jayne | 02.28.09
The Republican plan isn’t to “do nothing” … oh, wait, no other plan was ever even considered, so we’ll never know what the Republican plan was.
No, this gargantuan, pork infested horror was inflicted on our nation by the thieves on Capital Hill who NEVER EVEN READ the bill. Have they no shame?
Yep, never even read it, but they arrogantly signed away our kids’ future earnings for current comfort. Typical, juvenile move to go for immediate gratification. Feel good now, should be the Democrats’ motto. Shameful.
62. John | 02.28.09
The “neopatriots” are concerned about having to pay for things they don’t believe in?
I can sympathize with that.
I had to help pay for GWB’s illegal, needless war in Iraq.
63. TimTipper | 02.28.09
We had our own Tea Party here in Greenville, SC. The shouts were mostly of the generic “U-S-A” variety. Not much hope in the Young Republicans and their form of “revolt”. See my take on the Greenville, SC event.
64. bwyler | 02.28.09
There are so many handouts I can’t keep track of them anymore. I mean there is gm then citigroup. There is bank of america, then gm. Then there is citigroup and gm or citigroup, or my neighbors. I can’t up. I guess, I’m the gift that keep on giving.
65. Gary | 02.28.09
This is fantastic! It’s not only excess spending, it’s the growth of government to unacceptable levels. It’s the blatant disregard for reading and understanding an 800 billion bill before passing it.
This country is founded on freedom. Freedom to be a capitalist! It takes a lot to get a conservative to protest. We have a deep abiding love of this unique country as the United States of America, not a European clone.
66. Mike B | 02.28.09
Thank God for these protesters! For a minute there, I thought i was the only one screaming from my roof top, “Obama can’t spend his way out of a recession!” After the previous Administration, I was terrified of the size of the Gov’t and in the first 2 months, Obama has doubled the gov’t power and influence! Vote Republicans into Congress in 2010, they have promised to stop 60% of the stimulus bill! (I know, they haven’t proven themselves worthy of holding office—but anything is better than Nancy Pelosi’s lapdog Obama!) The Government has a right to strip a person of ALL their assets and livelihood if we don’t pay taxes—yet, in California (and many other states), honest hard-working tax-paying Americans are given a gov’t I.O.U? Talk about inequality! We should never fear our gov’t, but they should fear us! I hope to join in this revolution, because “When I grow up, I want to be free too!!”
67. Mary Dyer | 02.28.09
What helped kill the Christian Science Journal as a print mediam was the global cost of pulp paper and the high energy costs of hauling the stuff around from the pulp pine forrests around the world, to the costs of trucking it from energy intensive printing plants to the ultimate retail consumers home or office.
the entire print media industry is in a major energy cost crisis. a Denver poaper missed its 150th anniversary by a mere two months this last Friday
the economy can no longer afford to haul literal tons and tons of pulp paper around as cheap energy resources vanish.
68. Paul Martinez | 02.28.09
Teri B. First I truly resent the notion that these people are stupid, I thought the left represented themselves as compassionate, how so by calling them stupid ninny’s? Now, take a look at the charts from the current administrations link, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/pdf/hist.pdf, and you’ll see that the budget deficit under Bush peaked in 2004 and has gone down since then, and this number includes off balance sheet items such as the Iraq war. As well, the national debt has seldom gone down during any presidents tenure, and the total budget outlays have consistently risen. The the current administrations estimates bring the budget amount increasingly higher year after year, if Obama’s plan is to reduce the budget it does not show on their report. My point is not to defend policies of Bush but relay facts to make a good determination on our fiscal state. I was against many of the Bush budget increases and against the first TARP bailout. My kids will have to suffer the consequences of this mess, and that’s aggravating. I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, I have tried to make ends meet many times over, I don’t drive an SUV, I work 2 jobs, and our family is one of the million with no health insurance. I do not cry about what others have, I am not jealous or envious, I don’t flinch at Exxon’s profit numbers. I do work hard, I do try to enhance my life and the life of those around me, that’s where Change begins. When I hear Obama’s catch phrase of Yes We Can, I wonder…is he talking of us or of the government. Government as a conduit for our compassion will put man in charge of that compassion and that inevitably means mis-use of that power. Yes WE can do it, WE not government. Spending and throwing good money after bad will not solve the problem, no matter the amount, it never has. Why even have a balanced budget or reduce the national debt then, if the government can just spend increasingly more on the economy with an exponential return of growth in the economy then they just need to keep spending, but where does the money come from then? Look, when your broke, do YOU go SHOPPING?
69. RG | 02.28.09
Really, are these people just stupid, or hair-on-fire, hysterical ninnys? I don’t get it
—————-
Maybe you don’t get it because you are stupid. Bush wasn’t in a recession when his budget went up. Are you a complete moron or just a partisan?
70. milesfromkansas | 02.28.09
Some observations:
All of the rallies have a “raw, unrehearsed edge”, unlike the carefully choreographed events of the perennially-protesting left.
“…this tactic of creating an appearance of grassroots activism…” Yes, it’s all part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.
The Rick Santelli rant was subsequent to rallies in Seattle, Denver, Mesa and Overland Park, with others already being organized. He was the cart, not the horse.
“Critics call the protests a predictably partisan, ill-informed and unhelpful development in the midst of a deep-sink US recession.” What critics would these be? The CSM editorial staff? Yes, it’s predictably partisan - how many Democrats have come out strongly against this borrowing? Ill informed? Thanks to bloggers, we are remarkably well-informed, unlike those who rely on the old media. And an unhelpful development… that’s just funny!
71. Matt Hooper | 02.28.09
The “Tea Party” movement is a sham, created from the ground up by a PR firm. Spread the link, spread the word!
72. Good Lt | 02.28.09
The first bailout was supposed to be a one time fix, and the right was uncomfortable with it. In case you hadn’t noticed, many of the people who disapproved of Bush’s presidency did so because they thought he was spending too much - which he did. However that doesn’t make Obama’s four-fold multiplication of the problem right.
What I think is a more pertinent question is this: Where are all of the Democrats protesting in the streets at the recent news that Obama is keeping 50,000 troops in Iraq and sending 17,000 more to Afghanistan?
73. TeaPartyConservative | 02.28.09
Well said “Membery.”
If you post an address then perhaps we can just wend you our paychacks….
Don’t conservatives have families to raise? What makes the government experts in spending my money?
Ever heard this before:
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto
And you are wrong about inflation. When the government has to print more money (and we are talking trillions) then the value of goods will be going up. This is the hidden tax on wealth that no one is discussing.
74. Jen @ JenuineJen | 02.28.09
I helped plan the Atlanta Tea Party and I’d like to address Lucas’ question about where we were when the first bailout happened.
Conservatives were upset and angry about the first bailout. While a book could be written about what the McCain Campaign could have done better and another few volumes written on what the Obama Campaign did well, one thing that hurt McCain within the conservative movement was his vote for the first bailout bill. Georgia’s Sen. Saxby Chambliss wound up in a runoff election because of his support for the bailout. Yes, ultimately we re-elected him but he was sent a message before he was re-elected.
The fact of the matter is that conservatives were not as orgnaized online in September and October as we are today, just 3-4 months later. In September and October, the Twitter polling for who you would vote for President was 80% Obama to 20% McCain. Conservatives were not using new media very much and they certainly were not using it in the organized manner of the liberals. As the Tea Parties on Friday show, conservaties are more organized and hopefully in 18 months from now we will be even better at using new media.
There was an effort to send a message to President Obama but the message yesterday was not aimed soley at Pres. Obama and it was not an attack on him personally. It was aimed at all the members of Congress who are not being fiscally responsible with our money. As Rick Santelli expressed last week, people, who keep up with their own debt obligations and make sacrifices to do so, do not want to pay for their mortgage of their neighbors, who do not keep up with their debt obiligations.
77. Pilot Bob | 02.28.09
After the administration starts to print more money to pay for this fiasco (we will not be able to keep borrowing it) You will pay $1000.00 for a loaf of bread.
The dollar will be worth nothing !!!
78. lilysmom | 02.28.09
This sort of protest worked so well over the last 40 years for Democrats…snort.
79. Justice For All | 02.28.09
My home is being foreclosed not because I bought something I couldn’t afford but because my job went to China - the bill collectors that call me are from India - all you who still have a job - if and when you lose it let’s say what you say then - the bank can have my home back - they made the loan - I was against the 1st bailout that Chris Dodd said would be passed ONLY if we helped Main St as well as Wall St - if your not totally blind you see how that went along with his saying there will be TRANSPARENCY in the bill - it was so transparent that no one can see where the money went - when did it chanege from WE THE PEOPLE to WE THE LOBBYIST - America - you are being taxed without representation - it’s just a matter of time until a song hits the charts and a movement starts and we start electing PEOPLE instead of LAWMAKERS
80. Tim Allmana | 02.28.09
Just a Question:
When Obama or the “Great Pretender” gets ousted, notice I did not say IF, will all of the Bills passed and signed be reversible? I am looking at all the stupid bills being passed and signed into “Law” and when found to be an usurper, they all become null and void. Talk about the Stock Market taking an upswing. Anyway, how will it all be undone and set back to where it was when the USURPER took over. I hope there is a good accountant keeping track of all of those funds that will have to be returned to the Treasury. Then again, would those losers who were hired to be Cabinet members and the associated czars have to return the funds paid to them for being on the payroll of the usurper. The more time that goes on till the ONE is ousted, the price to US is astronomical. BTW, would the Cabinet Members and all of the so called appointees be able to collect unemployment?
God Bless our wonderful troops who have given more than we will ever be able to repay, especially the patriots who have signed on the the current and future lawsuits trying to discover the truth about “The ONE.”
82. Mary Rene | 02.28.09
Why don’t we give up our Social Security Checks and live on our investments–just get rid of the whole New Deal? Old people who don’t work should go back to the poor houses, and give their homes to the next generation, or just die.–
Wasn’t that Hitler’s solution?????? Get real everybody–We are our brother’s keepers in the US; if you don’t like it–get out and make way for people that appreciate the best system in the world.
83. Phil S | 02.28.09
Calling these people “neo-patriots” suggests that their course is acceptably patriotic, not simply greedy. It is an insult to anyone who considers him or herself a patriot today.
84. Rick | 02.28.09
It’s good to see that the unemployed and uneducated are still allowed to gather in small groups and complain about things they know nothing about.
86. S. Busch | 02.28.09
I didn’t hear about these protests. I would have gone to St. Louis to join in. I love it. I love that conservatives are finally standing up to liberals. Revolution is almost here. Where do I sign up?I’m sick of the government throwing money around. I disagreed with the first bail out, I disagreed with the stimulus, and I disagree with all the excess spending taking place. I’m sick of it and I’m angry. Obama and President Pelosi better not even think of touching our guns or they will have real dissent to deal with.
87. Denise | 02.28.09
Hurray for my conservative brothers and sisters! A more apropriate prop might have been pork and gravey rather than tea. And the challenge should be for EVERYONE to get off the gravey train to refuse government subsidies of every kind. When my young family was eligable, and encouraged, to apply for CHIP and a plethera of other govenment services, we refused. We raised two healthy intelligent children on homemade babyfood, second hands, and x-brands (all without cable). Now through hard work and right choices we are members of the “wealthy” class (though, this may change if we continue down this path of shakedowns) Our primary investment has been put into our own successful small business, hard work, and godly principles. I do resent the implication that what we have aquired was ill-gained through exploitation of others. Rather I feel like we are the exploited. I recently found out that our childrens’ higher education and our tithes and offerings will no longer be tax deductable. I wonder if others who recieve financial aid must claim it as additional income.
There is a question that I’ve been seeking an answer to. Is it possible for a family who makes less than another to actually make more when tax deductability and government subsidies are taken into account?
88. Iaintgonatakeit | 02.28.09
Just had my hours cut. In previous years, we my company was prospering. My company has one foot out the door into China. My wife’s company has suffered tremendous losses to the print industry. I say, don’t see another movie, don’t buy any more of them, and screw the big screen TVs. Hollywood helped in the brainwashing process, screw them! MORE TEA PARTIES!!
“A government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything… The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.” Thomas Jefferson”
89. Teecoop | 02.28.09
You can find details on dates and times for the tea parties on the following sites:
http://www.iamwithrick.com
http://www.newamericanteaparty.com
They had parties on Friday the 27th and Saturday the 28th but they were only organized a few days in advance. I didn’t hear about the parties until Thursday the 26th so the turnout was low since many people weren’t aware or couldn’t take the day off work on such short notice. However, if you go to the “iamwithrick”and it looks like they have a few currently scheduled (appropriately) on July site, they have a few set up for July 4th so keep checking those 2 sites for future dates.
If you want to see pictures or video from Friday’s tea parties go to Michelle Malkin’s site at: http://www.michellemalkin.com
90. Robert | 02.28.09
People! This is NOT about partisanship! I’m sooo tired of the far left and far right loons! ARE YOU NOT AN AMERICAN?!?! I am a Libertarian with some conservative leanings, and some democratic leanings. We have had enough of fools in Washington eroding our rights, civil liberties, and mortgaging our future and our children’s future. This indefensible stimulus bill is the donkey that ate an elephant that fell on the overloaded camel’s back. It’s INSANE! Billions of PORK including to save a marsh mouse in San Francisco!!!!!!!! What in Ceasar’s name does that have to do with JOBS!!!!!!!??!??! We’re going to have double digit interest rates (inflation… can’t you hear the printing presses running at record speed?) and dramatically increased tax rates (duhhh…. how are we going to pay for a doubled national debt) for that!!!!!! Are you nuts?!
If you’re a true American, you should be fuming mad that your civil liberties (EVERY AMENDMENT in the Constitution) are being sold off, shredded, stomped on and trashed. You should be incensed that we are about to double our national debt and burn all our ammunition by “shooting it into the empty blue sky”!!!
If you’re not fuming, incensed, foaming at the mouth and disgusted at these bumbling idiots in Washington (past AND present) from BOTH parties, you’re either crazy, heavily medicated, or plain ignorant.
I was all for a stimulus package, but when the Congressional Budget office tells you it will do more bad than good… well you had better go back in, sharpen your pencil, and fix it! I’m for nationalizing some of the banks, but! they need to be taken over, shareholders wiped out, chopped up and sold back to the market (like the expert economists are telling them to [Nouriel Roubini]). Propping up “zombie” banks is EXACTLY what happened in Japan, and that turned out real well, didn’t it…
91. Carol | 02.28.09
Obama is making promises he does not intend to keep. The only ones benefiting from his actions are the lazy people living on welfare and disability incomes. They’re all gungho to take the money from the poor hardworking people that actually support themselves and now Obama expects us to support all the couch potatoes too.
92. Christie | 03.01.09
Kudos to the Tea Party protestors! Thank you for utilizing the First Amendment and protesting the “porkulus” package. This spending bill is a direct attack on capitalism and the American way of life. I hope that citizens take note of those Congressmen that voted in support of this bill and put new representatives in their place in 2010. Our country cannot afford this debt in the future. Life is about choices. Why should hardworking Americans pay for those that made bad decisions? Unfortunately, we will all pay (literally) for the poor decisions made in the first 100 days of this current administration. The United States of America needs less bureaucracy and MORE indvidual responsibility by ALL citizens.
93. Robriot | 03.01.09
There is no system that works. It is only when the leaders share the fate of the people they lead that a good outcome can be expected. Capitalism and communism have killed 100s of millions of people because it lowers the number of people that get a share of what is available, not because one system is better that another. In this age we are lucky to be more a part of the government. We can try to pick leaders who share our fate. Don’t be fooled but 400 million dollar talking head on TV or ear pullers on the radio. They are not your friends and they have little in common with you much less share your fate.
94. Radioactive Zombie | 03.01.09
Being obvious, I think it’s from banks being effectively nationalized.
****, I’d never expect libertarians taking some part.
95. Laurie Whitehead | 03.01.09
I greatly appreciate your coverage of this event. It demonstrates real news reporting. The Monitor is known in academic circles as a liberal news paper, and that has always disappointed me. We need a news source that does not manipulate readers by limiting news coverage, or biasing its reporting. This report on the tea party encourages me to subscribe to the Monitor. I am also forwarding this article to friends and family who are not current subscribers.
96. paul p. | 03.01.09
where are the dogs? the hoses? the tear gas? the riot police?
wait until you’ve been tear gassed, hosed, shot with a rubber bullet, and smacked with a club during a peaceful protest by someone who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect the people, then you’ll have a real understanding of what it means to not be represented.
power to the people!
97. Joan Schmitt | 03.01.09
People also need to start looking at Obama’s youth rallies going on around the country. Add guns and is eerily like Hitler’s youth.
98. Christopher (Trini guy) | 03.01.09
I find this to be incredible, the American economy needs to be restructured to be able to recover and the President is making it cheaper for the average American to do so by giving tax breaks. The natural response is what? Celebration right, no they protest! Is that intelligence or just party supporting at it’s worst?
99. jane steinhauser | 03.01.09
How can we extend the New Tea Party nation wide? It is needed Jane Steinhauser
101. EKP | 03.02.09
Before you go off placing blame on one administration or another, remember that it is the congress that approves the budgets and the bailouts. The irony is that although many posters to this thread have ranted about Obama or about Bush, the congress that has approved the spending of our funds did not materially change during the election. Therefore, if you want to go on ranting and having a conniption about the administration’s (either this one or the previous’ one spending) take a hard look at the people whom approved all of the “pork” both republicans AND democrats, because by and large, they’re the same pig farmers that were there before.
102. Dan McGillis | 03.03.09
The time has come to form a new party the “Tea” party. Return the power to the states and restrict the federal government to doing what it is supposed to do. Coin money and kick ***. Why do we send money to D.C. to be wasted on pet projects, waste, fraud and abuse? Is it not more efficient to send that money to the state capital were it will still be spent on pet projects, waste, fraud and abuse, but at least there we can keep a better eye on how our money is spent and wasted? Power to the people is power to the states!
103. Jeanne McQueen | 03.04.09
I am most worried about the cap and trade bill that Obama wants to pass. It is the worst way to try to get money from the people that they have thought of. I do not believe in Global Warming and think it has been another big lie. I hope the Protest parties will grow.
104. NonPartisan Truth | 03.05.09
You people are not getting the point. This is not a debate over Obama v Bush or Republican v Democrat. The truth is that the spending of both parties is wildly out of control. Bush and the Republicans spent like drunken sailors. Obama and the Democrats are using the financial crisis as a means to spend even more. When does it stop? They are spending money we dont have, putting our children and grandchildren in debt. They borrow from other countries and print money, which every economist agrees will cause a rise in inflation. They give tax breaks to people who dont pay taxes and create government programs that inevitably fail. They do this so they continue to be elected. Give people free money and you’ll get their vote. But the power we freely hand over to politicians to run our lives means that we are eroding our own freedoms of life, liberty and property. Wake up people. Party politics is a smoke screen. While we argue over political parties, the politicans are collaborating to rob us blind.
105. Rose | 03.05.09
Revolution! Give me a break. What short term memories people have. Blaming Obama when he is actually trying to help people get jobs is ridiculous!!!!
107. Lee Pendleton | 04.01.09
I cannot believe the comments made by some that doing something is better than “doingnothingism”. the lead ont eh article “neopatriot” indicates that that even this media outlet has been tainted. Were those who carried out the original Boston Tea Party “neopatriots” when they stood against a lack of representation? Our current situation is dangerously close to taxation without representation when pole after pole indicates that the American people are furious over this drunken spending. I could go on but more PATRIOTS need to wake up and stop this government while the ballot box has any legitimate power left. My greatest fear is now that ACORN has essentially federal funding, that the ballot box is no longer an effective tool for political disent.
108. Andrew | 04.01.09
If you want to make a statement, the tea party idea is a good idea, but the original Boston Tea Party was an act of disobedience to the law, criminal at best. This new tea party where you actually send or destroy tea bags and rally on that point is rather pointless, the Boston tea party destroyed mass amounts of a highly prized and valuable commodity, tea is no longer as valuable as it used to be and thus lost its ability to impact the economy in the same way that it did in the past.
There is a better way, take a dollar bill, you can use a 5, a 10, or a 20, whatever you are willing to destroy. Yes I said destroy. cut the bill in half (cut to the right hand side of the face out of respect for the founding father depicted there) and said the left hand (the one with the face) to your congressman or representative with a note. mine will say “I would rather destroy my own money than let the government TAKE it from me”. but you can say whatever you want, but the should also say that this is the form all future campaign contributions will be in unless the current administration stop their current attack on our economy.
109. Paul Robinson | 04.03.09
The biggest worried I have is that everytime I turn the tv on there is someone else asking for bailout money. When did it become ok to screwup money wise and then have the taxs payers money cover your screw ups. When I screw up and get behind on a bill or bills which has happened, I work more, and not buy things you don’t need.
110. Roger | 04.03.09
I think Obama and the Dem-Wit Congress is not aware of the peoples mind set at the moment but they will get the memo. I think they need to get another Poll. Also a budget is a budget. They will spend every flipping dime every year and this money belongs to US. Yea…… we had a deficit, not good but 3T Plus is insane, The Democrats have hung themselves out to dry this time and Obama is worse than Jimmy Carter. There are people living today that remember seeing Mortgages rates @ 21% Plus. This is what they do. Oh and the NEW Future Fed Tax Rate is going to 50% Plus…….. Thank You SO VERY MUCH………….
Also the Banks when they were loaning all the money for these mortgages they didn’t give a flip. AGI played the biggest roll when a smart moron created the MBS, CMBS, CDO to sell, for debt to make money. The Risk was never considered. In the past people did everything to hang on too their homes even in bad times, it never dawned on them that people today in hard times would just move out and throw the keys on the living room floor, thus leaving the Banks holding the bag. This Killed The Banks. No way could Bush on his best day cause a World Wide Financial Meltdown but this didn’t happen by accident.
111. Blogging It in Live Journal | 04.04.09
I think we need to take this Tea Party Movement to a higher level…Like the Government, State etc. should, by law, respect every citizens basic human rights. They need to hold the Constitution close and never ever stomp on it. Our civil liberties are too important to just throw them away. I won’t let that happen. I will use my right to free speech to continually talk about the problems that plague our systems and I hope you will too. Lets all do this peacefully!
112. Mike | 04.06.09
6. Rogerthat | 02.27.09
Obama is a weapon of mass destruction
HA HA hee hee her her.. *sigh* okay I have had my circus.. somebody gimme some bread!
113. Brian K Masterson | 04.06.09
to Dr. Trent Sanders I applaude your actions let the liberals whom support welfare have to live on it for awhile maybe they will change there attitude
As to the others whom say this is not a partisian issue that is not true because are beliefs are expressed throught our party to wich we align ourselves I as a conservative fully support these actions Our country could very well be seing it final days if the American people do not stand up and take action.We must vote for leaders whom support the Constitionn And The Bill fo Rights and they must be held accountable.
If you truly want to protest this tear up your tax bill and tell the goverment no taxation without representation meaning we will be heard one way or another.
115. Thomas-Kenneth | 04.07.09
Wow!… So enough people finally got mad enough to band together. Now educate yourselves. Have you ever heard of the “Uniform Commercial Code”?. You cant be both a Debtor and a Creditor. The Slave can’t sue the Master!. Now that you’ve decided to give up the Silence approach.. Stop Argueing too. Accept and Counter… Offer, Acceptance, Consideration and performance. Wake up people… You are already in control…God Bless
116. Greg | 04.07.09
I think its arrogant of the democratic party and Pres. Obama to think that they can ruin the American dollar and the hopes for a brighter future for later generations by passing these absurd budget plans that will only lead to more government control (which Obama wants in the first place). I’m thrilled to know that we the American people are finally taking a stand for not only our rights as INDIVIDUALS, but the hope for the generations to come.
117. 1Patriot | 04.07.09
Dr. Trent Sanders - the world is laughing at you. Many of the posters here are obviously suffering from cognitive dissonence. Many of you say you were equally upset with the spending of past administrations, but your comments show otherwise. Your comments show that you really are upset with how your tax dollars are being spent and who they help. Well an ideological shift has arrived! Now is the time for renewed partiotism and spirit of community and a collective helping society. We could all save more money and have a little more “disposable/spendable” income if we paid a little more in taxes. Of course I would like to couple that with reduced spending in some areas, but I’m guessing most of you wouldn’t agree with those cuts.
118. Jack24 | 04.07.09
3 things:
1) There is no such thing as an honest politician if they are in Washington.
2) When was the last time a washington politician sweated from a hard days work?
3) When will our American Voters realize the importance and principles of checks and balances and no one person or group of people have every right answer?
120. Anthony | 04.12.09
Thank God For Obama……If the repugs were in power there whould be “soup line” parties all over the country. They will lose some more in 2010 and 2012.
121. Michael John | 04.14.09
If you’re looking for your local Tea Party event, or need a free website to publicize your event and discuss issues, check out http://www.TeaPartyNexus.com. My local tea party got a free website within hours of asking for one!
122. diana dugina | 04.14.09
Death of Democracy….takes about 200 years.
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage”*
1787 Alexander Tyler
Thank goodness, I / we? live in a Republic. Big difference. It would be nice if our president and congress remembered that…….
Do today’s Americans have contempt for the republican values laid out by our Founders, or is it simply a matter of our being unschooled about the differences between a republic and a democracy? It appears that most Americans, as well as their political leaders, believe that Congress should do anything it can muster a majority vote to do. Thus we have been transformed into a democracy. The most dangerous and insidious effect of majority rule is that it confers an aura of legitimacy, decency, and respectability on acts that would otherwise be deemed tyrannical. Liberty and democracy are not synonymous and could actually be opposites. taken from the persuit of happiness, Walter Williams 2007
123. Ron | 04.15.09
Why do so many people think: 1. You can tax and spend out of a recession 2. You can print money and not make it worthless both here and internationally (inflation) 3. That pouring money into the top of a bank is going to make it write off “toxic assets” 4. That spending money on pet partisan projects in a time of short money for everyone is ethical, let alone responsible?
Is it
A. Because they are the underinformed ones
B. Because they just have an agenda and don’t care
C. Because they seek personal gain and don’t care about the US
D. All the above
124. John J Frost | 04.15.09
Everybody better understand that we who work will pay also for the bail out. And it starts right now. Banks are increasing interest rates on credit cards as a means of a quick return of the TARP money. They didn’t even wait a respectable time before they started on shearing the wealth producers. Will Obama and his people claim his economic policies are working.
125. “W” | 09.22.09
Where were the Tea Party patriots when Ronnie Raygun was driving the debt to the max ?
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
1. Instapundit » Blog Archive » TEA PARTY UPDATE: photos and Fox TV video from Chicago. Plus, a report from Seattle, courtesy of… | 02.27.09
7. Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » The Tea Parties: A New Revolution Or Much Ado About Nothing ? | 02.28.09
9. AllMilitary.com - Official Military Blog, Military Updates » Blog Archive » The Weekly Claw 3-3-09 | 03.03.09
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Teri B. | 02.27.09
Really, are these people just stupid, or hair-on-fire, hysterical ninnys? I don’t get it.
Here’s the budget’s from Clinton through Obama:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
see how Bush’s budget goes up and up and up, AND didn’t include the actual cost of the war.
Yes, Obama’s budget goes up, but not any more than Bush’s did from one year to another in many cases. Look, Bush went from $2.0 trillion to $3.1 trillion over the course of his presidency. Obama has a long range plan to bring it down as well.
Obama’s goes up by $.5 trillion, but he IS including the cost of the wars, AND look at all the new things he’s doing.
When you look at it with a little historical perspective, Obama’s budget isn’t that outrageous, considering he’s been handed two wars to prosecute and the worst financial crisis in decades.