#045 — Tax Day TEA Parties
Party Like It’s 1773!
Today, thousands if not millions of people are expected to turn out to local Tax Day TEA parties. The Tax Day Tea Party is a national collaborative grassroots effort organized by Smart Girl Politics, Top Conservatives on Twitter, the DontGo Movement and many other online groups & coalitions.
TEA stands for “Taxed Enough Already”, and these grassroots protests are in response to reactionary and excessive tax & spend policies by the U.S. government prompted by the recent bailouts and stimulus plans passed by Congress & signed into law by President Obama. The TEA Party is analogous to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, a protest over the American colonists being subject to British taxing policies without any representation.
Here’s the video that started it all:
CNBC\’s Rick Santelli\’s Chicago Tea Party
Where’s The Party?
Thousands of Tax Day TEA Parties are scheduled today in many cities around the country. For more information on a TEA Party in your local area, visit the Tax Day Tea Party website.
I’m Busy, How Can I Follow Today’s Events?
There are many political pundits, bloggers, and organizations covering the events nationwide. Here’s a few I’ve seen:
Many people are covering local events real-time on Twitter:
You can also search Twitter for comments using the following search tags:
YouTube
Do a search for “Tea Party”. Plenty of attendees in numerous cities are posting their videos throughout the day.
Report Back to MyMoneyMinute!
Are any of you attending a Tax Day TEA Party today?? Please leave comments below about your experience, as well as links to pictures. I may do a follow-up post if there’s enough reports generated.
photos by skye820
This is so stupid………..people have been paying taxes for years. Why now do we want to have a “tea” party. If people were really worried about this economic everyone would have made a serious effort to stop Bush from spending trillions of dollars on the war in Iraq.
@C.L. Stewart
freedom of speech and political involvement by the people is never “stupid”. it’s responsible. people are obviously moved to act, and so they are. that’s America.
sure, we’ve been paying taxes for years. good point. but never in history have we done the kind of spending GWB and BHO have proposed (and congress passed) recently.
i suspect you see this as a partisan thing though and are just firing back. i challenge you to see it differently.
I went to the one in Plano today, it was HUGE. People were LAYING on the horn going by… GOOD STUFF.
C.L., It’s not really about “taxes”, it’s about oppression to the ideals this country encourages. Dems want to SOAK the top wage earners when they are already responsible for paying over 90% of all taxes.
The top 5 percent of wage earners in this country pay around 53.25% of the nations taxes. the top 10% of wage earners pay a staggering 64.89% of them, the top 50% pay most of it (96.3%) ALREADY.
Capitalism is like a tank filled with Sharks. They are competitive and vicious. The ones who are Leaders and who are the STRONGEST EAT. Without this extreme competition, who would make the stride to be better than the rest?
Example: In Russia, they all get an equal share of wealth and they are stagnant because of it. As a country we produce many more industrious things; businesses, med tech, new inventions, and create WEALTH for the entire country. Those too lazy to be ambitious can just live on welfare and be miserable for all I care.
Obama wants to take from the rich who EARNED the money, and give to the loosers who don’t have the heart to fight. All the while a large percentage will just use it for no good anyway. (to house them while they go rob, destroy, and sell drugs).
I am all for easing the burden on middle class families (but those who work).
I saw the Plano one as well. I never would have expected that many people to show up. I guess it seems slightly silly to “protest” in an area where the majority of the people agree with you. But I do get the idea of rallying support on a nationwide scale.
Pictures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2326692&id=16710897&l=1facbf3813
I’m usually not one for political commentary, but I will say that I’ve never in my life been as deeply concerned for the future as our country as I am now. It was never even a thought before. But now, seeing trigger finger spending (regardless of the cause), on a scale that far supersedes that of which is available is a bit worrisome. Anyone who has been in debt should know that debt is a burden, and spending only creates a greater burden, not a permanent solution.