Tea parties protest government spending

HOUSTON - "Silent majority no more! Revolution is brewing."

That's the message posted on the online headquarters for Tax Day Tea Parties, in which thousands across the country will participate in rallies to protest the government's billion-dollar stimulus packages and bailouts for the banking and auto industries.

"The message to the politicians is, we want them to repeal the ridiculous spending and the out-of-control financial shenanigans or we're going to retire them," Felicia Cravens told the Houston Chronicle.

Cravens helped organize tea party events in Houston after she and others were inspired by the well-publicized rant by CNBC's Rick Santelli who called for a "Chicago tea party" in the wake of the mortgage bailouts.

The concept of the tea party dates back to the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773 in which colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxes imposed by the British monarchy. Except this year, participants are putting a new spin on history.

Protesters around the country, including Olympia, Wash., have been mailing their local government representatives tea bags with labels reading "T.E.A." -- "Taxed Enough Already" -- according to the Seattle Times.

Attendees of the tea parties cross party lines, although many are Republicans. But organizers say it's not about partisan politics.

"People think this is about President Obama, but it's not," Marilyn Jordan, an organizer of the Fort Bend, Texas, Tea Party, told the Houston Chronicle. "It is about making a change in government. They're making bad decisions. These stimulus bills are out of control. I've worked hard all my life and no one has given me a handout."

Democrat Karen Madson voted for Obama, but says her family has paid enough taxes to the government. "I support President Obama. My gripe is with the Congress and how they're spending the American dollar and putting Americans further and further in debt," Madson said on Fox News.

Despite its large mobilization effort, some believe that the tea parties' efforts will fall flat. John Tantillo, president and founder of the Marketing Department of America, writes on FoxNews.com, "The 2009 tea party isn't part of a constructive negotiation or a revolution, it's a rant without any consequences -- just like Santelli's rant on air. Not paying the portion of ones' taxes going to programs you really object to would be a powerful statement -- but I doubt if the tea partiers are going to get around to doing this."

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders writes, "I don't like the new Obama programs either, but political leaders must recognize that someone is going to have to pay for them, and patriots can't tout an agenda with no sacrifice."

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