Thousands vent anger at Tax Day Tea Party
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Voices from a tea party
Several thousand people rallied in downtown Richmond protesting the federal government's handling of the economy and their tax dollars.
JOE MAHONEY/TIMES-DISPATCH
The rain did not dampen the spirits of the Richmond gathering of the Tax Day Tea Party.
Published: April 16, 2009
Updated: April 17, 2009
It rained on the Richmond Tax Day Tea Party, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of several thousand chanting, sign-waving Virginians.
They crowded into the Kanawha Plaza tonight to vent their anger at what they consider a big-spending government that they fear is taking away their freedoms.
The signs told the story:
"The Real Pirates are in Congress."
"Stop Toxic Spending!"
"Tea Party Today. Tar and Feathers Tomorrow!"
"Unrepentant Capitalist!"
"Obamanomics. Trickle Up Poverty."
"Obama Wants Your Dollars. Do You Want His Change?"
"Who Will Bail Out the Bailout?"
Across the nation today, tens of thousands of protesters staged hundreds of "tea parties," from Boston to Salt Lake City, from Kentucky to Alaska to rail against the nation's mounting debt and spending they think is out of control.
Protesters even threw what appeared to be a box of tea bags toward the White House, causing a brief lockdown at the compound.
At the Richmond tea party, some wore tea bags as earrings.
A series of speakers, many from radio station WRVA, railed against the government and the growing federal debt. But the loudspeakers weren't strong enough to carry the speeches to the rear of the crowd. Many shouted their disapproval with the sound system.
A Patrick Henry impersonator drew the biggest applause with a recitation of his famous "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, made just a few blocks away in 1775.
Robert Bruce came up from Aylett to hold an American flag upside down, a symbol of distress.
"America is going in the wrong direction," he said.
Nessa Park of Richmond, attending her first political rally, checked a reporter's identity before talking to him.
"I don't want socialism," she said.
The speakers sounded an anti-government theme. Matt Whitworth, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, said, "The best way to fix the economy is to cut taxes . . . and get the government out of our lives."
Jamie Radtke, a member of the group Restoring the Founders' Vision, brought her young children with her to emphasize her point that the growing debt is "embezzling and pillaging our children's future."
Sarah Halsey wore red, white and blue ribbons in her hair and a sandwich board that proclaimed, "I am only 8 years old and I'm already $36,000 in debt." On the back, it read "Keep your Marxist hands out of my piggy bank."
Her father, Stephen Halsey, 40, of Henrico County held a sign that said, "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem."
On the outskirts of the crowd, Charles Jones, 46, of Henrico County held a giant wooden pitchfork that impaled large dollar bills labeled "earmarks" and "waste."
Ashley Farley, 14, and Ivy Williamson, 13, both of Mechanicsville, stood atop a wall leading into the park and waved to passing vehicles. They held homemade signs that read "Stop spending our future" and "Party like it's 1773."
Hari Sevugan, press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, issued a statement in response to the tea party rallies:
"While we support the right of Americans to petition their government, what's clear is that the overwhelming majority of folks support President [Barack] Obama's plan to get the economy back on track and provide 95 percent of working families with tax relief, because they are no longer going to accept 'more of the same' as an answer."
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .
Contact Melodie N. Martin at (000) 649-6290 or .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reader Reactions
12step - we’ve got things we do for fun and you’ve got yours and it looks like they’re the same thing.
12Step: Don’t be such a party-pooper! This is the 21st century version of bear baiting. We could be planting radioactive pellets in each other’s food like they do in Russia, but this is far more fun.
I think that a few of the posters with 15-20 replies in this thread have a delusional sense of the efficacy of their words on the internet. I’ve got news for you, folks… you’re not changing anyone’s mind, you’re not achieving any kind of victory, and you’re not impressing anybody. “Winning” an argument on the internet is like getting a gold medal at the Special Olympics…
For all of you individuals that are complaining about the current administrations ‘spending’..have you ever seriously thought the reason behind the spending? it is because the economy is simply awful right now. they are spending to get the country out of the hole that the past administration put us in. i am sure that you are the same group of people that thought that bush won the presidency fair and square lol.(and i have a bridge to sell you for a great low price too lol) too long the government has been spending on the private sector, giving tax breaks,allowing businesses to outsource overseas all because they(the government under the bush administration)plundered the government to the point where we have national landmarks under lien because WE owe other countries money. and all the while, the american people have been losing more jobs with nothing to supplement them…..basically, the people, not those making 250k a year,but the masses have have suffered long enough. stop being greedy.
eegake: Seven digits to the left? Wow! You must really be raking it in. What business to you run? It must be doing very well in order for you to be able sacrifice so much for the rest of us. Can I ask if, in order, to raise the moolah to pay those seven digits, did you happen to increase your prices or operating costs to offset the tax burden? Who pays those so you can afford the 7 digits to the left? Also, when did you know Karl Rove?
eegake - thank you for your response. Having read your thoughts, my original position stands with additional certitude.
<<...but from what I have read so far it looks like those commenting on the left are justifiable scared of what they see, as they should be.>>
Yeah. And also take notice of all the one-off Leftists: pop up and make one comment loaded with DNC talking points. Then when you challenge their ignorance, they simply disappear.
Here’s the typical script:
“Ha, ha! Stupid right-wing haters! Astroturf! Faux News and corporations! Ha! Bush did it! Ha!“
Dollars-to-dimes that most are tied to MoveOn.org or some other Leftist group and their sole purpose here is the dissemination of propaganda.
Think abou this: the Tea Party protests were about American citizens voicing their opposition to what they feel is out-of-control govt spending.
Now, take a look back through the thread. For all the hyperventilating Lefties, does it strike anyone as odd that NONE OF THEM presents a single, fact- or data-based argument that spells out why these insane levels of spending are necessary or good for the country?
NOT ONE OF THEM!
Look back at my responses to them, which cite actual, fact-based tax data, economic data, spending data, Congressional votes, historical precedents, etc. What happens when they’re challenged? Everyone of them—EVERY ONE OF THEM—runs away.
To all you Leftists, hear this: you no longer have an absolute stranglehold on the information stream any longer, so you better start getting used to having to defend your ideas with facts and data, rather than just depending on the networks, NYT, Boston Globe and Wash Post to carry water for you. ESPECIALLY in light of the way the networks are hemorrhaging viewers…and the Times and Globe are about to go under.
Want to see how well your relentlessly screaming of “Faux News!“ has worked out? Just take a look at Fox’s numbers that Randy posted below. And that’s the PERPETUAL order of those numbers, day-in and day-out. And their viewership is growing—EVERY DAY.
The days of people being cowed into submission by your endless screaming of “racist!“ and “sexist!“ are coming to an end.
Now THAT’S Hope and Change that I can believe in! It’s time for all of you Lefties to get used to it and “MoveOn”. :)
Randy, I enjoyed your venting thoroughly, thanks for responding. However, you aren’t even particularly good at beating up on straw men of your own creation, keep working on it, perhaps you have a future in stand up comedy on the Faux News network.
As regards the personal criticisms you raise:
1. I haven’t been led by anyone for a very very long time. I don’t have to be, I learned to think critically before Barack Obama was born. I knew Karl Rove as a young man and rest assured he privately laughs at the naivette of persons such as yourself, he was never very good at hiding his contempt for the mentality of the sheep he targeted so well during his stint with the recent junta.
2. I’ve often found that acting through government is a preferable alternative to taking direct action entirely on my own. Nonetheless I’ve always made a point of being quite prepared to go it with the government, without it, or for that matter, against it.
3. I did manage to keep my Federal tax bill for 2008 just barely under 7 decimal digits to the left of the decimal point, thanks for bringing it up. I would hope you did as well, although it is difficult to imagine how that could be, unless you are some sort of “born with a silver spoon up your crevice” case. I am proud to be able to pay taxes at the level I do and expect to pay even more in the future as a result of my continuing success and growth, notwithstanding a great deal of my contribution having been diverted to the service of nothing less than evil incarnate on the face of the Earth during the last presidential administration. The ongoing looting of public resources to the gain of parasites like Goldman Sachs troubles me greatly. It’s quite unfortunate that the House representative from Richmond’s district has been party to these crimes, I had hoped to see this change in the last election and did what I could to see him removed from office by the electorate, you win some and you lose some, living well is the best revenge.
Henry’s Ghost - Great post.
Here’s what I find peculiar. While the majority of the protesters (myself included) are conservative, there is an increasing number of people joining in the discontent from the center and center-left).
Folks who are in blind allegiance to President Obama have elected to avoid the primary issue, which is poor government stewardship, too much taxation and government interventionism where it has no business intervening in our lives and industry.
The position of the Obama apologists, in the context of the issues mentioned above are:
1. Fox News is behind this (even if they were, it doesn’t invalidate the issues associated with our discontent).
2. The protesters are stupid and being manipulated by right wing fat cats (which is certainly their unproven, uninformed opinion, but, it still doesn’t invalidate the issue to which we are protesting).
3. The “Where were you when Bush was doing this?“ slight of hand. (Wherever “I” was, I’m here now. That doesn’t invalidate our discontent either).
The left, in this instance, is shooting messengers instead of addressing real issues. Somehow, the fact that some came to the party late serves as a means to discount their position by the hardline left posters.
I would bet that most of the posters who claim the protesters are whining and crying about paying more taxes, don’t pay much in taxes to begin with compared to the protesters.
Yes, Henry, they’re very scared, because at the end of the day, when they’ve shot as many messengers as they can, the issues still remain and the hard-line left is on the wrong side of them. The hard-line left has awakened a sleeping giant and they neither (a) properly understand it or (b) know how to respond to it beyond parochial insults.
Has anyone else noticed the number of comments to this one article? I may be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve seen this many on any other article since the paper instituted the commenting functionality on the website.
This particular subject seems to have struck nerves on the right and on the left, but from what I have read so far it looks like those commenting on the left are justifiable scared of what they see, as they should be. I haven’t seen the right this mobilized in a long time, not since the days of Jimmy Carter.
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