TEA parties across the nation

On tax day, April 15^th, Americans in each of the 50 states gathered to voice their frustration with the Obama administration. TEA is an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already". There were a total of 750 rallies across the nation with a rally in Boston, Chicago, and even in front of the White House. This was an anti-tax and anti-Obama protest. Many protestors claimed that this protest was neither a pro democratic nor republican display of views. They described this as a grass-root view, meaning the true American who is standing for what America is founded on.

In the New York Times' article "Tax Day is met with Tea parties" protesters such as Paul Sommer, 41, of Humble, Tex., said he came out because he feared the country was drifting toward socialism under President Obama. "I don't agree with them taking my money," he said. "I'm a small-business owner. I don't want them taking everything." Another tax payer, who is concerned with about the future of her kids said "The American taxpayers are really getting pressed too hard," Ms. Ouimete said. "We can't live like this, and our kids can't live like this." These concerns are the first widespread disapproval of Obama's policies since he has been inaugurated. The article describes some of the signs that read "Abolish the I.R.S.," "Less Government More Free Enterprise," "We Miss Reagan" and "Honk if You Are Upset About Your Tax Dollars Being Spent on Illegal Aliens." This clearly shows an uprising of discontent with Obama and his policies.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has publically criticized this protest by saying on KTVU "we call it Astroturf not really a grass-root, its Astroturf by some of the wealthiest people of America" Americans believe that the Obama administration is mishandling tax payer's money. Tax payers came that day to show their fears of what President Obama was doing to them. Obama's stimulus package was for 787 billion dollars with an overall budget of 3.5 trillion dollars. The bailout included AIG, who was publically scorned for misuse of the money. Also, it included the aid for the mortgage crisis which actually led to the public outcry by a CNBC reporter to protest Obama and his tax policies. The main complaints were that there is no oversight or consideration of how the tax payer's opinion is taken into consideration for where the money would be allocated too. Many have seen this as socialistic behavior and want to stop overspending of tax payer's money.