Tea Party Post-Mortem

Numbers are still coming in, but it looks like somewhere in the neighborhood of 300,000 people showed up in more than 700 locations around the nation for a Tax Day Tea Party.

The Atlanta Tea Party was politician heavy; several speakers either currently hold or have held elected office. Among them were rising conservative state legislators, Sen. Chip Rogers and Rep. Tom Graves, US Reps. Tom Price and Lynn Westmoreland and former US Rep. Dick Armey, now head of FreedomWorks (one of the groups responsible for the protests around the nation). The list of speakers also included Eric Von Haessler of Rock 100.5, former US Senate candidate Allen Buckley, musician John Rich and the organizers of the event...among many others.

As far as the media is concerned, I’m still trying to figure out what was going on at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution at 9pm when the paper's website was reporting a crowd of 1,000. I didn't believe it until I pulled it up on my phone and saw it for myself. It turns out the Georgia Department of Public Safety estimated the crowd at 15,000.

There's also video of a CNN reporter literally arguing with a protester over the purpose of the event and calling it "anti-family." Also, the frequent "teabagging" comments by people who are supposed to be professional journalists or serious news commentators were pointless. The frequent criticism of Fox News is certainly valid, but there is plenty of evidence for the same criticism of CNN and MSNBC. The news coverage of these protests and the days leading up to them prove that.

While it was a great to see so many people to attend the protest, I still wonder where these folks were when Medicare Part D - a $9 trillion expansion of an already massive entitlement - was passed in 2003 or when Republicans helped pass billions in so-called “stimulus” packages in 2001 and 2008 or when Bush backed the bailouts while claiming he was saving capitalism from itself.

Maybe yesterday was all pent up emotion being released at once, I don't know, but consistency matters if you want add credibility to a movement, especially one with such a powerful and correct message. Speaking out against spending means calling out both parties because believe me, it's a bi-partisan problem, and the lack of recognition of that fact leaves libertarians, who have been complaining about excessive spending for the last few years, scratching our heads.

The message and the spirit of the protests have substance though and shouldn't be ignored no matter who is protesting. Washington is borrowing and spending too much money, ostensibly setting us up for massive tax increases in the future on top of the tax increases we’re about to see.

And…please, don’t hand me this “95 percent of taxpayers got a tax cut” line. It's false and disingenuous considering the fact that the cost of living is increasing and the taxes of many small businesses will be raised, potentially affecting the number of people they can employee.  Do you really think it helps to give a marginal "tax cut" (in reality, it's a spending program) or should I just be happy with the fact that politicians in Washington are letting me keep a fraction more of the money I earn?

More protests are being planned for July 4th. Stay tuned for details.