Taxpayer Tea Parties brewing

March 27, 7:49 AMChicago Nonpartisan ExaminerBob Nightingale

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CNBC's Rick Santelli touched off a nerve last month when he brought up the fact that someone has to pay for all the bailouts. Santelli is the financial editor for NBC's sister cable financial network, broadcasting from the CME Group trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade. CNBC reaches about 282,000 home viewers at any one time. However, it is a staple in most brokerages, which allow a TV set in the office.  It's playing,  if for nothing else, for the financial ticker running along the bottom of the screen.

Santelli starts his rant by suggesting that we should help the people who are making $8 to $10 an hour, selling the cars and houses in foreclosure to people who would most likely pay them off. "… reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water?"

Whether he planned to say it, or if it just flowed out of him in the heat of passion, he suggested that taxpayers have a tea party along the Lakefront in July, and he would lead it. It looks like he will get his wish, along with plenty of attendees.

As evidenced from the list of websites below, the idea isn't totally his, as tea parties have been brewing by conservative groups since Barack Obama took office. The difference is the Tea Party idea wasn't said by a separatist group, lead by a scruffy guy taking his family into the mountains, with a year's supply of food and ammo. Santelli delivers financial news daily, by interviewing the people who trade millions of dollars of commodities at any given time. He had floor brokers egging him on with "That's a novel idea." and "How ’bout we all stop paying our mortgage? It’s a moral hazard."

There seems to be two big Tea Parties in the works across the country. One will be on April 15, Tax Day, and the other on July 4, Independence Day.

In neighboring Indiana, a protest is scheduled for April 11 in Elkhart County, where President Obama made the speech that explained how the stimulus package would help the county hit with the highest unemployment in the country.

Perhaps dressing up like Chief Calumet may be more effective in changing tax policy, than, say, writing your Congressman? If nothing else, you have a few hours that day to check if your First Amendment rights are still intact.

Chicago area Tea Parties for April 15 (TaxDayTeaParty.com)
City: Champaign / Urbana
When: April 15, 12:00pm - 8:00pm
Where: TBD

City: Chicago
When: April 15, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Where: Daley Plaza Civic Center, 50 W Washington St.

City: Lisle
When: April 15, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Where: The Community Park

Chicago area Tea Party for July 4 (World Net Daily)
When: From Saturday, July 4, at 7 p.m. to Sunday, July 5, at 5 a.m.
Where: Belmont Harbor on Lake Shore Drive