Tea Party: Will you be drinking or dunking?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/04/15/art.teaparty1.gi.jpg caption="Activists nationwide are holding gatherings on Tax Day, April 15."]WASHINGTON (CNN) – Finger sandwiches won't be served, but there will be a lot of frustration brewing about the current tax system at "Tea Parties" being held Wednesday across the nation.
Activists are holding these events on tax day to voice their opposition to the current tax system and the federal government's spending decisions, such as bailing out the banks and the auto industry.
So, what do you think? Have President Obama and Congress taken the right steps to help the ailing economy? Have Republicans been smart to oppose his fiscal policies? Does the tax code need an overhaul?
Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below.
Here are some CNN stories about the nationwide "Tax Day Tea Party":
Activists gear up for national 'Tax Day Tea Party'
GOP uses tax day to raise money
GOP encourages supporters to send virtual tea bags to top Dems
Listen: CNN Radio analyzes the politics of Tax Day
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On this board we can see how the "open-minded" attempt to belittle people who decided to stand for what they believe. Here we have examples of their lack understanding of other people even though they claim these are Klan members. Some of you try to even explain the Boston Tea Party as it is taxation without representation and how it does not apply here even though we pay much more federal tax than state tax and those funds are used in states where we do not have an opportunity to vote. Some also say that people should have protested Bush because he started this government spending as way to justify Obama increasing it. Some also claim that Obama is creating a more "fair" tax code – fair for whom? Fair for those who work hard for their income even though it's greater than $250K? Some of you don't even pay income taxes and you say this fair.
Come on, don't have your minds filled with this junk and spew it back out on these boards pretending like you developed your own ideas. Think about the truth and come back with a new perspective.
Freedom is'nt FREE. We use the roads, the policemen,firemen, teachers etc.. Pay your taxes and stop wining!
I am all for the Tea Parties. Spending has gotten out of control, Obama may be telling us he is cutting taxes for the middle class but in the future that will not be with all of D.C.'s spending. In addition, we are being taxed on all sorts of items to make up for deficits. These tea parties are not just for Republicans, it is for Americans!! It is time to get our country under control. Stop illegal immigration, and for those whom they are trying to get ammesty, if you want to grant ammesty then make them pay fines for every year that they were here illegal in the U.Sand collect deficits there to make up for the budget. I don't want my children and grandchildren having to pay for all of this!
It's so funny to me how wealthy Republicans get the extremely poor ones to play along, knowing many of these policies could help the poor ones. They exploit them so bad. I have to read that book Crazy For God now. It really explains this phenomenon. The problem is the poor ones have so much pride and racism in their hearts to realize that they are the poor ones. Sad really. I do like tea though, sad to see it wasted in lakes/rivers.
Either these people, A: do not work, B: are the 1%-2% that control an overwhelming majority of the wealth, C: they need to get a life, or D: all of the above. this GOP lead hypocrisy is all bs talk and no walk. what is their plan? keep the rich rich and marginalize everyone else.
According to the news, hundreds have shown up in Boston. Hundreds! It's a populist groundswell. There's no stopping it!
We are protesting Obama's "BIG BROTHER GOVERNMENT" and crazy spending economic policies. Liberials are too blind to see that Obama's stimulus was nothing more than a wastefull, pork-filled kick back to his political allies!
Phony baloney non-issue. Where were these "tea-baggers" (gross!) during the Bush II years? What about the Reagan years? If this is grassroots then I am root beer. Don't believe the Fox News hype!
The enormous debts Bush racked up brought us NOTHING in return. Period. NOTHING. Iraq is sitting on a surplus of cash and not using much if any to help out or pay us back. Then he handed BILLIONS to banks with NO STRINGS...now it can't even be traced, without loosening up credit.
Does any Republican understand that government is a lot more like business than a household? Businesses borrow money to MAKE MORE MONEY all the time. The spending Bush did was WASTED and brought nothing of value in return. The spending the Obama administration is now FORCED to do, to help turn around the mess Bush created, is an INVESTMENT in our country's crumbling infrastructure (ignored by Bush), and will put people BACK TO WORK and PAYING TAXES AGAIN (more revenue coming back IN), and it will help more businesses grow, again paying more taxes and generating more revenue.
The way the GOP says we should do it, we'd just continue down an endless downward economic spiral until we reach the 3rd-world status they were aiming for all along.
If you're making enough to have to pay taxes, you're making more than the majority. If you have a problem with paying your taxes, get a job where you aren't overpaid.
These idiots complain because they have to pay taxes, instead of spending the money on vacations to places most people will never visit or on luxury items most will never own. There are millions of people out there that bust their ass every day to make minimum wage or barely above it, who work harder than these republicans complaining about how their income is high enough to pay taxes. If you think you should be taxed less, then I would suggest you complain about how these people working harder than you should have pay increases, to compete against your own salaries. And once they are at that point, then maybe there will be lower taxes on the rich.
And to anyone who joins these protests while being in a non-taxable bracket, and are only participating because of religious beliefs...if you don't like liberal politics that don't impose your religious beliefs on everyone, I would suggest you move to a country that limits your freedoms at the expense of religious views, because America is not one of those countries.
Everyone in America has the freedom to do what they want so long as it does not infringe on anothers freedom. Gay rights, gay marriage, equality and separation of church and state are all part of America and americans freedom. Feel free to immigrate elsewhere if you don't believe that is how it should be.
@dust bunny, remember that $600 rebate check you got, guess who gave it to you? It was our government, Bush borrowed the money from China. Do you as an American want us to continue to have foreigners buy our debt until we owe so much we better learn how to speak a different language, I don't, I will pay taxes just to keep America American. I will give you some bread to go with that whine!
I'd like to know where all these people were when Bush was in office and the deficit was going up????? Why do middle class people think it's ok for rich people to pay less % in taxes than they do.
The only way these "protesters" will have any credibility is if each one swears off on receiving Social Security and Medicare. Otherwise theirs is just empty rhetoric.
The Greedy Old Pigs bankrupted the country, and now they whine like little girls about having to pay the bill.
I think this is a sad attempt from the republican leadership. As elected officials, aren't they supposed to be trying to help solve the problems of our nation?
The only thng I have seen them do, since they lost the election, is whine, complain and criticize, I have not seen them do one thing that was constructive or positive in an attempt at getting us back on the right track.
What sunk the first Bush is that he spent like mad, but cut taxes too. This, in turn, created a massive debt and hurt our economy.
Clinton stepped in, increased taxes, spent just as much as Bush One, and fixed te debt as much as he could. Clinton looks better than Bush One.
Bush two came in, didn't learn from his father's mistakes and spent more than what he got from taxes. Cut taxes, but spend more. In turn, Bush two sunk the economy and looks bad.
Obama comes in and has to rescue the economy from the brink of disaster (if our economy falls, so does everyone else) and is thinking about rasising taxes on the rich to find programs that desperately need money (No Child Left Behind, Medicare, SS, etc).
Hello people!!!! Pay your taxes! If you want a tax cut, then don't complain if you don't recieve your food stamps or get your SS check. I would gladly pay more taxes if it meant getting this economy back on track and providing for my kid's future. More taxes=more government programs.... less taxes=less programs. YOU CAN'T MIX THEM!
Wasn't the Boston Tea Party to revolt against "Taxation without Representation"? These little get togethers are just for republicans to get together and complain.
I've read here that "95% of Americans will receive a tax cut" under the Obama "tax plan" adding up to about $400-800 per person.
That's great.... $800!
Eight hundred bucks... all it will cost you is your job... when the government tries to make up the difference by overburdening ("taxing") your boss/company, and the company resorts to even further workforce cuts to keep their doors open... and that's IF they don't just say "To hell with it, why bother anymore" and just close their doors altogether.
Folks, I've never once been hired by a poor man. Have you? Punish the successful for their success and they'll simply go "John Galt" on you. When they stop the wheels of business, the entire nation will plummet.
Tea parties are a pseudonym for GOP cry babies. They created the mess. Now lay in it. You can't wage two wars, create a prescription drug program, and give a tax cut while borrowing from Communist China. Explain how that is conservative?
Um, folks, according to a CNN headline, people going to the Tea Parties are actually protesting the bailouts.
Let's climb back off the ledges or the soap boxes and read the stories, go to more than one site to get different views (always fun to see how sites have their own angles!) and then gather back here for a semi-rational discussion.
I say 'semi' because there always seem to be trolls and gremlins from both extremes who want to hijack a conversation for their own ends.
CNN, your liberal agenda is hiding the satellite shots of the throngs of 10's of millions of angry Americans at these tea parties wanting a revolt so they can take back the country!
Just like that liberal propaganda photo you published on 01/20/09 that showed 2 million on the Mall in D.C.?
Doug, New Jersey April 15th, 2009 12:01 pm ET
According to Obama and the DHS, our brave men and women returing home after fighting for our freedom are to be labelled terrorists but those who actually want to kill Americans in the name of some god are to never be refered to as that.
Keep in mind that almost every dem in America agreees with this.
ENOUGH!! Every "dem" in America most likely has a friend coming home from this conflict too. Stop reading WingNut Daily.
The DHS report was intended to identify a possible threat by right wing extremists who are trying to recruit returning soldiers.
They did the report one week after a right wing extremist killed three policemen. There is an imminent threat, that is why there's a DHS report. Besides: the last time we ignored the lunatic fringe when their prefered party lost power, they blew up a federal building.
Wow. You Liberals are amazing. These "Tea Parties" are not gimmicks. They are not for show. They are not "Astroturf". Code Pink, Anti-War rallies, ACORN events. Now these things are all well-organized and planned events with paid participants. Stay smug. Take your medication and be merry. You've awaken a Sleeping Giant.
Time to get back to our roots
Improve incentives for the Productive
Downsize the size of Government
Let the American people get back at the wheel of this economy. Not the idiots in Washington.
I say hip hip hooray for Less Taxes and Less Government.
I vote for Liberty and not Soft Tyranny from the radical left!!!!
Another gimic from the party of "NO". What is the GOP agenda/platform/alternative plan? There isn't one. The GOP is a joke and is completeley irrelevant.
Come up with some fresh ideas and we'll listen. Until then, go back to worshipping Rush/Hannity/Coulter. They seem to be the only conservative leaders.
Pathetic.
I personally won't be involved for no other reason than that I am a mature and reasoning adult and work for a living. I quit being involved in goofy "Jr. High" events when I left Jr. High. It looks like the GOP has quite an assortment of goofy participants for their goofy non-event.