But this year it also took on a new significance. April 15 was the day that ordinary, common Americans took to the streets to give voice to their displeasure with massive unrestrained spending, insane bailouts, trillion dollar deficits for a decade, confiscatory taxation, unprecedented growth in the size and scope of government, and the march of socialism and wealth transfer.

Over 550,000 people turned out at one of hundreds of “Tea Parties” staged in all 50 states. Approximately one out of every 500 human beings in the nation attended such a protest. This is hardly an insignificant event, notwithstanding the Mainstream Media’s reports to the contrary.

The Left-Loving media first sought to marginalize the Tea Party movement, calling the participants “Fringe Elements”. Then they sought to mischaracterize them as Partisan Tools of the GOP. Some went so far as to compare them to Nazis. And in the final days preceding the event – a report from Homeland Security was released, intended to instill fear that attending such a protest put one at risk of being “watched” as a potential “Domestic Terrorist”! (Particularly egregious in that DHS report was the implication that returning veterans represented a potential threat. I personally find it fascinating that while we Conservatives HONOR our returning vets, the powers that be FEAR them!) 

If any were deterred… there were over half a million UN-Deterred Americans who turned out to boldly proclaim their opposition to policies which they deem harmful to our republic.

As I wrote in my “Primer on the Tea Parties”, these protests were NOT partisan, despite the best efforts of Michael Steele and the RNC to potiticize them.  It was almost amusing how the GOP came back burned when they were publicly rebuffed by the ACTUAL organizers.

Michael Steele attempted to co-opt the movement in a fund-raising effort for the GOP. He received STINGING rebukes from organizers.

Numerous GOP elected officials sought a stage to speak at the Tea Parties. Organizers refused, explaining that the event was NOT partisan and they wished to prevent its being politicized.

In St Louis, it was mentioned by one of the organizers that some elected officials ARGUED that they should be given a platform. But once denied, they didn’t make an appearance! In fact the only elected official that showed up was Congressman Todd Akin, who never asked to take the stage. He was there simply to lend his PERSONAL support to the effort! 

No, the Tax Day Tea Party movement is NOT organized by the GOP, by Dick Armey & Freedomworks, by Don Wildmon and the American Family Association, by the Constitution Party, by the National Socialists, or any other group. Taking inspiration from Santelli’s Chicago Board of Trade rant, several bloggers started the movement via Facebook and Twitter!

In St Louis, local blogger, Bill Hennessy contacted blogger, vlogger and local radio personality Dana Loesch following the Santelli Rant about throwing together an ad-hoc “Tea Party” protest. Out went postings on Twitter and Facebook. A Facebook event page was posted. The event was planned for the St Louis Riverfront 5 days later on February 27.

Hennessy and Loesch initially anticipated a turnout of 50 or so committed individuals. They were THRILLED when the Facebook Event Page listed over 250 confirmed attendees the day before the event. But even they were ASTOUNDED when the turnout for the day topped 1200 under the Arch in St Louis! It was the biggest “Tea Party” protest in the nation on that day.

They new they had a movement started, that couldn’t stop there. Dana Loesch  of danaradio.com became one of the National Organizers for the April 15 “Tax Day Tea Party”. Along with Michael Patrick Leahy of tcotreport.com, Eric Odom of dontgomovement.com, along with a few other blogger types, the planning began for the April 15 Nationwide Event.

They established an event page on Facebook, and along with their own Twitter and Facebook pages, their personal emails, and finally a website, www.taxdayteaparty.com.

Hundreds of motivated grassroots people around the country organized their own local events, coordinating thru the Facebook, Twitter and taxdayteaparty.com websites. It was a TRUE GRASSROOTS effort.

The issues cut across party lines. There were Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Constitution Party members, Democrats and more all participating with a common purpose: To express to Washington that they have HAD IT with the unbridled tax and spend policies, growth of government’s size and intrusion, and the threat to our rights and liberties that such a bloated government represents.

St Louisan Scott Ransom commented after the party: “We were "there," and wow, what an awesome crowd, right down to a person. There were some pierced-up Lefties standing right with me, and when I thanked them for being there, I swear one of them started to cry. She was SHOCKED. Fabulous gathering...wanna do it again like now.”

Media coverage of the Tea Parties was largely dismissive. The media and those in Washington dismiss this movement at their peril. It is strong. It is committed. It cuts across the political spectrum. It is not going away. In fact, it will probably grow larger and more powerful by the time the next Tea Parties come around. Yes, there will be more! Get ready for the LIBERTY Tea Parties on July 4!

Copyright © 2009 by Doug Edelman

Isn't it interesting how predictable the American Left is? When someone scores an indisputable point against "the One", they ignore the message and attack the messenger! "Joe the Plumber" has revealed and highlighted Obama's socialistic agenda – and it's had an impact on Obama's support! So he must be destroyed.

First, we heard the immediate "I don't know any plumbers making $250,000" argument. I'm still not sure what the purpose of such a statement could possibly be, but the dismissive tone accompanying the statement is obviously intended to attempt to ridicule Joe away! But the statement is completely disingenuous, as Joe didn't even say he was a plumber, nor that he makes $250K.  He said he's considering buying a PLUMBING COMPANY, which EMPLOYS plumbers, and which GROSSES around a quarter mil. He didn't say he makes $250K. He didn't say he'd EARN 250K after buying the business. The business grosses $250K. The business pays it's employees. The business maintains its vehicles. The business buys its materials. The business pays for its office, phones and utilities. The business pays its taxes. The business pays to advertise. After all that, the business owner can take a salary.

Next the LeftMedia lights up with the accusation that Joe isn't even a registered voter. Aside from the fact that this is blatantly false… Joe is registered and voted in the OH primaries… what possible relevance would this have? I thought ACORN has, as its purpose, to get unregistered people interested, active and REGISTERED now! So here's a guy who's now very interested and engaged in the political process. We should rejoice!

So then the thugocracy dispatches their investigators to dig dirt on Joe. They claim he's not licensed… But he doesn't need one presently, and the company he works for has one! From the Toledo Blade, "According to Lucas County Building Inspection records, A. W. Newell Corp. does maintain a state plumbing license, and one with the City of Toledo, but would not be allowed to work in Lucas County outside of Toledo without a county license." Does he even need one to OWN a plumbing company that EMPLOYS plumbers?   And again, how is this relevant to Obama's Socialism?

Finally, the thugs discover that Joe has a tax lien on about $1100 he owes in back taxes. Does this mean he's not credible to ask Obama a question on the impact of his tax policies? Does this have bearing on the fact that Obama's answers reveal him to be a Robin Hood Socialist bent on redistribution of wealth? It would seem that someone struggling to meet his CURRENT tax liability would be uniquely appropriate to question how Obama's policies might make matters worse!

You may have heard the phrase, "Don't kill the messenger."  This phrase is usually attributed to the ancient Greek and then later Roman custom of employing messengers to carry news throughout the empire. The law PROTECTED these messengers, and decreed that they should be allowed to pass unharmed as they carried out their duty, even if the recipients found the message distasteful.

Sadly, Obama and his minions DO try to destroy anyone who can bring a message critical or damaging to the campaign. Live long and prosper, Joe!

Copyright © 2008 by Doug Edelman

A giveaway of hundreds of billions of dollars is not only bad policy, it is not necessary! Unfortunately, the Democrats have successfully brainwashed the public into believing that the problem was caused by deregulation, when in fact it was caused by Democrat inspired rules and regulations which set up a house of cards in our economy.

When it became apparent that this house of cards was getting large, and wobbly, those who raised the warning flag (Republicans) were shot down by defenders of the system (Democrats). See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa0agm7lIPQ There you’ll see video of the 2004 Fannie/Freddie hearings. You’ll see who tried to forestall the collapse, and who denied there was a problem. Who questioned the management of Fannie & Freddie, and who declared the raising of the question to be a “lynching” of Franklin Raines, and who praised Raines management at the helm.

Despite the minimal likelihood that the fix outlined below would stand a chance of being implemented, given our current political environment, I will outline a plan that WOULD work in the hopes that SOME of these proposals might be incorporated into any plan that makes its way thru congress.

• NO taxpayer giveaway of hundred of billions of dollars and don’t put it in the hands of Paulson and Bernanke!
• Provide assistance in the form of LOANS and INSURANCE. The government does not need to take OWNERSHIP of private institutions like AIG! Do NOT SOCIALIZE our markets.
• Prohibit all naked market trading. If you want to trade it… OWN it!
• ELIMINATE the “Mark to Market” rule – which artificially pulls capital off the books of financial institutions and is a contributing factor to the crisis. This rule requires securities to be recorded on the books at the lowest value it might be sold for in a panic firesale – even zero - rather than their ACTUAL value. This results in under-capitalization even when REAL assets are adequate!
• REPEAL the Community Reinvestment Act, and dismantle or downsize Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac
  • Well intentioned, the act sought to end the practice of “redlining” where certain neighborhoods were deemed unsuitable risks for mortgage loans. While the purpose to put homeownership within the reach of more lower income people is laudable… the execution was poor.
  • As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac grew under Clinton, and the “Affordable Housing” mandates forced the lowering of lending standards to allow more and more people to “qualify”, the “sub prime” market ballooned. Variable rate loans with low intro rates to get people INTO homes were the norm for these “sub prime” loans.   But adjustable rates WILL adjust, and if artificially low at inception, the direction of that inevitable  adjustment is most assuredly upward. Lenders and borrowers alike completely ignored the factor of affordability AFTER an upward adjustment in the interest rate!
  • Lending institutions were COMPELLED by federal regulators to write more and more of these sub-prime loans. They had target numbers of low-income homes they had to finance or face penalties and further regulation. So qualification requirements were further relaxed, and more “creative” financing options emerged. No money down; Interest Only financing; Negative Amortization loans. Anyone who was paying attention at the time was asking, “How the heck can that work??
  • Mortgage brokers ORIGINATED loans, with no intention of CARRYING the loan thru amortization! They wrote the paper to sell it to a larger entity – who was happy to buy them up, as they were securitized by the GSEs (Government Secured Entities) such as Fannie and Freddie. Fannie & Freddie grew and grew, securitizing ultimately 80% of all mortgages – meaning they held just about ALL the bad paper! A house of cards DOOMED to fall!
• Institute a moratorium on Capital Gains taxes… allow businesses to put their OWN money to work to climb out of the crisis.
• Make the Bush Tax Cuts permanent. More money in the hands of consumers will stimulate the economy. Raising taxes in a period of economic downturn is suicidal.
• PULL DOWN the tax DISincentives to repatriating overseas operations back home in the USA.
  • There are no tax INCENTIVES (existing or proposed) to move job overseas, Obama ads notwithstanding. There are, however tax BARRIERS to bringing overseas operations BACK HOME.
  • A company with offshore operations pays the taxes in that country. If those taxes are lower than US taxes… the difference is owed to the USA. BUT as long as they REMAIN overseas, they defer that debt. An incentive to STAY overseas.
  • Upon repatriating those operations, a company would owe ALL the difference in tax. A company will not have to pay that for as long as they REMAIN overseas.
  • A moratorium on collecting the deferred tax difference for companies repatriating operations back home would stimulate the economy by creating domestic jobs and returning industry to our shores.
• ENFORCE our borders and our immigration laws. Illegal immigration is a huge drain upon our nation’s resources.
• Return to the gold standard. Set the dollar at 1/500 of an ounce of gold and back our dollar with more than a promise to pay. Stabilize the dollar's value abroad and eliminate short selling of our currency.
• Eliminate the Federal Reserve. A PRIVATE CORPORATION which creates currency out of nothing, and LENDS it to the government at interest! The CONGRESS is constitutionally empowered to coin money… not the FED.
• REPEAL Sarbanes-Oxley. Another well-intentioned but poorly executed regulation crafted in the wake of Enron/Worldcom. (Which are small potatoes scandals when laid next to Fannie/Freddie!!) SARBOX compliance has placed an undue burden upon “play by the rules” companies, but has done little to curtail the abuses by those who have purposed to “cook the books”.

Of course, too many have too much vested interest in NOT implementing the above for it all come about, though if it did our economy would BOOM!

On the other hand, if SOME or ANY of the above can be incorporated into any next attempt at a rescue bill… we may achieve a bill that will stop the bleeding and restore confidence in our markets.

Copyright © 2008 by Doug Edelman

Doug Edelman is a conservative political commentator and has been a contributing editor for The Conservative Voice.  His work is also seen on News By Us, The American Daily, The Post Chronicle, New Media Journal, Capitol Hill Coffee House etc. For the support of his family, however, he is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business.  He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College.