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Rallies tea'd off on tax-filing day

Thursday, April 16, 2009
(Updated 12:32 pm)
By Joe Killian and
Jonnelle Davis
Staff Writers

Karl Rancer came to the Tax Day Tea Party because for the first time in 59 years, he doesn’t know where his next dime is coming from.

His company, P&F Equipment in Stokesdale, manufactures equipment used in the embroidery industry but isn’t doing too well these days.

“We’re broke,” said Rancer, carrying a sign with the words “Liberty is All the Stimulus We Need.”

“We don’t know what we’re gonna do. Can’t sell nothing,” he said. “I don’t believe that the president’s looking after the small man.”

Rancer was among more than 200 people Wednesday who went to the Eden boat landing on the Dan River to protest government spending as part of the nationwide Tax Day Tea Party events. In downtown Greensboro, the tea party attracted more than 1,000 people.

The “Tea Party,” which echoed Colonists’ protests against Britain shortly before the American Revolution, was one of 33 events in North Carolina. More than 700 were held nationwide.

The rallies mostly were organized on the Internet at sites such as Tax Day Tea Party and the Greensboro Tax Day Team Party blog.

“I’ve never been to a protest in my life,” said Chris Bailey, a Winston-Salem chiropractor. “But as a small-business owner, I see all these taxes that aren’t conducive to people having or starting small businesses. I don’t like the way I see the country going.”

The concerns of the protesters in Greensboro and Eden were largely the same: They criticized high taxes, raged at corporate bailouts and bemoaned big government.

“The list of our grievances is very complex,” said Gerald Hutchinson, a management consultant who spoke to the Greensboro protesters early Wednesday afternoon. “It’s not easy to reduce it to a single poster board.”

Many tried anyway.

Some carried picket signs — “We Need Big Jobs, Not Big Government” and “Who’s Going to Bail Out the Taxpayer?” — to Phill G. McDonald Plaza for the noon rally in Greensboro.

Eden resident Marie Odell said she is tired of lawmakers who are only in office to build their own “nest egg.”

“It’s about power,” Odell said. “It’s not about country anymore.”

Protesters in Eden were given tea bags to open, and then the loose tea was dumped from a crate into the river, evoking images of the historic Boston Tea Party.

“I’m in favor of this tea party to let Washington and the senators, everybody know that we’re tired of the taxes,” said J.C. Powell of Caswell County. “We want to keep our money. It belongs to us. It doesn’t belong to them.”

Although organizers had asked that people keep their messages nonpartisan, a number of protesters in Greensboro carried signs with messages like “Barack The Baby Killer” and “220 Years to Build the Republic, 3 Months to Destroy It.”

But most people said they weren’t opposed to the people governing as much as how they were governing.

“I put my name on the dotted line to die for this country,” said Bob White, a Korean War veteran from Summerfield. “So I have an interest in how it’s run, and I don’t like what I’m seeing.”

White said he thought it was shameful that government was bailing out banks on the backs of taxpayers, even as unemployment climbs.

“In a free society, you don’t get bailed out if your business fails,” White said. “You go under.”

Wayne Sexton, chairman of the Rockingham County Republican Party, said instead of bailing out large companies, the government could have given that money to the people. They would have bailed out the auto and housing industrieswith their dollars, he said.

“I don’t know of any way in the world to stimulate the economy any more than that,” Sexton said.

 

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Jerry Wolford (News & Record)

Photo Caption: A crowd of more than a thousand packed downtown's Government Plaza on Wednesday for a "Tax Day Tea Party" protest.

Comments

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AnonAnon

April 15, 2009 - 3:11 pm EDT

If people are upset with Taxes, why not just create a business, change the name of all of your buildings to "Churches", and infiltrate the government? Hell, it worked for Scientology!

http://www.taxthecult.com
http://www.whyweprotest.net
http://www.NCanon.Ning.Com
http://www.xenu.net

mthale

April 15, 2009 - 6:58 pm EDT

Let the revolution begin!
I was the one carrying the pitchfork! Any pictures please send me at
michellehowls@yahoo.com
thank you, Michelle Hale

dslizzle

April 15, 2009 - 8:00 pm EDT

"It's perhaps as evil as the one that we opposed under George III," Moore said. "And I use the word evil deliberately."

Though organizers asked that people keep their messages non-partisan a number of protesters carried signs with messages like "Barack The Baby Killer" and "220 Years to Build the Republic, 3 Months to Destroy It."

I used to live in Greensboro, it's this kind of ignorance that made me leave. I cannot believe the good citizens of Greensboro are so foolish. Baby killer, evil? Come on people, if we work together we can do more.

scribonz

April 15, 2009 - 8:38 pm EDT

Wow if these are the best ideas that the loyal opposition has to get us out of this economic mess then we are in trouble. Its important to have two alternative major ideologies in political parties. I dont see any constructive ideas coming out this group, just alot of whining and complaining.

newkid

April 15, 2009 - 10:24 pm EDT

Not to worry, Obama carried GSO and North Carolina in the election and support for the new president remains high. Let folks protest...their signs and pitchforks speak volumes about them.

Freedomvoice

April 15, 2009 - 11:00 pm EDT

Obama may have carried GSO but only Raleigh area was where he won. I think someone one has planted liberals here and we the North Carolina southerns will not stand for the BS. We don't need government saving us from ourselves and taxing me into the poor house to do it. You may have won a battle but baby I'm here to win the war. I didn't take your children own for Government to raise in the name of Education and tax me to do it. I don't take Government to become my Mama and Daddy that I have to ask for an allowance to spend my own money. Get over it and grow up or gravel for a living. I don't care if you pick A or B. Get out of my face and go to work and you will see the real taxes Raleigh wants from you. I'm tired of handing them every dollar I make. They can get off the dole too. $11.00 is what they pay for their health insurance that we the Citizen tax payer pick up the tab for. You know with the adverage age down there of 60 years old, we are buying drugs for them that is eating a hole in my pocket book. This time they have all crossed the line both D and R and they can all go home. Obama is not changing anythig but making things worse by causing inflation because the states are spending the federal money he has run through a press the we don't have enough GNP to cover the bottom line. He is creating more problems than he is solving. You'll see when the taxing gets so bad you can operate your own abode and have to go on the government dole just to eat and have a rooof. If that is not alread the case and maybe that is why you are sucking up because you want a hand out. You probably don't have nothing and so you don't pay taxes and I'm paying for your abode and food.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:14 am EDT

Get your facts straight, idiot. Obama carried Guilford County by a HIGHER margin percentage-wise (59% to 40%) than Wake County (57% to 42%).

Many of these protesters were perfectly happy for the government to spend money on an illegal war that will ultimately cost this country a projected 7 trillion dollars. They're full of crap.

newkid

April 16, 2009 - 10:51 am EDT

I repeat: "..their signs and pitchforks speak volumes about them". So does your rant.

NRay

April 16, 2009 - 8:26 am EDT

I am just curious why the Tea Partiers weren't as upset about the then record-setting deficits under the Bush administration? Has the federal deficit now reached an intolerable level, such that your economists tell you we will now face financial ruin? Or, are you concerned rather more about the things the deficit is paying for? I also wonder what you would propose doing had the banks failed last fall, as you propose having let them do. Anyone?

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:13 am EDT

Don't bother, these people are incapable of rational thought, they're brain-dead. Zombies.

independent

April 16, 2009 - 12:45 pm EDT

That is where you misunderstand. We WERE upset. We were upset with Clinton and his NAFTA and mortgage mistakes. We were upset with Bush and his excessive spending. Particularly with the bailout he passed just before leaving office. But then this group comes into power on the sole promise of not doing the same thing as his predecessors and what have they done? Not only have the followed the exact same path, they have stepped it up even further. I know he still promises no increased taxes and I'm sure that will remain true for the first 4 years. After that, well I'm sorry but money doesn't grow on trees. And they are giving so much to special interests and other things where the government has no place interfering let alone funding. I am not a republican, I had high hopes for Obama (I honestly still hope he will see the light and stops the destruction of what little is left of my country) And I do NOT believe that Obama is at fault for all of this, only that he hasn't used the power bestowed upon him by THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to protect us. Congress has passed these major spending bills without even reading them. They are demanding cutbacks of everything but their own benefits and salaries. And the one person with the power to wake them up does nothing. As for what should be done about the banks, well that problem should never have happened in the first place. If a certain former President hadn't pushed an initiative (and extorted the banks into going along with it) we wouldn't have had the mass foreclosures to start. As for how much bail out was actually needed I have some real questions. Look at their actual losses. Look at their reports. Was Goldman Sachs really going to close after 1 quarter of losses? Was Wachovia really in such bad shape that last quarter they showed record profits? They were in such a hurry to pass these bailouts. It was an emergency!!! They couldn't possibly take the time to research the financial stability or history of these establishments. Let alone figure out where the rest of the money was going. Organizations such as ACORN got a good deal of money. I thought it was illegal for the federal government to financially support a political organization? Am I wrong? Was I misinformed? If so please show me where it says it's ok. I'm sure there are some other political organizations that would like some funding too. Even the stem cell research that they recently approved was dirty and underhanded. I have no problem with stem cell research. In fact I'm a big supporter. I was thoroughly upset when Bush passed legislation against it. But I do NOT want federal money to pay for it. There are plenty of private companies who would gladly fund ALL of the research, they were just waiting for a free hand to do so. The way they passed it any complaint I make about it sounds like I'm against progress, like I'm against research. That's just not so. What I'm against is the Federal Government meddling in affairs that should be private, or at worst a state concern.

I am not ignorant, I am not a sheep. I do not limit myself to Republican or Democrat. I believe in the 10th amendment, I believe in our founding fathers. I believe in freedom of choice, I believe in striving for peace. I do not believe in rolling over and playing dead to avoid a fight however and that is exactly what is being asked of me today. Well ENOUGH! I will not lay down, I will not roll over. If I have to give the government most of my money fine, but I want them to be responsible with it. I want them to at least pretend to keep the promises they have made. And I want all you people trying to make us out to be fools to STFU and think for yourself for a while. Please, before you make any more insulting comments take a few days to understand what we are fighting for here. Please read the Declaration of Independence, Read the Constitution, but most of all take a little time and read about the British acts that lead these brave men and women to lay down life and livelihood, their comfort and trade. Please read your history and understand that we are not making up our desires. They are the oldest desires in this country. We don't want the world on a platter, we are willing to work hard and long for what we have. We only want what has been promised for 225 years: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Have a nice day :)

NRay

April 16, 2009 - 3:29 pm EDT

That's all fair enough, and certainly grounds for good discussion regarding government policy. But I still have not seen anyone comment as to what you would have done to prevent the banks from failing, and ripping out the rest of the financial system in the ensuing cascade of collapse. But maybe you guys believe this would not have happened? Or that we would all be better without banks anyway?

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 8:46 pm EDT

You're giving the government "most of your money?" Bullsh!t.

You've done your taxes recently -- exactly what percentage of your income did you pay for income, Social Security and Medicare taxes?

Under Ronnie Raygun, no doubt your patron saint, you would have paid MORE taxes than you did under Clinton, W or Obama. And under Eisenhower, even MORE!

I have a new proposition for everyone who doesn't want to pay taxes: Don't pay taxes. Just renounce your US citizenship, and you don't have to. Of course, you won't get any of the services or security afforded American citizens, either.

I'm tired of whiners.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:16 pm EDT

You may not be ignorant (although I question that) and I don't doubt that you're not a sheep, as I'm confident sheep can't type (those hooves, you know), but you are without a doubt an imbecile.

PEOPLE WHO THINK LIKE YOU WERE HAPPY TO SPEND TRILLIONS AS LONG AS IT WAS FOR SLAUGHTERING INNOCENT MUSLIMS! You just don't want to spend any money on the American people.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:22 pm EDT

"Or, are you concerned rather more about the things the deficit is paying for?"

BINGO!

If their tax dollars are paying for something worthwhile, it's "excessive spending," but if it's paying to murder brown people, it's perfectly okay.

It's worse than imbeciles, it's xenophobic, ignorant troglodytes.

ParktheBus

April 16, 2009 - 10:02 am EDT

For those who seek to discredit this tea party movement saying "where were the protesters during the Bush years?!"

Here's your answer:
Just as the Colonists were put upon for years before they reached the tipping point and threw tea into Boston Harbor, leading to the revolution, and just as the the immorality of segregated schools and poll taxes etc. for blacks (African-Americans, if you prefer) was suffered for years before the tipping point of the civil rights marches of the 1960's led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act...so is it today with the massive growth of government and out-of-control spending.

Many people (myself included, a former Democrat now independent) wrote our Congress in protest about the unnecessarily burdensome Prescription Drug Benefit, and the well-intended-sounding No Child Left Behind bill which is largely beneficial to the Teacher's Union; few protest rallies were organized about these single issues, it is true.

In the Declaration of Independence they said : "all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

We've reached a tipping point in the spending and growth of government. More government spending has been passed in the last 6 months than in the entire history of the United States. Spending results in government growth and as government grows, freedom recedes.

The solid Americans who populate this movement (ignore the fringe elements, please; they are fringe) are comfortable paying taxes for essential government services. The corruption, earmarks, pork, unnecessary spending etc. dumped on us by a government that no longer seems to represent the best interests of all the people is simply intolerable.

That is why people are now rising up to say, "Enough is Enough!" The movement is non-partisan: we don't identify, or need, any political party. We are not ideologues, in fact, may not be politically inclined at all. And to those who say President Obama carried Guilford County, or NC, or even the USA, well, he had a lot of help from those independents, moderate conservative and centrists wanting to send a message to the Republicans that the that theuy were fed up with the era of Bush.

Those, like me, who hoped that Obama would represent "smart government" have a serious case of buyer's remorse.

westronandnan@aol.com

April 16, 2009 - 10:53 am EDT

Please, Parkthebus, be honest. How can you say the movement in non-partisan when it is being promoted by Dick Armey and his group, the Fox network and every right wing Republican in congress and state houses around the country?

It's alright to have your little rallies, just call them what they really are --- gatherings for the purpose of finding something that will resonate with the voters --- something the Republicans can hang their hats on for the 2010 and 2012 elections.

In the absence of substantial ideas, get the masses stirred up with fiery rhetoric. Sometimes it works --- particularly, if you're devoid of progressive ideas to address the difficult problems of the day. Remember: it's not how high you jump, but what you do when your feet hit the floor that truly matters.

eclipse3

April 16, 2009 - 11:37 am EDT

Umm, if you didn't attend a tea party then you have no idea what you are talking about when you say they are partisan affairs. Come to think of it, you seem to have no idea what you are talking about at all. Our "little rallies" netted hundreds of thousand of voters yesterday and many who couldn't attend BECAUSE THEY WERE WORKING sent a tea bag. I spoke with doctors, lawyers and plenty of elderly who said they will not stand by any longer and let this liberal, radical administration take our lives away from us. This country belongs to the people.

We do plan to get the masses stirred up, but unlike the Barry people, it won't be with fiery rhetoric as you say. It will be real. And be corrected that we do not stand in the absence of substantial ideas. Our ideas are substantial and we are getting ready to set them in stone.

Watch this!

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 8:57 pm EDT

Tell me EXACTLY HOW "this liberal, radical administration takes [your] lives away from you."

What the hell are you talking about? You have PROVED the previous commenter's observations, that the teabagging is a purely partisan, shrill monotone.

Is it possible that your "lives" are being taken "away from you" because the President of the United States is black? No, it COULDN'T be that!

You people have had your way for twenty of the last twenty-eight years and where we are now is where it has gotten us. It's time to dump "voodoo economics" (as G. H. W. Bush truthfully called Raygunomics) and put OUR tax dollars back to work for US instead of the Board of Directors of Halliburton and all the contractors and Republican bureaucrats who stole not only the nine billion dollars in cash from Iraq reconstruction efforts but the trillions they've stolen from US for almost 30 years!

God, you people make me want to puke.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:18 pm EDT

Chuck Barry? I think he's dead.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:33 pm EDT

Where were your protests when G. W. Bush embarked on an illegal (not to mention pointless) war that will cost US a projected SEVEN TRILLION DOLLARS? I must have missed that teabagging on the news that day.

Admit it, you only have a problem with the government spending money WHEN IT BENEFITS US. As long as it's just used for killing brown people or lining the pockets of old, fat white men, it's OKAY. PLEASE GOD WAKE THESE PEOPLE UP!

Edit: By the way, I'm an old, fat white man.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:10 pm EDT

Sorry, TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS don't cut it! It was Ronnie Raygun that started "big government," where were you then?

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:44 pm EDT

"More government spending has been passed in the last 6 months than in the entire history of the United States."

WRONG! The difference is that Democrats just can't lie about it, because they don't spend THEIR trillions for WARS as do the Republicans, but to benefit the American people.

The Iraq war will ultimately cost ten times as much as the total of the stimulus package. This is a fact.

westronandnan@aol.com

April 16, 2009 - 10:39 am EDT

Doing nothing and the resulting collapse of the global financial would be cataclysmic! Many of those commenting in the article would be better served to do more reading and less listening to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. There's a reason Rush's followers are called "dittoheads."

Dick Armey, who is a highly paid Washington lobbyist, and the Fox faux news network, are manipulating a lot of confused and perplexed folks into doing their dirty work. However, the Republican party has become so irrelevant and marginalized that these little gatherings are a poor substitute for substantitive discourse and credible candidates.

tledford

April 16, 2009 - 9:31 pm EDT

Want to understand these people? Go here -- http://www.markfiore.com/ -- and check out "Newly Frugal Guy" and you'll see what it's REALLY all about.

tledford

April 21, 2009 - 8:22 am EDT

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