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GREENSBORO — “Silence is consent.”

If the phrase on the protest sign holds true, then hundreds of people at the Tax Day Tea Party  in Greensboro on Thursday made it clear that they disagree   with the U.S. government.

“We’re opposed to a lot of things that’s going on in Washington today as far as taxes and government growing and the people being taken out of the picture,” said Tom Roberts, a real estate appraiser from Jamestown. “Our politicians aren’t listening to what the people are saying.”

Roberts and his wife, Dawn, said they likely will attend more tea party movement events. People who identify with the movement have expressed frustration with government expansion, taxes and the recently passed  health care reform measures.

The Conservatives for Guilford County  planned the tea party in the downtown governmental plaza on Thursday. It coincided with dozens of rallies in North Carolina and hundreds across the U.S.

People carried signs reading, “Big Government Isn’t The Answer, It’s The Problem,” and “Party Like It’s 1773,” referring to protests against British rule at the Boston Tea Party  shortly before the American Revolution. 

Some people spoke with political candidates, got their faces painted and registered to vote at the event Thursday.

Guest speaker after guest speaker urged the flag-waving crowd to let their voices be heard by  their elected officials. Bill Flynn, the morning co-host on WPTI  (94.5 FM),  even called on the crowd to shout loud enough for the Guilford County commissioners to hear during their meeting in the old courthouse.

Joanne Wittenborn, an event organizer with Conservatives for Guilford County, joined a few chants, but she said people should hit the polls in November to make a real impact.

“(We’re) letting people know that they need to become active,” she said. “Voting is the way that we can really make a difference.”

She said the group will talk with candidates to try to gauge which ones are most conservative and then the group will  distribute voter guides after the May primary.

Isabella Adkins, who heads event planning for the organization, also requested more voter participation during her speech.

“The progressive liberal left believes that by this November, and especially by 2012, we the people will forget and become complacent. I will not forget. How about you?” she asked.

Adkins then led the crowd in a chant: “We will not forget.”

The Romanian-born U.S. citizen said she wants to see her new country go in a different direction. “I think the election in November is so important to the future of this country, because unless we get a more balanced government in Washington,” Adkins said, “I don’t see the future of this country very well.”

Some restaurants supported the event by serving free “Liber-Tea ” — iced tea — to all the tea partiers who bought a meal.

But one restaurant hosted a quiet counterprotest to the tea party protest. The Reasonable Uprising in Greensboro  met at The Green Bean  coffeehouse on South Elm Street.

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com