New American Tea Party

The New American Tea Party is a coalition of organizations and citizens concerned about an alleged recent trend of fiscal recklessness in government. Dedicated to the Washington, D.C. tea party effort, the organization is sponsored by the American Spectator, the Heartland Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, the National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, the Institute for Liberty, the Coalition for a Conservative Majority and the Young Conservatives Coalition. The nationwide protests are collectively known as tea parties, where rallies have been held in cities throughout the United States. Primarily, the events were in protest against tax policies and increased government spending. Some of the demands of the protesters included reducing the business tax rate, abolishing taxes on capital gains, abolishing the estate tax in the United States, and moving to a balanced budget.
The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, and the protests have sought to evoke images, slogans, and themes from the American Revolution. The acronym T.E.A. represents the phrase "Taxed Enough Already".
Ideologies and goals
The Washington contingent of the national tea party movement, the New American Tea Party, contains a number of fiscally conservative political groups. Some local lawmakers have donated around 50 million dollars to the New American Tea Party, In general, these organizations protest federal corporate welfare, including mortgage and bank bailouts. The movement aims to prevent funds from the Stimulus Plan from being spent irresponsibly. Standing in the middle of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Santelli declared that America needed "a new kind of tea party," so that citizens can express their discontent with "the government's support of fiscal irresponsibility".
The first anti-spending protest, organized by Liberty Belle, occurred in Seattle, Washington on February 16, 2009. On March 21, 2009, The New American Tea Party was organized by Daniel Martinez in Raleigh, North Carolina to protest against "taxes, corporate bailouts and all manner of federal and state spending". J.P. Freire designed the site NewAmericanTeaParty.com soon afterward,
Leading up to the Tax Day Tea Party, the events were organized and promoted by volunteers, activists, and Political action committees across the United States. The speed and scope with which the Tax Day Tea Party protests were organized can be attributed to the use of Twitter tweet feeds, on blogs, and the social networking website Facebook.
Tax Day Tea Party protests
Over 750 cities held tea parties on April 15, 2009. The number of citizens reached into the hundreds of thousands, with the largest, in Atlanta, Georgia, drawing about 15,000. Pajamas Media crowd estimates — sent in by citizen journalists who signed up to the site to enter attendance data from the event they participated in — stands at more than 623,000 protesters nationwide.
Criticism
The Tea Party protests were criticized by some media and Nancy Pelosi, including the cable news channels MSNBC and CNN. Other media joined accusations against Fox News Channel for allegedly promoting the tea party protests and claimed they were not a grassroots movement but were instead astroturfing. As a result of the tea party coverage, Glenn Beck contended that the media and politicians who criticized the protests are "misunderstanding" the rallies or "just didn't get it".

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu