Lying, Cheating and Stealing, all in the name of keeping power.

I wonder if the protests used public roadways to travel to the event; or dropped their kids off at public schools this morning; or flew on a plane secured and inspected by federal employees, operated by a public airport; depended on a police department or fire department to protect their neighborhood or home recently; or thanked a soldier for defending our nation while on the public payroll; or visited a local community center to keep their kids out of trouble, or one-stop center for help finding a job.....

The ignorant. The arrogant. The thievery.
The non-responsive government.

It is also fun to get the lefts collective panties in a bunch. They protest everything.

The disparaging talk of those who are out today is the most INTOLERANT BIGOTED and RACIST hatred I have not even heard from the far right.

All from the supposedly tolerant open tent left.
They are more and more looking like the FASCIST party.

Scott, it has all gone completely over your head hasn't it?

Frankly, after eight years of disastrous right wing policies driving our system to the brink of collapse, I'm quite fine getting my fiscal advice elsewhere. The protestors can have fun drowning in their own self-righteousness.

I am actually getting my payroll taxes reduced.......as well as 95% of the bloggers on this site.

The continued inability of Republicans to see that they are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Your Republican right wingers is the ones you should be pissed at this man is just started to try and clean that mess up why are you pissed at him if you don't have taxes you don't have schools, roads or whatever else. Give me a break! Where do you think the money is suppose to come from its only on the backs of people making $200 and over OMG. Jerks.
What about this war duirng yoiu Bush administration lots of foolish spent money there uh?

Gee, Scott, we really appreciate your comments. Which Obama KoolAid flavor do you prefer? And, by the way, I ALWAYS stop and thank our military when I see them...never an exception. When the Guvmint take GM over, you'll really enjoy driving your new BarryMobile.

They don't get it. If it wasn't for taxes there would be no public parks, facilities, county firefighters, schools roads, Get off it already your right wing republican X Prez oput us in the mess no one is listening to your crap. What about all that money that was spent on a stupid war that is still going on give me a break.

I'd like the "Guvmint" to stop using my taxes to station our military all over the globe, engage in unnecessary and illegal wars, and fund a military that is the largest socialist enterprise of them all.

"I am actually getting my payroll taxes reduced."

You will sell your soul to this administration for $7 a week huh?

Penny, "still going on" under the NEW president.

I am not against paying taxes at all. I pay them and enjoy the roads and such.
But my tax money should not be going to AIG, GM, Chrysler, Goldman Sachs, Casa De Maryland, CitiBank etc etc.
If YOU do disagree with me feel free to send a few EXTRA thousand dollars with your tax forms today. Or are you a hypocrite?

I don't understand why people think this is a Republican/Democratic issue. This out of control spending started under Bush and has continued. The worry about putting more tax money in the government's hands is that they will spend it--and they do, by creating new programs, etc. We are already in major debt and it's getting worse. Doesn't anyone see the danger of the policies to the value of the U.S. dollar? They are all devaluing the currency and that will hurt all of us over the long-term. I pity my children and grandchildren.

Penny,
You are correct, taxes pay for useful and necessary parts of society. The protest is focused on taxpayer money being wasted, or going to line the pockets of the people who have caused the catastrophe, or to prop up failed businesses.
Republicans are just as much to blame as Democrats, especially Bush, who was NOT a conservative by any means.
You, however, have been programmed to see things as Dem/Repub, when in fact they have BOTH just robbed you and your children BLIND.
Wake up.
John

Important Tax Remender:
April 15, 2009.
Don't forget to pay your taxes. 21 million illegal aliens are depending on you

STOP CENSORSHIP

I'm glad to see the protestors finally stopped referencing the "teabagging" strategy in favor of the tea parties today though the stupidity of using the term "teabagging" was what made me pay attention in the first place. Now, I just don't care.

I can't believe people are buying into this storyline fabricated by the Republicans who want to get reelected/elected. You people are such sheep.

Well put Chris....

As an independent voter I do not know about you all... but I would rather pay taxes and live in a society with a strong education, infrastructure, military and a concern for human rights and environmental issues than live in a country like Sudan or Afghanistan... We should consider ourselves very lucky to have a stable government to pay our taxes to. Consider this: even the homeless in our country are wealthy then much of the world. Lets all consider ourselves lucky!

I am a college student and today I owed over $3,000 in backed taxes because I had a large scholarship that was taxed... and I am not complaining one bit!

So the point of the tea party is to 1) protest taxes and 2) to protest all the money being spent in an effort to get us out of the economic mess (that was more than likely started by the poor governmental oversight and overall lack of domestic concern expressed by the previous administration). Considering (not all) the majority of the people protesting are conservatives or republicans... doesn't that seem a little off?

Oh, and look at what we our spending money on... fixing and updating our infrastructure and hopefully investing in new green energy that will power us into the feature.

Could some one please refresh me as to why people are protesting again?!?!?!?!?

Sir this started with the tax bail out under the last prez. If the big businesses go under we all go under its all connected. I agree its a big situation but you can't just sit there and do nothing. I actually got a tax cut so I don't know what your situation is. There hasn't been enough time to get it all done. You can't just sit there and complain but and give no answers and any solutions uh? I make way more the $7 per hour get that straight. No one likes taxes and no one likes this ecomony but you see what happen when big corporations get out of control with no regulation.

K, you hit on an important issue. if these teabag protests were, in fact, protests against government spending, both replublican and democratic, that would be completely valid. instead, they are made up of gullible, ignorant people that are only interested in attacking president obama. they can't even comprehend that THEY will be the ones getting the tax cuts. they'd rather name-call and throw around TIRED terms like "drinking the obama kool-aid" and "the messiah." this is a manufactured movement, not grassroots at all, sponsored by corporations like foxnews, that has tricked gullible numbskulls into protesting without even knowing what they're protesting against. check the posts in response to the question in the headline. do any of those protesting have a concrete answer to what exactly they oppose in obama's plan? no. all they can say is "greed, theft," etc. funny how these teabaggers have been silent for the last eight tax seasons.

John I don't agree with all these corrupted CEO's but we have to do something and it has come down to this. I am not getting robbed I just got a tax increase its for people making more then I do. I don't like what is going on and I can't stand people who make all this money while the little guy looses their job so the big guy can make money. This was going on under a Bush administration and now we are all paying for it. I don't like everything either party does I just see it as something we all have to share the burden now because of the greediness of others. It all got out of control and then surfaced. Its a shame.

What irks me is how they are trying to turn this into a party issue. On the front page of this site it says people are protesting "Barak Obama", some may be, but the point of the protests is supposed to be the ENTIRE government over spending, D's AND R's. Approving every thing and anything if it means they will get re-elected and keep getting that government check that WE pay for. They work for US, they are supposed to be fighting for US, but they are really just fighting for the ones who write the biggest campaign check. There needs to be term limits in congress. Spending needs to be brought under control. No one is protesting paying for things we really need, like roads and education, what the real distress is over, is the spending on frivoulus things such as a new fleet of cars and government building upgrades. In this tight economy why should we fork over our pay to the government to get a pretty new environmenttaly friendly water fountain?

Our country was not founded as a socialist nation. Why are we trying to become one?

Both parties are at fault here, Republicans now are the Democrats of old and Democrats have just turned into blood sucking vampires, we need to get rid of the notion that there only two parties that you can belong to, I am neither, nor do I want to be either, I just want to be heard.

The president loves to state "we all must make sacrifices" then goes and signs a near 1 billion dollar spending bill.

The hypocrisy and lies our government produces need to be brought under control. They are in office because they are good speakers and know how to talk to people, that does not qualify them to tell me how to run my life.

I dont have the answer but I think limiting the terms of congressmen is step in the right direction. Cleaning house(pun not intended) and bringing in new blood to seats that dont get used and are corrupt(yes, every friggin single one)

Pelosi, Obama, O'Malley, Ried, Frank - Criminals, theives, snakes.

Well, I can only speak for myself... but I will be protesting 1) the inability of the federal government to address the consequences of the growing national debt (we have run a surplus only ONE year out of the last 30 - how long do YOU think this can go on? Isn't it true that our children and grandchildren will have to pay it back?); 2) the sheer arrogance of asking our elected representatives to vote YES on a 3 TRILLION dollar appropriations bill without giving them enough time to even READ it first, much less debate it; 3) allowing folks like Geithner to get a pass on their delinquent tax penalties and THEN warning US REGULAR CITIZENS that the IRS will step up enforcement of tax dodgers; 4) suggesting to law enforcement (in so many words) that if you are pro-life and a Ron Paul supporter, the odds of you being a "militia" member are high enough to justify paying a little extra attention to your activities; 6) the threats to cap salaries for top management of ALL private companies (who gets to decide what is a "reasonable" salary?); and (among other things) 6) the TOTAL refulsal on the part of ALL of our elected representatives to take even one SMIDGEN of responsibility for getting us into this mess (blaming it all on private business, Wall Street, and the "free" market). I could go on, but I suspect most of you reading these comments don't understand (or don't care about) things like the expense of servicing the debt or the risk of a bloated money supply (the more money we print the less it is worth)... and I will be shocked if the Sun lets this comment through anyway.

From Jeff, "they'd rather name-call"
Then he types this,

"they are made up of gullible, ignorant people"

The left is most tolerant aren't they?

Why is it that these protestors are choosing 2009 to protest this while all those years of debt that piled up under Bush were ok?

I don't want opportunity wasted in the name of socialism.

I want opportunity preserved and the people who know how to sieze it to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I want to use my earned money as I deem necessary, not decided for me.

Don't want my money used for wars, war on drugs, war on aids, war on terror, old wars, new wars or anything besides defense of our country. Public money spent in war on poverty, fetuses or freedom is corruption and a disease.

Don't want my money used to trade with foreigners who hate me for religion or any other reason.

I don't want my money spent on making peace between children who insist on fighting at all cost. Let the jews take care of the jews and the Palestinians do whatever they do besides kill.

Don't want my children to be indentured servants to the state.

Don't want a civilian military to operate on our soil that's as large and powerful as our current military.

Don't want elitists making decisions for me about where to school my children, where to get medical care and tracking my every movement.

Don't want people who have never read the constitution and think it's an outdated document in our government.

THE US CONSTITUTION IS THE LAW OF THE LAND.

We DON'T change the rules as we go.
If somehow you know a way to do it better than the framers of the constitution, you are welcome to follow their path. Carve a whole new country out for yourself. Stop trying to steal this one.

I want life liberty and pursuit of happiness. This means I make the best decisions for myself.

I will fight and kill for the document as written in it. Don't tread on me.

Those who engage in name calling have forfeited their opinion to the rubbish heap.

dawks
We WERE NOT Ok with it under Bush. Why do you think the people elected Obama?
He promised change. We all wanted change. What we didn't expect was this kind of change. More government spending, bail outs and trillions MORE of debt.

We the people are suppose to be the government. Somehow that changed along the way.
Now they Government is your Mama and Papa from cradle to grave. Not a good thing.

i'm not part of "the left," so i wouldn't know. but, speaking for myself, i'm NOT tolerant—not tolerant of the minority of the country that chooses now to start throwing baseless attacks at the current, 3-month old administration as it tries to undo the mess of deregulation that began under clinton and was made worse by bush.
again, i haven't heard any answers to the problem. just a lot of obama-bashing. so, fed-up, what's your solution?

I was protesting Pork, Congresspersons not even READING the Bills they sign, Obama and O'Malley taxing the AIR WE BREATHE OUT, spending Trillions on ...what and whom?, Congress and the President completely ignoring us, and 'Somebody' either smart enough to steal or dumb enough to lose several TRILLION dollars.

After being a Democrat twice and a Republican twice, I'm now a registered independent who stood for over an hour in a steady rain today with my plea to all of my fellow citizens---TERM LIMITS NOW. Think about it--our president does not either write the laws or finalize the annual budget. These are the responsibilities of Congress, as well as declaring war. Presidents come and go, but how about Strom Thurmond, Ted Stevens, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy? How long have they been around with the authority and power to bring the real change that we so desperately need? Members of Congress truly care less about Social Security and Medicare, since they don't need either, with THEIR OWN retirement and health care programs. And their primary concern in passing budgets and laws is to get re-elected--they want to hang on to the money and status, without making the difficult decisions that may not win votes. The president is limited to two terms, eight years, by amendment to our Constitution, which occured after FDR had been elected to four terms. Our grands and greatgrands were adamant that future presidents would not have the opportunity to form dynasties and become corrupted with power. The same reasoning should apply to the 100 senators and 435 representatives of Congress. I believe the term of a senator should be reduced to four years and the term of a representative should be increased to four years [to aleviate the current need to start running for re-election the day that you're elected]. And all members of Congress should be limited to two terms, the same as the president. This will be a very long process, amending the Constitution, but we must begin today---for all who come after us.

jeff, my solution is let bad companies FAIL!
DO NOT give "tax breaks" to those WHO DO NOT PAY TAXES!!!!

What the hell is a "refundable tax cut"?

It is WELFARE pure and simple.

STOP the addiction in government (ALL government) to OUR money.
Stick to the 18 Enumerated powers we gave the government in the Constitution. WE wrote it and WE can change it.

STOP bailing out financial companies that a few years back were being run BY THE SAME PEOPLE NOW IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WHO ARE TASKED TO FIX THE MESS they CAUSED.

I could go on............

I ask all to call their 3 reps and ask this simple question.

" With congress actively engaged in overhauling our health care system, will any "universal" health care plan INCLUDE the legislative, judicial and Executive branches of government into the EXACT same plan I am subjected to?"

So far I received a 1 1/2 page letter from Mikulski and it never even got close to answering the simple question.

That is why people are out today, non-responsive government.

The question could be answered by a YES or NO.

Will we have to suffer through a health care plan that those who instituted it are not?
Will "universal health care" only be for the slaves to this government?

I probably don't have very much in common with the tea party protesters when it comes down to fundamentals, yet I can't help feeling somewhat sympathetic. Every two weeks, I see a quarter of the fruits of my labor stolen by entities that treat me like a second class citizen, and that use a good chunk of that money on evil nonsense like a global military occupation and the bailing out of very, very rich people. And I could extend that list quite a bit, but have a conference call in three minutes. :)

I am protesting that in 3 months I have lost individual rights established in the constitution, the forced dependency in every facet of our lives to a corrupt government, more debt in one year then the total amount of debt of all presidents combined and the creation of the new enemy called CEOs, financial institutions, right wingers all in the name to fix whatever we were told by the press as being broken in the past eight years

Previewing your Comment
The problem is simple...our government doesn't work for the majority of its citizens, it works for whomever lines their pockets with whatever they want most (money maybe?)
The only difference between Republicans and Democrats is the special interest groups they serve, either the very rich or the very poor (both of which are backed by very powerful organizations and/or lobbyist). Neither party serves the hardworking citizens of this country very well. We just pay the debts they continue to create with more of our money and in many cases, more of our lives. The problem is simply, too much power in too few hands, which is the perfect environment for corruption. The system is broke and it hasn't served "the people" in a long, long, long time. Just watch the old movie Mr. Smith goes to Washington. The government knows corruption is rampant, but they do a good job collectively of hiding it by just passing the blame for the country’s problems back and forth from one party to the other. And as long as we keep thinking that the problems are due to the Democrats OR the Republicans, AND not both, there's virtually nothing that’s ever going to change, no matter how much rhetoric we hear about it. If we open our eyes and see that the problems are due to both parties, not one or the other, then the Democrat and Republican parties would both be in serious trouble by now, which they should be, or they maybe even dead by now, or the rules of the game would have been changed by now such that we'd have an improved form of democracy. But both parties are so entrenched there is virtually no way to vote them out of power. Their money machines control most of the media and for the most part continue to successfully bamboozle their party members. They crush every third party candidate or movement that raises any kind of serious threat, through covert and seemingly unbiased media blitzes. But people have now reached a point where they aren't buying the same old excuses anymore and as one great person once said, "All truth is self-evident". I might add, “eventually”. I believe that only now a great many of us are feeling that maybe the only way to get them out of power is through another revolution, which I believe is the message that these tea parties are trying to send to our government, Democrats and Republicans alike. Basically, through these tea parties, the people are saying (to quote an old movie), "we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!" The people are finally starting to organize to send a wakeup call to our government which they, most likely, will not be able to ignore. But don't be surprised if the only response from them is a big new push to abolish the second amendment! Historically, Democrats have been the party of gun control, but the Republicans aren’t far behind. When they have taken away, or rendered helpless, the second amendment, there will be no hope for the people of the United States of America because it is the only thing that is keeping the government from a total dictatorship. I have been a registered republican all my life however, I voted for Ross Perot, and still don't regret it, and the last two presidential elections I have written in my Candidate to display my dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and its presidential candidates. And even though I find Obama very charismatic and presidential in his demeanor, and like many of the things he says he stands for, I could not vote for him because I believed in the long run he would send us to the poor house, because when all is said and done, he is a democrat. I really believe the time has never been more ripe for a viable third party, a party whose main mission would be to primarily represent the hard working honest American citizens, and not primarily the entire world, and not primarily the special interest groups rich or poor, and most of all not primarily themselves! But if my hypothesis is true, and they are entrenched beyond repair, then maybe we are headed for another Independence Day.

Those who are supporting TEA parties are AMERICANS. We are all on the same page and want to tell our elected officials that their spending is OUT OF CONTROL. For those who want to blame Bush fine. Bush did double our nation's debt and YES, so is Obama. Obama is proposing a 4 trillion dollar budget. The spending is out of control! It needs to stop.

fed up, the problem with letting the banks fail is that their money (our money) is federally insured. if you think things are a mess now, imagine the consequences of the government having to pick up the pieces of our broken banks. i want actions to be taken; i don't want an administration that sits around and says "let's just do nothing and wait and see."
aside from our disagreements about how this should be handled, it's refreshing to hear your argument. at least you've articulated your grievances. it seems like the teabag bandwagon is made up less of people like you and more of people that are just peeved about paying their taxes. (joe the plumber?!)

OMG OMG I heard that our tax dollars are now being used to bail out socialist Mexican abortion clinics

Hey "Penny" do you mean the Iraq War that Obama the Chosen One still is supporting? Or do you mean the Afghanistan War that the Messiah is still supporting and sending more troops? Meet the new boss; the same as the old boss. and THAT is what the protests are about. The real fools are the ones who actually thought they were voting for "change" *LAMO*

Hey "Penny" do you mean the Iraq War that Obama the Chosen One still is supporting? Or do you mean the Afghanistan War that the Messiah is still supporting and sending more troops? Meet the new boss; the same as the old boss. and THAT is what the protests are about. The real fools are the ones who actually thought they were voting for "change" *LMAO*

I'm protesting all the rich Republican fat-cats who have conned the poorer in American to care about the minor increase in their tax rate. This is the greatest con of the last 20 years -- it is also class warfare. Where were all the teabags during the rampant Bush spending? Where were all the teabags on the unregulated investment banks and insurance companies who have ruined our economy and lined their pockets at our expenses? Where were all the teabags when the Republican congress took the level of pork and the deficit to new heights? Where were all the teabags when those Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich (and their Republican successors) rubber-stamped every spending measure of the Bush administration? Clinton left us with a surplus, Bush with the largest deficit in American history -- where were the teabags then. Hypocrites!

I am a Democrat and I am protesting our sliding to socialism. I do not mind paying taxes but when it funds the crooks in D.C. of both parties and funds the corporate idiots then I am pissed off! Yes I went to a tea party and I am proud of it. I think we need a simple tax code and I think we need line item veto and we need less spending. I think we need to bill Iraq for our liberation, we need to fire all that are in Washington now and deal ourselves a new hand. Get rid of that idiot O,Malley and put people back to work. If they don't want to work then they can fend for themselves. Also get rid of the unions. They line their pockets and are deystroying this country.

You know I keep hearing how it's the left or the republicans who are going to the tea party. You know, if some folks even had a clue they would know it's not about left or right, democrat or republican it's about being American. The tea parties are about a large range of things, and if you had attended one you would have known that taxes were not on most folk's minds. They are tired of money being produced from thin air which will cause hyper inflation. They are tired of a Government who will not listen to the people. And they are tired of all of the unconstitutional things going on. The list goes on and on, but TAXES my friend are NOT what it was all about. If you think it is about taxes, well, let them keep printing money out of thin air, lets see how much money it will take to buy a loaf of bread . You will need a wheel barrel full of money to buy it my friend.

The government surely overspends, but I would not protest with this group who are too closely associated with the Republicans who have nearly brought the country to its knees with its outrageous get rich at any cost policies and its own reckless overspending.

The only way to get rid of the waste is to go inside the government agencies and deal with the administrators there and the people in charge of procurement and event planning. This needs to happen at every level of government from the city to the state to the feds. Billions would be saved.

They also need to downsize which will never happen seriously because there are too many political appointees in these agencies.

The government surely overspends, but I would not protest with this group who are too closely associated with the Republicans who have nearly brought the country to its knees with its outrageous get rich at any cost policies and its own reckless overspending.

The only way to get rid of the waste is to go inside the government agencies and deal with the administrators there and the people in charge of procurement and event planning. This needs to happen at every level of government from the city to the state to the feds. Billions would be saved.

They also need to downsize which will never happen seriously because there are too many political appointees in these agencies.

To Huck and Fed Up:

You two reference our Constitution as though it were not meant to be touched EVER. The truth is, it has been amended 26 times. It is a living, breathing document, meant to be changed as the times change. Let's face it...today is much much different from 1787. Take slavery, for example...or the 3/5th compromise in Article 1. Are you gonna "fight and kill" for that?!? When it first came out, Jefferson believed it would be ENTIRELY RE-WRITTEN within a generation. I'm tired of people treating the Constitution like the Bible. IT'S NOT!!! Times change, and we have to change with them.

Enough about that. On to more pressing matters. I have no objection over the protest itself. That's what makes our country great. They can't do this in many other countries around the world (or if they did, they'd be shot at). Some of you seem dumbfounded by all the backlash against this so-called "teabagging". Again, this is why we're a great nation (I think we're #1!!!). As for my own views: if you really want to make a difference, then 1)VOTE...many Americans choose not to, but still complain vigorously about anything and everything. My brother-in-law (a West Point Grad and Marshall scholar) does just that. Did he vote? NO!!! I hope each and every one of you on this page voted. 2)Vote who you want into and out of office. I'm insulted by the "Tea Party" phrase that's tossed around, as if the protestors are patriots of the first order. We have taxation WITH representation (Unless you live in DC, but that's your own fault). You want to fix the taxes? Change the reps!! That, boys and girls, is called Democracy. Can you say Democracy? I knew that you could.

Here's a nice analogy: You're acting like Yankee fans (at least those protesting the current plan to right the economy). CC drops his opening day start, and already the bronx cheers and vitriol spews out....after ONE GAME!!! You guys are waving the white flag of defeat and spewing while the "game" has barely started. The current administration has been in power for 86 days. I don't recall any mention by our current President of a quick turnaround or fix. In fact, he said just the opposite...It's gonna be a long slog. Do I agree with everything being done to right the ship? No, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt, for now. If I don't like the result...1/20/13, we might have a new sheriff in town. Can you say Democracy? Good, I knew that you could.

BTW: Dow is up 1600 points over the past 4 months. Whaddaya know?

What a great event... minus the cold and rain! The fact that almost 2,000 people attended a protest during the middle of a workday in downtown Annapolis has to go put a little fear in politicians heads. Allegedly Anthony Brown ran into about 20 protestors walking down main street while he was en route to a sushi lunch today.

Bailing out big business because those businesses were inept and part of the taxes that I pay go to those creeps, and we have no choice in the matter. The tax-and-spend Congress [note: both political parties are equally irresponsible] and President have to bear the blame, since the magnitude of it all is staggering. And Obama pledged to end the earmarks. Well, there are MORE earmarks now than ever before!

This IS one petty, corporate- orchestrated perversion of truehearted protest. It IS the willing ignorant,
acting against their collective interests, distorting reality and misinforming the public at large.
All the while, saying nothing about
what IS important; and, doing nothing
about what IS real & what REQUIRES
citizen performance!!!

BKB, I wrote this so I agree with you to a point.

"Stick to the 18 Enumerated powers we gave the government in the Constitution. WE wrote it and WE can change it."

CHANGE IT do NOT IGNORE IT!!!!!

As for being allowed to protest? Ask the Iraqi people what they think about that now. And who they can thank for it!

To sheila mills:

First off, you are right that the Constitution was meant to be changed, and it has. However, it is meant to be amended, not interpreted differently by a few judges, or steered around by executive orders from whoever is President, and not by making laws by Congress bypassing the Constitution. It must be amended by a vote of 3/5ths of the states. Yes, the states are the only ones that have the power to change the Constituion.

Second, yes I do vote. And NO I am not being represented. How can you call 75% of the citizens being against all of the bailouts and stimulus packages saying to their Representatives to vote for it? The Representatives do not listen to their constituents. They only do what is in their best interest to keep their jobs, not what is best for us. Same way with the Maryland tax increases, the immigration driver's license bill, the speed cameras, and so on and so on and so on.... The problem is all of the people that vote that do not take part in events like this. They blindly follow the media and the politicians talking points. That is the point of the protests, to try to inform the uninformed.

And no, I don't agree with the analogy. This has been going on for much longer than the current administration. It is everyone in Congress. I did not support Bush, nor do I support Obama. One of the main points from yesterday's parties was to vote all of the incumbents out.

The news media, the present elected officials in Maryland & the radical president along with his appointees & policies have caused this discontent. The people demonstrating yesterday were all tax paying Americans & not the non-tax paying people who elected the above mentioned politicians. The major concern of this is that these people are sending out a warning to the country that a tax revolution may be the next step. The radical policies being pushed through the congress & senate are an equal problem. The people out yesterday are only a small percentage of Americans fed up with the new Washington policies which are too numerous to mention here. The state & federal elected officials need to be aware that if things continue on the present courses, this is just a small percentage of the taxpayers who will not be paying their taxes next year. Imagine how many prisons will be needed to house all of us & where will the welfare checks & politicans salaries come from. If this comes to pass it will too late to help all of the hurting people who need our help & don't even realize it. Somehow the people who support the above mentioned politicans think its the politicans money & not ours they are getting. Its the news medias' civic responsibility to inform the less than fortunate Americans that their help comes from us. Good luck & may God bless America & our state.

Jon and Fed Up:

The problem with these arguments is this: the only thing that's changed since the new administration is the stimulus/bailout package (which was started by the previous administration). I have a hard time accepting the fact that all this pent-up anger over 30 years worth of tax/spend, pork, special interests, and a byzantine tax code are coming out now. If these protests were a little more focused on the current stimulus/bailout plan, I think they would have been received much more credibly by the public at large. When you try to throw in everything that you're "mad as hell" about, you start to sound like a crazy old coot. Lots of agendas were on display yesterday, without a clear and focused message. Just to show I'm not biased, the same can be said for the WTO protests in Seattle last decade. No clear message, no clear focus (and yes...a lot more hooliganism).

You DO have representation...it's just not the representation you voted for. Again, you don't like it? Vote it out in the next election cycle. Lots of protesters were decrying socialism yesterday, yet calling for the heads of Pelosi/Reid/Obama, etc, talking about another "revolution". Sounds like a pretty Mao-ist reaction to me.

The politicization of the judiciary has been going on since the Founders, with regards to Constitutional interpretation. If the Founders could see America as it is today, who's to say they would still hold the same views they did then? Make no mistake, many of the Founders did not trust the people to govern themselves, hence the creation of institutions like the Electoral College. Remember, our revolution was different from the French, Russian, Chinese, and Cuban ones....It was led by the UPPER class (the landed Virginia gentry and the New England merchants). Our Founders today would be on par with a lot of the corporate "fat cats" a lot of us hate. They were idealistic enough to dream of a true Republic, but pragmatic enough to realize that safeguards needed to be in place to prevent mob rule and ensure communal solidarity. You can't have everyone going around saying "I gots mine...if you don't or can't get yours, then go F yourself". Somebody has to be the designated driver, the responsible adult, the Mom....unfortunately that's our government (to a point). The mob will not and cannot rule itself. Plenty of historical examples to look into.

I know I'm rambling on and on about history (I love it...and EVERYONE should read more into it). But we've got to separate these myths about our Founders from the stark realities that have been there since their time.

BKB: the problem with your argument is that it doesn't address the issue of DEBT SERVICE. Tell me how our nation is going to avoid having to pay 1 trillion a year simply on DEBT SERVICE, or how having to do so is not going to be a permanently fatal blow to our economy.

Waiting to hear from you...

Keep waiting.......

Jon:

"The problem is all of the people that vote that do not take part in events like this. They blindly follow the media and the politicians talking points".

Maybe the real reason is that the rest of us DON'T AGREE WITH YOU. How dare you just assume the rest of us are mindless sheep! It's insulting to our intelligence.

I agree with BKB. This was just an excuse for all the nutjobs to whine and cry about whatever they don't like. No clear agenda as far as I could see. Just an excuse to complain.

The public not only don't know the difference between Fascism and Socialism, they also don't understand what Capitalism is. That is why, "Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal" by Ayn Rand is such an important book. What we have is a very MIXED economic system with a multitude of controls and a few remnants of freedom left over from the rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness that were proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.

JT writes "How dare you just assume the rest of us are mindless sheep! It's insulting to our intelligence."

And then YOU JT assume we are all
"nutjobs".

How dare you just assume the rest of us are nutjobs and insult our intelligence.

Don't you see the insanity of this type of thinking?