Click the photo or use the arrows to navigate through images of the Tax Day Tea Party in Kalispell.
North Main Street in Kalispell was a cacophony of honking horns, cheering and picketing Wednesday as a crowd of more than 150 gathered at the western edge of Depot Park participating in the Tax Day Tea Party protests.
Demonstrators waved signs protesting everything from excessive government spending, to high taxes, to the Federal Reserve, to incumbent elected officials. Part of a national movement with rallies planned in more than 500 American cities, the demonstration was intended to express frustration with the recent federal bailouts of several U.S. corporations, as well as the $787 billion federal stimulus package and President Barack Obama’s budget.
The crowd was composed mainly of those with a conservative or libertarian political bent, but it was also clear that the frustration was not so much with the Democrats or the president, so much as it was directed at recent federal spending in which both major parties have been complicit.
Bill Cenis of Plains, and his wife Pat, held up a sign reading “Our grandkids’ future hijacked by D.C. pirates.”
“Our government’s gotten out of control with the spending,” Cenis said. “Our grandkids are going to have to pay for it.”
Cenis believes the federal government should freeze spending, except for essential needs, and said he was disappointed after writing to Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester expressing his opposition to government spending, and in return received form letters outlining what the stimulus package will provide in Montana. Cenis is particularly incensed by the bailouts of corporations like AIG and auto manufacturers, among others.
“I don’t think the government is capable of running any business; if a business fails, they should let it fail,” Cenis said. “We’re hoping they’ll listen to us but we kind of doubt they will.”
People interviewed said the April 4 rally at Depot Park drew hundreds more people, and that this one was smaller due mainly to the fact that it fell on a weekday, when many were at work. There were no speakers, and no organizers present. Instead, people said they heard about the protest on the radio or Internet of television, and simply wanted to express themselves.
While many rallies intend to send teabags to elected officials as way to protest high taxation and echo the Boston Tea Party, there was decidedly little emphasis on tea at the Kalispell event, save for a few dogs with teabags hanging off their collars, and men with teabags hanging from the brims of their hats.
Shawn Bailey, part of the Campaign for Liberty, an outgrowth of the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign, said his group has been holding tea parties since 2007 and that the movement began there, and not with an on-air rant Feb. 19 by CNBC journalist Robert Santelli over a bailout for mortgage defaulters. Bailey characterized the recent rallies as being driven, and in some ways co-opted, by mainstream conservative media figures like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
“They seem to be trying to blame Democrats for what happened when a lot of this started under Bush,” Bailey said. “It’s not left, it’s not right, we’ve got to get back to the Constitution.”
For many, this was their first political protest. Bob Young of Bigfork brandished a sign reading “Keep the Change…I’ll keep my freedom, my guns and my money.” The owner of the Echo Lake Café, Young said he was a Republican, but has grown frustrated with a system where entrenched politicians are more concerned about getting re-elected than good public policy.
“They’re not worried about the long-term future of this country – it’s ridiculous,” Young said. “I hope they know that we’re going to throw them all out if they don’t change course here and start cutting back.”
Young recently joined Greenpeace and plans on becoming more politically active. He said more drastic measures are needed to cut unnecessary programs and focus on national imperatives.
“I’d like to see them ground NASA, have the rocket scientists try and figure out how to build an electric car that’s viable,” Young said. “There’s a lot of people out there that need food on the table before we need another man on the moon.”
And like many interviewed, Young believes public frustration is only going to grow along with the nation’s problems.
“I think this is a first go-around at this,” he added. “This is just the beginning.”