| Last Updated: Apr 18, 2009 - 12:52:27 PM |
UNITED STATES
—
April 15 is generally known by the nickname, "Tax Day"; however, this year's Ides of April was also marked by a nationally organized drive to protest taxation. The name of the campaign? Tea parties.
Hundreds of citywide protests were expected to take place on April 15, throughout the United States. Organization began about two months ago, around the time of the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and news of economic stimulus spending levels, to the news of which some reacted unfavorably.
In California, cities all over the state joined in to protest federally spending and taxation, in a throwback to the Revolutionary-era Boston Tea Party and the early American slogan, "don't tread on me."
A map of projected Tea Parties. Photo courtesy of Google and FreedomWorks.org. |
FreedomWorks.org was one of the major organizers of the April 15 Tea Party protests. A satellite image provided by the Web site illustrates a concentration of Tea Parties, particularly along the coasts. The group's motto is "lower taxes, less government, more freedom." By mid-week, the membership total for the goup was over 370,000.
In California, a myriad of cities and locales organized protests. Just a few of these areas included San Francisco
(outside of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's District Office, which attracted what is estimated to be a few hundred protestors),
Sacramento (where it is estimated that nearly 5,000 souls showed up to picket outside of the state's capital building),
Hollister,
Redondo Beach/Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, South Bay, Santa Barbara (with witness accounts of heavy crowds), the Central Valley (with one attendee boasting 7,500 protestors showing up), Van Nuys, Simi Valley, Ventura County, Santa Ana (with reports of between 2,000 and 3,500 attendees), Fresno (expectd to have drawn over 1,000), San Luis Obispo County, San Diego, San Francisco Oceanside, Merced, San Mateo, Chico, Redding, Temecula and Ranch Cucamonga.
There were no reports of tax-collectors or federal officials being tarred and feathered, or boatloads of tea being tossed into harbors by people dressed in costumes.
One Tea Party protest in California. Photo by Susie Kopecky. |
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by San Francisco News
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