Time for a Tax Day Tea Party in the D.C. area
By: Rachelle Brown
April 15, 2009
Come rain or come shine, the D.C. Tax Day Tea Party is still on.
The anti-tax protests planned for Lafayette Park and in front of the U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday are two of more than 1,000 grassroots protests scheduled across the country, despite the prediction of wet weather in the District.
“I think it will be more fun,”
If you go
The Tea Parties scheduled locally are:
Washington
» Lafayette Park: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Pennsylvania Avenue and Jackson Plaza. Speakers, music, open microphone for public
» Treasury Department: Noon to
2 p.m. at Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street NW
» Closest Metro stops to both: Federal Triangle, Metro Center, McPherson Square and Farragut North
Virginia
» Reston, Lake Anne Village Center: 6 to 8 p.m. at 1609 Washington Plaza
» Woodbridge, McCoart Administration Center: Noon to 2 p.m. at 1 County Complex Court
Maryland
» Annapolis, Campbell Park:
Noon to 2 p.m. Annapolis Harbor
» Frederick, City Hall:
3 to 5 p.m. at 101 N. Court St.
» Baltimore, Inner Harbor:
3 to 5 p.m.
To find a Tea Party closer
to you, visit taxdayteaparty.com.
Rebecca Wales, the lead organizer of the event in the District, said in an e-mail. “Having done a number of rallies during the last presidential campaign in the rain, I think it added to the fun.”
More than 675 people have confirmed their attendance on the Facebook event site for the D.C. Tax Day Tea Party. Nationwide, organizers are expecting at least 500,000 participants at events around the country.
The 11 a.m. event at Lafayette Park is a “grassroots” event, where the people gathered there can share their stories and express their frustrations with the Obama administration for its handling of the economic crisis and budget.
The noon “National Stage” in front of the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue will host a wide variety of speakers, including activist Alan Keyes, Fox News contributor Tobin Smith and Young Republicans’ Rachel Hoff.
“The purpose is to let Congress and the president know there are many, many Americans across the country that are fed up with bailouts, large budgets and high taxes,” Wales said. “The way the rally will help us achieve this purpose is by having multiple events happening across the country on the same day.”
The tea parties are inspired by the historic Boston Tea Party of 1773, when tax protesters dumped tea into the Boston Harbor in an effort to boycott British control and “taxation without representation,” leading to the American Revolution.
Wales suggests that attendees bring “signs, signs, signs” to the protests, as long as they aren’t on sticks. Smart Water is donating more than 1,000 water bottles for the event.
Also, she wrote, participants should bring “their voices, their chants and their enthusiasm! We WILL show why we are mad as hell at this administration’s fiscal irresponsibility!”
