More than 200 march on Tax Day

Just because Americans were required to file their taxes Wednesday doesn’t mean they did so quietly.

Nationwide protests of government spending reached Bloomington as the federal government tallied up the last taxpayer dollars they received on Tax Day. More than 200 people gathered outside Democratic Congressman Baron Hill’s office for the Bloomington Tea Party.

The “tea parties,” which are going on nationwide in response to Tax Day, are a citizens’ response to what they see as fiscal irresponsibility by the government.

Bloomington residents Spencer Leiter and Doug Parker organized the event. They said their goal was to raise awareness in Bloomington on the amount of debt the government is incurring with the current stimulus package.

“There had been a few tea parties in other cities when we thought of the idea,” Leiter said. “We just wanted to bring this to our city to show that we also care and are fed up with the way the government is spending our money.”

Leiter started out the protest with a speech, accusing the government of overexpanding its power, citing government spending as a transition to socialism.

“The president’s economic program is starting to fail,” Parker said, addressing the crowd. “The deficit went up 200 percent since Obama took office.”

With that, the crowd moaned, hissed and booed.

Leiter said he couldn’t understand why “honest, hard-working” Americans had to bail out “irresponsible” businesses, bank owners and other citizens who defaulted on their mortgages.

Spencer blamed the Democratic party for passing the stimulus plan, and said he does not think the Republican party had as much responsibility in the issue.

Protestors clung to banners and signs denouncing the current politics of Hill and President Barack Obama, as well as a petition demanding the repeal of the stimulus package. Copies were sent to Hill’s office.

Halfway through the event, participants marched down Eighth Street and then College Avenue to the courthouse. As the crowd walked down the street, some people honked in support, some asked them questions and others just watched in amazement.

“We called him and tried to talk to him, but Baron has no answer for us,” Parker said.
Keith Dutton, who plans to run for Congress under no affiliation in 2010, said he was disappointed with how politicians in Washington act in general.

Dutton, who brought his son along, said he was worried about the future of the youth of the nation, because they are the ones who will pay back all the debt the government is incurring.

“Common sense needs to come back,” Dutton said, “I blame both parties – Bush made mistakes, and Obama is making mistakes too. The American people should snap out of it and vote good folks into office.”

Members of Young Americans for Liberty were present to push legislation by Ron Paul. Meredith Milton, IU sophomore and member of Young Americans for Liberty, said the group was circulating a petition encouraging Hill to vote “yes” on Paul’s Federal Reserve Transparency Act.

Milton said the organization has tried to reach Hill for a position on the matter, but it has yet to receive a response.

Senior Daniel Cowells watched the protest from the sidelines. He said he was unsure of the whole thing and unaware it was going on. He said he was glad to see people practicing their First Amendment rights, but doesn’t know if the government can do anything else. He doesn’t think spending is necessarily the answer, but extreme events call for extreme measures.

“This protest specifically, I think, has a lot of exaggerations and claims that are not realistic,” Cowells said.