Courtesy of James Palen

With chants of “USA, USA,” “Stop the spending” and “Stop the pork,” hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up at Tax Day rallies in opposition to recent government spending on April 15.

They were called “tea parties,” a play on the history of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, in which colonists stood up to the British Empire and its taxation 8212; and some San Diego State students felt it was time to get involved.

Jordan Blevins and Dave Gordon were among them. They are members of SDSU’s College Republicans. The students’ meeting place was the U.S. Post Office on Midway Drive in San Diego. The rally was one of at least seven that took place throughout the county, drawing thousands of protesters.

Blevins, a financial services junior and the group’s vice president, said he joined the demonstration because he believes the nation has become complacent to government spending.

“It’s an issue that will affect all of us,” Blevins said. “Especially as a college student 8212; with all the stimulus and bailouts, $785 billion 8212; that’s taxpayer money that’s going to be in the future.”

Cars honked and drivers shouted 8212; mostly in support of the some 500 to 700 people attending the event in San Diego. For more than six hours, demonstrators calling themselves patriots stood in the streets and in front of the building that many were flocking to in a last-second rush to mail tax returns. Many of them held signs, one of which read, “NO taxation without … reading the bill first,” a show of outrage because Congress passed President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan without reading the entire document or placing it on the Internet for public viewing as was promised.

According to www.CBSnews.com estimates, Blevins and Gordon were joined by rallies in more than 700 cities across the nation. Though participants were largely conservative, signs seen at some rallies 8212; including one reading “Republicans Suck Too” at a rally in Chicago 8212; indicated the events were not aimed at being anti-democrat.

Gordon, a bioengineering senior, reiterated that point.

“Party affiliation is not important to us tea partiers at all,” Gordon said.

What’s important, he added, are the principles on which America was founded 8212; namely limited government, especially at the federal level.

“If any thoughtless politician, Republican or Democrat steps on those, Americans like us from now on are going to spit fire,” Gordon said. “We just aren’t going to take it anymore.”
He added that he doesn’t believe the government will be able to keep taxes reasonable given the spending.

“In order for the government to spend money, they need to procure it from somewhere,” Gordon said.

The movement of the tea parties did not begin under the Obama administration, but rather under the George W. Bush administration, following his creation of the first bailout. Tea partygoers like Blevins said they don’t wish to entrust the government with large amounts of taxpayer money anymore.

In addition to distrust, many involved themselves in the tea parties to protest a future rising of the national debt.

While many economists are split on whether there is anything to worry about, SDSU economics professor Raford Boddy, Ph.D., thinks the country can handle the spending. He agrees that it is possible for the debt to double and thinks taxes will go up over the years by 2015, but he doesn’t predict major problems.

“I do not think that a debt of 80 percent, compared to the GDP of $14 trillion, is out of the ballpark. And if it’s done for responsible purposes, we can sustain that.”

Boddy said he is 90 to 95 percent confident that the American economy will be able to handle the long-term debt created by recent bailouts and spending. To finance the expense, the government has already printed large amounts of new money, which could lead to inflation. However, Boddy believes the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central banking system, will take adequate measures to prevent major problems.

“What the Fed has done 8212; the Federal Reserve 8212; of pushing up its balance sheet to almost treble, will come down relatively rapidly,” Boddy said. “It will not cause any long-term damage to this economy.”

Though he doesn’t see eye-to-eye on some of the issues some economists and demonstrators are speaking of, Boddy doesn’t have any problem with them going out to exercise their First Amendment rights.

“I think protests are great,” Boddy said.