Tea Party Protests

The Tea Party movement conducted protests across the United States on April 15, 2009.Fox News: Tea Party Protesters Gird for Possible Liberal Backlash (April 14, 2009) The original "Tax Day Tea Party" was a nationwide protest with the reported goal of pressuring Congress and states to reject government bailouts and excessive government spending.USA Today: Tax Revolt a Recipe for Tea Parties (April 13, 2009) The day is also the annual deadline for filing federal income tax returns. Other Tea Party protests have occurred since 2009, including September 12, 2009 in Washington, D.C. and again on April 15, 2010.

Unlike the historic Boston Tea Party, the tea party protests do not necessarily involve dumping tea into a harbor but rather, "tea" is an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already".CNN: Nationwide 'Tea Party' Protests Blast Bailout Tea is, however, widely used as a symbol throughout the movement. A box of tea bags tossed onto the White House lawn on April 15, 2009 caused a temporary security alert for the nation's executive mansion before the package was identified.MSNBC: In the Middle of a Rainy Day Tea Party (April 15, 2009)

On September 21, 2010, the Tea Party Patriots announced that a single, anonymous donor had given the non-profit organization one million dollars. The single donor specified that the gift was to be allocated among the various Tea Party movement local organizations and that it must be spent prior to November 2nd, 2010. The money will likely impact mid-term election efforts in a number of regions.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/tea-party-group-receives-_n_733268.html

The Tea Party Patriots are a coalesced organization representing approximately 2800 regional Tea Party groups.

• On February 19, 2009, CNBC's Rick Santelli appeared on-air at the Chicago Board of Trade and ranted about President Obama's $75 billion bailout "rewarded bad behavior" of mortgage defaulters. Referring to the 1773 Boston Tea Party where colonists threw tea into the Boston Harbor to protest "Taxation without Representation", Santelli called for a new Tea Party to protest the 2009 government bailouts.

• YouTube recorded more than one million views of a video clip of Santelli's rant and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook discussed Santelli's comments. Organized Tea Party protests began to form in Atlanta, Denver and St. Louis.USA Today: Tax Revolt a Recipe for Tea Parties (April 13, 2009)