Philadelphia Tea Party protests Tax Day

“Taxed Enough Already.”

These slogans were on two of many signs at the Tea Party Patriots’ Tax Day Tea Party held Thursday afternoon in Love Park, where dozens gathered to protest political issues and hear speakers ranging from doctors to business owners.

The Tea Party Patriots, Inc., was created last year as a “non-partisan grassroots organization” with the values of promoting “fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets,” according to the organization’s mission statement.

“We stay away from social issues,” Co-Founder of the Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots Diana Reimer said. “There are enough organizations out there that take care of the social issues.”

Apart from presenting speakers, organizers set up tables where spectators could learn more about the movement and mail their Congressional representatives.

The Tax Day Tea Party demonstration occurred last April as well. However, according to Reimer, “the message is still the same” this year. The movement still aims to address “the out of control spending by the government and the taxing of its people,” she said.

Reimer added that with regards to fiscal spending, “people are a little more annoyed this year than last year.”

Rally participant Dana Westby said she chose to get involved in the Tea Party movement for her 19-, 17- and 12-year-old children who will have to “bear the brunt” of future taxation.

“I’m fighting for my kids,” she said. “When you start coming after my kids, it gets personal.”

While the Tea Party movement has not yet seen an organized presence at Penn, Master of Science in Education student Dan Chinburg hopes to create a Penn branch of the Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots before his graduation in the fall.

Chinburg said he “reconnected with [his] love for America and appreciation for the Constitution” while abroad in South Korea last year.

He is “trying to generate some buzz” about the issues the Tea Party focuses on, and hopes the branch will eventually organize its own activities, speakers and rallies.

“My interest is really being able to get information to college students out there about the history of our country … how capitalism really works and the power of the private sector,” Chinburg said.

Over 600 similar Tax Day Tea Party rallies like the one held in Center City occurred throughout the country yesterday, all with the same mission in mind.

“The [Obama] administration is not listening,” Reimer said. “You can’t avoid the American people forever.”

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