South Carolina Residents Protest Federal Spending At “TEA Party”

Columbia, SC—Thousands of South Carolinians who are fed up with federal spending rallied at the Statehouse Wednesday afternoon, one of 49 “Tax Day Tea Parties” around the state. While it’s modeled on the Boston Tea Party of 1773, this time, instead of the beverage, TEA stands for “Taxed Enough Already”.

Similar parties are being held in Greenville, Spartanburg, Simpsonville, Greenwood and Charleston, along with hundreds of other cities nationwide.

The “tea parties” are a grassroots movement nationwide to protest the spending of federal tax dollars.  The movement’s organizers say there will be nearly 10,000 participants for its TEA Party rallies.

Protesters were holding signs like “Congress And Obama Are Bankrupting America” and “Stop Spending What We Don’t Have”. Their biggest concerns are the stimulus plan and government spending in general.

Protester Chuck Stogner of Ridgeway was holding a sign that read, “$11.8 trillion in debt is the problem not the answer”. “I don’t really have an agenda except as a concerned citizen that’s trying to watch for what we spend as a government,“ he says.

The crowd started chanting, “Sanford! Sanford! Sanford!“ before Gov. Mark Sanford made it to the microphone. When he arrived, it was to the loudest cheers of the day, since these protesters support his refusal to spend all of the stimulus money. He says he won’t request $700 million until state lawmakers use that amount to pay down state debt.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to add a trillion dollars of national debt to the national debt this year?“ he asked the crowd, to a very loud “NOOOOO!!!!“

“Do you want to raise taxes this year to pay for that national debt?“

“NOOOO!!!“

“Do you think it’s wise for the government to spend more and borrow more than it ever has in years past?“

“NOOOO!!!“

The trillions of debt is protester Kay Peterson’s main concern. She came to the Statehouse from Waterloo in Laurens County because she has 4 children and 5 grandchildren, with a sixth on the way. “I don’t want them to have to pay the bill for trillions of dollars that we don’t need to spend,“ she says. “We need to let the free market do its job and leave it alone. It’ll be fine.“

While the tea party was going on in front of the Statehouse, the Senate Finance Committee was meeting on the other side, in the Senate office building. South Carolina Education Association president Sheila Gallagher was there to monitor education spending. As a former teacher, she’s most concerned that not getting all of the stimulus money will mean thousands of teachers will be laid off.

“I think to say that taxes are too high, well, depends on your perspective,“ she says. “I think I’m paying my fair share in taxes. And I think that people should go back and look at what services are you getting? And after you do that, then what services do you want to cut out if you want to change your tax structure?“

The crowd at the tea party wasn’t made up of just tax protesters. Advocates for the “Fair Tax” were also there. They’re pushing for a national sales tax to replace the income tax. A separate rally in Columbia Wednesday evening sold out 3,300 seats at a local auditorium. Speakers there included former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

And while most people at the tea party were very conservative, some anti-nuclear protesters also showed up and tried to latch on to the day’s sentiments with signs like “End Tax Bailouts for the Nuclear Reactor Industry”.

Sen. Jim DeMint also got a huge ovation for his continued opposition to spending and the stimulus plan. He told the crowd, “They’re spending us into a deep hole. The only way we’re going to stop the out-of-control spending in Washington is for us to do this all over the country, as long as it takes, to take back our government.“