A new grassroots phenomenon is sweeping the nation — Tax Day Tea Parties. One of the leading sponsoring organizations, the American Family Association (AFA), has announced on its website that AFA TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party Day rallies on April 15 are now scheduled in 1,837 cities. Meanwhile, the originators of the Tax Day Tea Party concept at taxdayteaparty.com list hundreds of Tea Parties scheduled for April 15.

The political pundits are taking notice. For example, Peter Roff, former senior editor for United Press International, stated on April 3:

The “Tea Parties” augur the beginnings of a new political movement, it is now clear, that may eventually exceed the power of MoveOn.org and others of the new liberal pressure groups in their ability to influence the votes of politicians in Washington as well as state capitals in every region of the country.

One reason for the rapid development of the Tea Party movement is the fiercely partisan nature of the Obama presidency. On April 2 the Pew Research Center published the results of their presidential job approval poll. They conclude: “For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades.”

The Pew poll found a 61-point partisan gap in opinions about President Obama’s job performance — 88 percent job approval among Democrats and 27 percent job approval among Republicans. Consequently, even though many brave statements are issued by event organizers and supporters as to the nonpartisan nature of the Tea Parties, you can be sure that most of the attendees will be Republicans and Independents.

As many of you know, this whole Tea Party movement traces back to a rant on CNBC by Rick Santelli on February 19. Here’s the video:



Santelli’s rant led to the first nationwide “Tea Party” event on February 27 in which an estimated 30,000 Americans participated in protests in over 40 cities. Now, less than two months later, on April 15 there will likely be hundreds of thousands of Americans participating in protests in over 1,500 cities.

The main organizing group behind the Tax Day Tea Party movement has been a grassroots coalition of Top Conservatives on Twitter (TCOT), Smart Girl Politics, and the DontGo Movement. As mentioned above, another main player in this movement is the American Family Association. The very new Glenn Beck 9-12 Project is also promoting the Tax Day Tea Parties on its website. Since the Beck organization already has over 400,000 members, this should help swell the numbers on April 15. Fox News will be featuring the Tax Day Tea Parties in a very high-profile way by positioning four of its key personalities, including Beck and Sean Hannity, at four major Tea Party celebrations around the nation and broadcasting their shows live from the events.

Newt Gingrich is the most prominent big-name politician who is heavily involved in the Tax Day Tea Party movement. He is featured in a video on AFA’s website promoting the event and even speaking on behalf of AFA in doing so. Gingrich is also very visible on the taxdayteaparty.com website. If you click on the “Resources” tab at the top of the homepage, you’re taken to a “Tool Kit” consisting of three PDFs from AmericanSolutions.com. If you’re curious and check out AmericanSolutions.com, you find that Gingrich is the  General Chairman of the organization. Clicking on the “Social Networking” tab of taxdayteaparty.com leads to a video featuring Gingrich in which he says his organization American Solutions is partnering with the Tax Day Tea Party movement. Here's that video:

A related news item from politico.com provides some context for Gingrich’s involvement in the Tax Day Tea Party movement. According to Politico, on April 1 Gingrich gave a speech at the College of the Ozarks in Missouri during which he stated:

If the Republicans can’t break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012.... During the period I was speaker, the U.S. government — for four years — total growth was 2.9 percent a year. Under Bush, it was 6.1 percent. ... This year, I think it will be 36 percent in one year. It is just literally irrational.

Based on his heavy involvement in the Tea Party movement and his statement above at the College of the Ozarks, it is hard to resist the conclusion that Gingrich is skillfully positioning himself as the leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party and possibly as the leader of a conservative third party for the 2012 elections.

Veteran readers of The New American magazine know about Gingrich’s key role in placing the United States under the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization and NAFTA among other internationalist positions he has taken. However, the vast majority of Americans who attend the Tax Day Tea Parties will be entirely innocent of such knowledge.

Nonetheless, the Tax Day Tea Parties promise to provide a very welcome venue for hundreds of thousands of Americans to register their opposition to the trillion dollar bailouts, corporate takeovers, stimulus packages, inflationary deficit spending, etc. Hopefully these Tea Party protests will continue to grow until a mighty grassroots movement coalesces with sufficient clout to ensure either that the present Congress begins adhering to the Constitution or that the political climate is changed enough to bring about the eventual election of a majority of constitutionalists to both houses of Congress. This result would justify the invocation of our time-honored Boston Tea Party and would be an appropriate homage to our Founding Fathers.

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Lee said:

Third Parties Third Parties are not the answer to America's ills. Larry Greenley is absolutely correct that the "Insider" Newt Gingrich wants to lead that political party once it gains in strength. This consummate CFR member, pusher of everything globalist, is selling Republicans and Independents, sick and tired of the other two major parties, a bill of goods. The only way out of this mess is to educate and activate. The Tea Party festivities will be a good place to distribute The New American reprinted article by Edwin Vieira "A Crisis of Dollars and Sense." My batch arrived today and my chapter is ready to hand them out at Albuquerque's Tea Party!

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April 08, 2009
Votes: +4

Kathy said:

	vast left wing conspiracy Vast numbers trying to make their voices heard and counted and barely any coverage from the mainstream media. The media is the enemy of the people and should be boycotted and protested against in a very big way.
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April 08, 2009
Votes: +7

R Cozine said:

	... There is a typo in this article. Veteran readers of The New American magazine know about Gingrich’s key role in placing the United Nations under the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization and NAFTA among other internationalist positions he has taken, should read "Veteran readers of The New American magazine know about Gingrich's key role in placing the United States...."
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April 08, 2009
Votes: +0

Joe Maughan said:

	Not a fan of Gingrich posturing Truth is independent of party. Though parties may contain some truth. Not a fan of political posturing.
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April 08, 2009 | url
Votes: +2

Bill said:

	... If you need some convincing to attend a Tea Party Rally, here's a couple dozen reasons you oughta. 21+ Reasons to Go to a Tea Party
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April 08, 2009 | url
Votes: +2

Bill said:

	... Meh, here's the link. http://thinkfree.freedomblogging.com/2009/04/08/20-reasons-to-go-to-a-tea-party/745/"
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April 08, 2009 | url
Votes: +0

Thom said:

	patriot I do not support Gingrich, Hannity or Beck. But I will attend the events to promote JBS. I belong to third party, but I know that Third Parties will not be able to take back the House,Senate or WH, so I support Campaign For Liberty to take back the GOP.
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April 09, 2009
Votes: +3

Charles Byrd said:

	... I plan to show up the Tea Party event in Modesto, with a sign that reads: "Low taxes, Less Government, More Freedom."
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April 09, 2009
Votes: +5

Mike said:

	Trust Gingrich? NOT!!! If a new political party starts out of these tea parties, and Gingrich is involved, well then I'd say we have an infil-"traitor".
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April 09, 2009
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Flu-Bird said:

	Oppsing obamas master plans These poeple are simpley showing their opistion to KING OBAMAS master plans to throws millions of dollars down the drain to acheve the sinister plans of big brother and the NEW WORLD ORDER its no different then what the colonists did
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April 09, 2009
Votes: +3

John Powell said:

	Constitution I am so glad that there are so many real Americans who will not stand for this distruction anymore. I plan on attending these tea parties and plan on fighting daily!!! The Federal Reserve needs to be retired, because it will destroy this Nation.
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April 09, 2009 | url
Votes: +1

missmurphy said:

meaning missed The "meaning" of the tea parties is of course to show opposition to the unstoppable growth of govt and the irresponsible devaluation of our currency but MAINLY to shed some light on the fraudulent nature of the FEDERAL RESERVE, the IRS, and the INCOME TAX!!! I am sad that TNA would dilute this message! This has nothing to do with partisanship and everything to do with FREEDOM!! well said Joe- truth is independent of party!!

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April 10, 2009
Votes: +3

Thomas Paine said:

Glen Beck wants to do what's right You can tell when watching or listening to Beck that he would love to expose the CFR and NWO for what it is, but the Big Brother Fox won't let him stray to far from their "divide and conquer" game plan of blaming democrats for all problems to keep the eye off the people at the top. Glen had an excellent program Friday when he spent the whole hour on Fascism, and had a segment by my favorite guy Thomas Payne. Go Glen, we'll try to look between the lines to pick up your clues.

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April 11, 2009
Votes: +4

Larry said:

	Throw out Gingrich and have a real tea party. Here's how: http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/04/this-is-not-tea-party-this-is-tea-and.html
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April 13, 2009
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Pathenry said:

"Eye of Newt" Gingerich (and Hannity and Beck) are clearly of the old Russian ploy of having state-approved alternatives to direct any popular uprisings to Party ends. But a true second party - and alternative to the current "two wings of the same bird of prey" - is EXACTLY what is needed. And I believe as people get up and get out, there may be a movement that brings a true alternative party to electability. It does not take much smarts to remember how Newt sold out the good freshmen Congressmen through his bogus showcasing of a toothless Contract With America.

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April 14, 2009
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Matt Walsh said:

	Who knows Who knows what's going to work until afterwards. It seems like everyone is hysterical. Give Obama his shot, see what happens and vote for him or not based on the results. As for my two cents, I'm sure we can't go back to an income-tax-less country. But this stimulus makes me nervous as well.
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April 15, 2009
Votes: -1