Tea party rallies for less government, more grass-roots

Tea party activists criticized big government and exhorted people to become more involved as they recognized Tax Day at a rally in downtown Yakima on Friday.

April 15 is the traditional deadline for federal income taxes, although it was extended this year to Monday.

More than 75 people attended the event, which was held in a light rain.

A series of speakers addressed concerns about government spending, federal health care legislation and the number of public employees.

Steve Edwards, local coordinator for the 9/12 Project, which says it wants to see America return to the values expressed on the day after the 2001 terrorism attacks, panned President Barack Obama's health care legislation and questioned why some real estate taxes should be directed toward funding the legislation.

"We are 646 days until Obama is out of office," he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Scott St. Clair, a writer and reporter for the conservative Freedom Foundation in Olympia, said budget problems were not the fault of Wall Street or the George W. Bush presidential administration. He said government budgets have increased faster than inflation and population growth rates.

The grass-roots activism by people such as those who attended the rally has been increasingly are important and will continue to be, he said. "You're what democracy looks like," St. Clair said.

Liberal critics of the tea party movement have argued that widespread health care is necessary for a functional society and should be universally supported, among other points.

The rally was organized by the Yakima Freedom Partners, which includes the So Tired Of Paying Committee, Grassroots Yakima Valley, Tea Party Patriots, Washingtonians for Immigration Reform, History, Politics and Power speakers bureau, Stop Obamacare-Yakima, Oathkeepers, Freedom Loving Moms, the 9/12 Project and the local chapter of the John Birch Society.