Peaceful resistance by Sedona locals who oppose having their taxes used for excessive and wasteful government spending gathered at City Hall for the April 15, 2009 Sedona Tea Party.

Sedona Tea Party Rocks City Hall; 200 Attend Tax Day Rally

By Tommy Acosta, Associate Editor

SEDONA, AZ -  April 19, 2009 - Billed as the ‘Tax Day Tea Party” almost two hundred Americans packed Sedona City Hall Plaza April 15 afternoon to protest the imposition of income taxes, bailouts and celebrate their patriotic fervor.

Braving cold weather the protestors enjoyed free tea and cakes, sang patriotic songs, and participated in skits involving well-known fictional characters like Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter and March Hare.

The locally held and nationally-observed celebration commemorated the Boston Tea Party -- a prelude to the American Revolution where Boston colonists dressed as native Americans boarded a French ship loaded with tea and dumped bags overboard to protest the British tagging taxes to the staple.

A Sedona local holds a sign in full costume at the April 15, 2009 Sedona Tea Party.

The rallies use April 15 — the U.S. deadline to file income taxes — as a way to vent frustration with government spending and corporate bailouts in an homage to the Boston Tea Party.

The celebrants were in good spirits cheering on the leaders.

Do we pay too much?” cried the Mad Hatter!

"Yes,” bellowed the crowd!

“Should we pay more?” asked the Mad Hatter.

“No,” cried the crowd!

Sedona resident Joe Johnston holds a sign at the April 15, 2009 Sedona Tea Party.

Organizer Dan McIroy, President of the Mingus Mountain Republican Club, gave the assemblage an education on the origin of the Tea Party and the reasons for their protest.

“Across the country we are gathering today because we are all tired of the bailouts,’ he said. “We are here to talk about liberty. In 1773 the British fought hard and spent a lot of money to tax the colonists. The colonists resisted and they settled on taxing tea. Three ships landed in Boston harbor carrying tea and Samuel Adams got some people behind him, they dressed as Indians and boarded a ship and dumped 400 crates of tea into the sea.”

According to Wikepedia, the Boston Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773.

Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their constitutional right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives.

Peaceful resistance by Sedona locals who oppose having their taxes used for excessive and wasteful government spending gathered at City Hall for the April 15, 2009 Sedona Tea Party.

Protestors had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He apparently did not expect that the protestors would choose to destroy the tea rather than concede the authority of a legislature in which they were not directly represented.

Mr. McIlroy also gave a history on how the Federal Reserve was formed under President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and how the Federal income tax eventually came into being.

“The Federal Reserve is comprised of 12 governors who meet in D.C. in private,” he said. “They are not accountable. In 1913 Congress gave our rights to a private banking organization.”

According to Wikepedia, the primary motivation for creating the Federal Reserve System was to address banking panics.

Other purposes are stated in the Federal Reserve Act, such as "to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes."

Before the founding of the Federal Reserve, the United States underwent several financial crises. A particularly severe crisis in 1907 led Congress to enact the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.

Mr. McIlroy said when Social Security was established there were 50 payers for every recipient. Things have changed dramatically since then.

“We have three payers for every recipient right now,” he said.

He also said president Obama “stands where Bush left off” with the current President’s continuation of bail outs.

“The stimulus package is being financed with money borrowed from China,” he said. “The Feds are also printing money like mad. In a few years there will be rampant inflation.’

Sedona resident Helen Carrol said she was an Independent but still participating because she feels so strongly about paying taxes.

“If they were using my tax dollars to build schools and stuff like that it wouldn’t be so bad,” she said. “But they are using the money to make bombs and kill people. And besides, the Federal Reserve is not even an official government body. They are a bunch of private bankers screwing us up.”

She also took the opportunity to take a swing at the Sedona City Council.

“They think they have more money than the Federal Reserve,” she said. “How could they be spending all that cash on paying for stupid studies for 89A and lights and bailouts for the Chamber and Library and sewers when there is no money for the projects? They are giving money away like they can print it. I got news for them. They can’t.”

Sedona resident Terry Nash asked a poignant question.

“Where is the Mayor?” he wanted to know.

Sedona resident Joe Johnston said he was there representing the community’s Conservatives.

“This is a good meeting for Conservatives who live in Sedona,” he said. “And Obama? He’s not the man for the job.”

The tea parties across the country this year were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington.

Organizers say it was a grass roots effort.