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Message: We're taxed enough already

Published 4/16/2009 in Local News : Politics

By STEPHANIE FARLEY

sfarley@gctelegram.com

LAKIN — Rex Grothusen's concerns extend beyond party lines — Republican or Democrat, right-winger or left-winger.

It's more an issue of not spending beyond your means.

Grothusen, Scott City, stood Wednesday near the intersection of Kansas Highway 25 and U.S. Highway 50 in Lakin, speaking about a country that has given him "a wonderful life." He remembers a time of capitalism, or economics based on investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange of wealth that is made and primarily maintained by private individuals and corporations.

He also recalls a time when families didn't spend more than the income they brought home.

"And our government can't do that either," Grothusen said of government spending.

On Wednesday, Grothusen took a place on the line with 50 to 60 fellow Americans and southwest Kansas residents who feel the same way to speak out against out-of-control government spending. The group was part of a national collaborative grass-roots effort called the Tax Day TEA (or Taxed Enough Already) Party.

The effort — coming more than 230 years after the original Boston Tea Party revolt against taxes — was organized by, among other national groups, Smart Girl Politics and Top Conservatives on Twitter. According to taxdayteaparty.com, current TEA Party protests started earlier this year when CNBC's Rick Santelli "set out on a rant to expose the bankrupt liberal agenda of the White House Administration and Congress. Specifically, the flawed 'stimulus bill' and pork-filled budget."

Santelli called for a Chicago TEA Party where advocates of the free-market system could protest against government spending. A nationwide TEA Party was held Feb. 27, and organizers vowed April 15, "Tax Day," would be an even bigger and better protest.

What Grothusen wants is simple: for his children and grandchildren to have as good a life as he's had, and living under a government that allows people to take chances and succeed or not succeed, but doesn't provide bailouts for failure.

Grothusen said he and others stood by for a while and watched as the government spent a lot of money and didn't really say much about it. It's come to the point, though, he said, where people can't stand on the sidelines anymore. It's not that he and others want to grab their pitchforks, torches and guns and march on Washington, D.C., he said, but it's time to let the government know it needs to change the way it does business.

Grothusen wants a better life for his family and everyone, but if the government continues spending and increasing debt, "it won't be that way for you."

Fired up

The group held various signs calling for change.

One sign had a circle with a line through it. Inside the circle was written "Big Government," with the rest of the sign stating, "We the people are Fed up!"

Other signs expressed anger, discontent and a desire to be heard.

They included:

• "The grassroots will be heard."
• "Keep your hands off my piggy bank."
• "D.C. = District of Corruption."
• "Born free, taxed to death."
• "Stop spending our future."
• "We're not the government's ATM."

As the group held tight to their signs in the wind, vehicles driving by along the highway honked in support and waved.

"That just goes to show we're not alone," local organizer Alicia Adams said.

Adams said her frustration has started to grow with government spending as she sees a societal shift toward socialism, which tends more toward the government or state being in charge of economic planning, production and distribution of goods — the opposite of capitalism and its free market and privately owned property. She isn't happy with that, but her boiling over didn't come until the national debt reached a record $11 trillion. The spending started with the Bush administration, Adams said, but she couldn't stomach President Barack Obama passing the stimulus bill.

"Debt is not the answer to debt," she said.

Adams wanted to get more active and decided to take a March 14 workshop through American Majority, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization formed to "lead the battle in training and equipping the next generation of liberty-minded candidates, activists and community leaders." It was around that time the national debt hit the record.

"By then, I had caught the bug," she said of speaking out.

Adams said she got angry over the stimulus bill and bailouts, which are using tax money, and she spent time crying, whining and despairing about it.

Adams remembers a quote by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower being read during the workshop: "Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people ...."

Adams "caught the fire," she said, and started working with others, including Lakin Republicans Celia and Jere Beymer, to organize a Tea Party.

End to apathy

Jere Beymer stood on the line to be a voice.

"We need to get away from apathy," he said, explaining people need to step beyond griping about the problem as the government gets bigger and the problem grows.

Beymer is outraged the government is bailing out companies. It might sound heartless, he said, but he feels if companies are going to fail, the government should let them fail and that other entrepreneurs will step up to fill the gaps.

The government was never meant to bail out companies, he said.

"They're way out of line," he said. "... they're bankrupting everyone."

Bankruptcy "trickles down to the people," he said. Beymer also said the bailouts are detrimental to what the country stands for, which includes the pursuit of happiness and freedom to earn a good living — not be bought out by the government.

Ulysses Mayor Thadd Kistler traveled from Ulysses for the TEA Party. He pushes citizen involvement at every level — local, state and federal.

Holding a sign that read, "Born free, taxed to death," Kistler said he stood on the line to send the message to government: "It's gotta come to an end. ... you gotta listen to the people."

The group weathered the wind for about two hours. As Grothusen continued to stand, a woman walked by, saying it was nice to meet him.

"Thanks for standing on the line with me," Grothusen replied.

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