Of tempests, tea parties, and tea pots

Okay, I get that there are thousands of people at hundreds of locations around the nation standing waving signs.

CNN's Ashley Fantz told me so.

Here's the bit I don't get - what idea are they rallying behind?

Fantz points out that the organizers are using the acronym TEA for "Taxed enough already" - but the signs she quotes in the rest of the piece suggest people are anti-stimulus ("I read as much of the stimulus bill as my Congresswoman" and "Stop generational theft") and Fantz devotes a good chunk of the article to CNBC's Rick Santelli rant against helping struggling homeowners.

So- which is it?

Is it Taxes?
I'm sure people like Santelli hope so - people making more than $215,000 per year are they're the only ones whose tax rates would go up.

Historically, these people have nothing to complain about - and it's unclear why the majority of Americans (who assuredly do not pull down anywhere near that much) would be agitating that the well-to-do keep tax cuts that are less than eight years old.

Is it the stimulus?
We are in recession. Millions are out of work, credit is at a standstill, I'm sure there are many different ideas of what to do, but are we to believe these people want the government to NOT stimulate the economy? If they were unifying behind a counter-proposal, I'm sure millions of Americans just like me would be interested in what they had to say. Instead, they just say "we hate the stimulus." That's not an idea, it's a soundbite, and (setting aside the past eight years) we cannot govern the country using soundbites.

The opposition party was outvoted on the Stimulus, this is true - but their counterproposal (which they hilariously called a budget) was just so much hot air.

Is it socialism?
If there's any person in that crowd who seriously feels that we are on the road to socialism, they have the right to speak their mind, but I'm not sure they deserve CNN's attention. People that ignorant of what socialism is, and what this administration and its predecessor have done do not merit a national audience.

Is it assistance to homeowners?
I know Santelli's rant gets a lot of play - and he spouted off this whole tea party thing, but I'd be skeptical that the first item on angry taxpayers lists is the paltry sum being allocated to helping homeowners.

The billions we've forked over to one bank - CitiGroup - dwarfs that sum many times over. These people are mad about homeowners?

It's like a whole bunch of outvoted conservatives got all angry and went into the streets before they had an idea about what they wanted.

Taxed Enough Already has the appearance of a flag of convenience. A hastily-hoisted banner to make it look like these people have a common purpose - and they're all over the place.

I'm sure the minority of people whose taxes are going up would love to re-direct convervative ire to their own ends - but really, shouldn't there be some better digging into what these people really want?

CNN's stops with "Hey, there's a bunch of people in the streets. Here are there signs."

Thanks for nothing, Ashley.