Today's tea party protests apparently made many feel like they were participating in something really revolutionary. Conservatives got to play protestors for a day, hoot and holler and tell the world they're mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore! Their protests, in my estimation however, fell flat.

They were angry; there was no question about that, but it seems they have little idea who to blame and are just lashing out blindly. Assuming these protestors represent average Americans, Obama's tax cuts will help 95% of them, so why the outrage now? MSNBC's Keith Olberman pointed out the inconsistency, if not hypocrisy, of the tax protestors' position when he addressed the issue in a commentary he delivered shortly before the event. He said that Obama "gave the country an Economics 101 lesson about how we got here and where we're going-in very simple terms-understandable even by those tea baggers who kept their mouths shut for eight years of draining government coffers, only to discover anti-deficit activism in the last three months."

Obama had simply explained that economists on the left and right alike, agree that cutting back on spending during a recession is a bad move. If every family and business cuts back all at once, there are naturally fewer consumers, or at least less consumption, and the resulting increase in layoffs degrades the economy even more. The best remedy is for governments to step in, temporarily, to boost spending, and that Obama said is what the government is doing now.

Olbermann also dispelled the myth that this tea party phenomenon is a grassroots movement. That's the image that "fair and balanced" Fox News has been working feverishly to convey, but like most of their fare, they play loose with facts and simply ignore those that undermine their agenda. Olbermann describes how Fox feigns neutrality in the matter while it actively promotes the events. Large sums of money to fund the protests have come from wealthy donors like Dick Armey's group "Freedom Works" and Newt Gingrich's "Americans for Prosperity." In other words, there is big money behind this supposedly "grassroots" movement.

Against the backdrop of empty school desks, Assembly democrats Noreen Evans, John A. Perez, Lori Saldana, and Juan Arambula provided an "Assembly Democratic Tax Reality Check" opposite the so-called "tea party" anti-tax protest outside the capitol. "Today's protestors need a history lesson because they are hijacking the legacy of the Boston Tea Party," said Perez, Chair of the Assembly Democratic Caucus." That historic protest opposed taxation without representation, not taxes. In 2009, the 2/3 budget requirement is the 21st Century equivalent of taxation without representation - and that's what the people of California should be working to repeal so a minority can not hold the majority of the state hostage."

The legislators also unveiled a 150 foot scroll listing state budget cuts made since 2003 to show that even more severe cuts to schools and other basic programs would be required without the new revenues that were part of the 2009-2010 budget agreement. "The people of California support teachers and students more than teabags and stunts," said Evans, Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. "And I think most Californians are going to ignore sideshows and understand it will take hard work and difficult choices to continue guiding the state through this unprecedented recession."

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