Top Stories of 2009 — TEA PARTY MOVEMENT

Angered with the Democratic Party and frustrated by the Republican Party, many Americans chose to drink in the "tea party" movement of 2009. The movement has been increasingly successful locally, as We The People - Ohio Valley Wheeling sponsored tea party events on Tax Day (April 15) and Independence Day in Wheeling, and on Ohio Election Day (Nov. 3) in St. Clairsville. These events all attracted in excess of 1,000 people, who were primarily angry about government spending - and that they didn't feel their elected representatives were listening to their concerns. The movement appears to be gaining even more steam just as Congress seeks to pass major health care reform legislation. "I can't speak for all the tea parties, but we are fed up with the runaway spending of Congress," said John Price, spokesman for We The People - Ohio Valley. "We want to see more fiscal discipline, and we want to see our elected leaders adhere to the Constitution." Many of the issues currently before Congress - such as health care - poke at more than one of the concerns of the tea party crowd, he continued. "The tea party movement is about to explode - not like a bomb and blow up - but like on the (Internet), and go viral," Price said. "As people wake up and see what the federal Congress has done to them, there's going to be an uprising."...read more