As some Whidbey residents rushed to finish their taxes April 15, others took to the street to protest.

The crowd stood at the intersection of Highway 20 and Pioneer Way with yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and tea bags strung to their hats for a rally against government spending. It was one of many events across the nation to coincide with Tax Day.

Local organizers from the Whidbey Island Tea Party hoped the event would make politicians at every level of government take notice.

“Government greed has gone far enough,” said Tea Party coordinator Terresa Hobbs.

Tea Party supporters credit Hobbs for bringing the movement to Whidbey Island last year, which began with a protest on Highway 20 outside of Kmart. Hobbs said she grew alarmed about federal spending and used the Web and local advertising to orchestrate the first tax-day rally.

“I started worrying about my kids and grandkids and they’ll be in debt forever. My great-grandkids will be in debt from the minute they are born,” she said.

Rather than dissolve after the protest, the group decided to keep the momentum and meet on a regular basis, Hobbs said, averaging about 45 people a meeting each month.

“I initially thought it was a one-time protest to let people know that there are those of us out there not happy with TARP and bailouts and that whole business,” she said. “But one thing I heard over and over on the street that day was, ‘Let’s keep this going.’”

Similar rallies began nationwide in 2009, partially in response to the stimulus package and 2008 bailouts. Today, the Tea Party movement promotes fiscal conservatism and often uses the acronym T-E-A Party, a play on the slogan: “Taxed Enough Already.”

While the tea party group is described as “non-partisan, purely American,” most of the Whidbey members lean to the conservative side, Hobbs said. But not all of the group is composed of Republicans.

A few people pooled at the event referred to themselves as “former Republicans/Democrats” or Independents. Hobbs added that last year also drew self-professed Democrats and Libertarians.

“Everyone was saying the same thing. ‘This is nuts, we can’t keep going like this,’” said Hobbs.

Over the past couple of years, Republicans have praised Tea Party activists for holding politicians accountable and energizing conservatives, but as Hobbs said, “We are not an arm of the Republican Party.”

“Many of us who were registered Republican were disgusted with the lack of adherence to the Republican platform.”

Thursday’s Oak Harbor rally drew over 200 supporters, who began the event with by waving flags and using creative signage such as “Who is John Galt?” A short spell of rain didn’t deter attendance or enthusiasm. The throng — including many senior citizens — braved the weather, some sitting on lawn chairs. Tea party member Ty Welch warned that a group run by Lynden Larouche commonly attend the Tax Day rallies, but if they were there, they didn’t make themselves known. Participants quietly waved at cars and cheered when they received a honk. Hobbs described the Tea Party as “happy warriors.”

Rick Kiser and his wife said they came out to join other like-minded people who were “tired of yelling at the TV.”

“We’re trying to do our part to see if we can get government under control and get back to the Constitution,” Kiser said.

After the flag-waving, the group converged at Windjammer Park gazebo for speeches by Rev. Wayne Perryman, constitutional attorney Stephen Pidgeon, Kelly Emerson from Renew Liberty and Bob Williams from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

Williams fired up the crowd by discussing the state budget shortfall, resulting tax hikes in Olympia and the general dread he hears from voters about the economy.

“They are craving politicians with a backbone.”

Perryman, the author of “Whites, Blacks and Racist Democrats,” addressed media reports at the height of the health-care debate that Tea Partiers hurled racial and homophobic insults at senators.

“I am so upset with people calling the Tea Party racist,” he said.

“Democrats are the architects of slavery.”

After the speeches wound down, Tea Partiers returned to the intersection for more flag waving. Hobbs said the core values of the group are constitutionally limited government, free markets and fiscal responsibility but she also wanted to deliver a personal message: “So far there’s nothing been done that can’t be undone. We can fix this.”

For more information visit www.whidbeyislandteaparty.com”.