Participants in scores of “tea parties” held throughout the nation Wednesday came under some intense media criticism, but if the Oak Harbor crowd was typical, the folks who took to the street were a well-meaning lot.

Roughly 100 people took the time to wave signs and chant at the corner of Highway 20 and Whidbey Ave., prompting many passersby to wave and honk in sympathy. Since it was April 15, many of those participating were concerned about taxes, while other expressed more concern about the growing threat of “socialism.”

The tea parties allowed people to express their frustrations in a peaceful, public way, and it was refreshing to see. Other than a few dozen war protesters in Coupeville and Langley, there hasn’t been much public protest in recent years. It’s always refreshing to see people expressing their views in public, and reassuring that they can still do so without being impeded by the authorities.

We all feel frustration with what has happened since the stock market crashed in September. It became evident that Congress, the Executive Branch and Wall Street had been colluding for years to strip protections from small investors, and give the wizards of Wall Street more freedom to gamble with our money. Americans lost much of their savings in the gamble, millions are losing their homes, and more millions are losing their jobs. Meanwhile, Congress and the Federal Reserve paper over the crisis with money that doesn’t really exist or is borrowed from foreigners. Americans are fearful about their future and the future of their children and grandchildren, and many needed an avenue to express their fear and righteous anger.

The tea party participants represented us all in one way or another. And give them credit. They didn’t just grouse about the economy around the kitchen table or during American Idol commercials. They made a commitment of time to express themselves in public.

The tea parties might also create a subtle uneasiness in our elected officials. The great American populace is unhappy, it’s starting to organize, it’s fed up with business as usual from both Republicans and Democrats, tired of bailing out billionaires while millions lose their jobs, their health care and their homes.

Perhaps we’re seeing the birth pangs of a third party, one that will at least keep the dominant parties honest, or perhaps launch its own formidable candidate for president in 2012. The tea parties suggest only a beginning. Surely in the present economic climate, there is much more to come.