Conservatives rally, vent about deficit spending

Worries about excessive federal spending had Melanie Sue Bowers channeling 1773 at two anti-tax "Tea Parties" on Tuesday.

She joined hundreds of like-minded conservatives at rallies in downtown Modesto and at the University of California at Merced to vent about Washington and to encourage politicians to lower taxes.

"I'm very concerned about the spending," said Bowers, 60, of Merced. "It is just out of control. If it keeps going this way, our grandkids are going to pay for it."

Bowers had about 400 friends as she carried a sign that read "Spending is not the solution. It is the problem" in Modesto's Tenth Street Plaza.

Many others toted handwritten signs expressing their frustration with federal bailouts for the nation's banking industry and the Obama administration's economic stimulus proposals.

Their view is that deficit spending to spur the economy will result in long-term debt and higher taxes that will drag down business. Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act two months ago to pump $787 billion into the economy through reduced taxes and government spending on public projects.

"Whenever you go into deficit spending with no plan to pay it back, it's just unsustainable," said William McCandless, 59, of Newman.

Some of the Modesto protesters said they enjoyed seeing so many others who shared their views. They shouted "no new taxes" in the direction of the city-county building, where the Modesto City Council and Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors oversee local government.

"If you want growth, all you have to do is give people their money back. They'll spend it right," said Zack Morad, 26, a military veteran and member of the College Republicans club at Modesto Junior College.

The Tea Party kept a peaceful tenor. People in the crowd made plenty of jokes about Democrats, shivering as the wind blew through the plaza and saying, "Where's the global warming Al Gore keeps talking about?"

At one point, a man circulated through the crowd shouting: "Morons. Idiots. Where were you when Bush was spending like a sailor?"

Tea Party supporters crowded around him until he calmed down and left the area.

Some of the biggest cheers came for the event's keynote speaker, Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine, when he announced that he'd challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

DeVore urged voters to reject a slate of government reform measures appearing on a special election in May, one of which would institute a cap on state spending and extend a temporary 1-cent sales tax increase. The measures were put on the ballot as part of a compromise to close the state's $42 billion deficit.

"We have a spending problem in California," DeVore said. "What we are doing is driving the hardworking people of this state out of California."

Bee staff writer Adam Ashton can be reached at aashton@modbee.com or 578-2366.