No matter what a person may believe about taxes and spending – and most people have mixed feelings; they like some programs but not others, and have a sense that there is some degree of unfairness in the tax system – April 15 usually is greeted with anxiety. As conservatives know, this is the perfect day for drumming up anti-taxation sentiments. But do the 'tax day tea parties' represent a grassroots movement, as some conservatives claim?

Anti-taxation tea parties are meant to invoke the legendary Boston Tea Party. To be sure, these events have attracted diehard conservatives who object to any and all forms of government spending. There is something amusing about the idea of protesters attempting to dump a million teabags into the Potomac. But, to the extent that these events are able to tap and channel populist anger during these uncertain economic times, we should take them seriously.

According to former Congressman Dick Armey, today's planned tea parties mark a turning point for the conservative movement: "Small government activists are taking a page from the president’s play book and becoming community organizers.” Armey says this movement has no leaders; it is spontaneous and bottom-up.

Progressives beg to differ, pointing out the role of Armey’s own think tank – FreedomWorks -- which is funded by big corporations, and Fox News, which is acting as media arm for the organizers. According to Karl Frisch of Media Matters, “Fox News has frequently aired segments imploring its audience to get involved with tea-party protests across the country.”

The first tea party came together a couple of months ago, when Rick Santelli raged against the Administration’s plans to help struggling homeowners. Standing on the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Santelli cried out “who wants to subsidize losers’ mortgages?” He then announced the first ‘tea party’ to protest runaway government spending. As a reporter who is friendly toward Wall Street, it seemed imprudent at the time to rage against help for homeowners while keeping silent about the Wall Street bailouts. By attacking homeowners, Santelli and his ilk conveniently gloss over the systemic causes of the current meltdown, the factors that made it possible for Wall Street to inflate the value of mortgage-backed securities, the incentive structures that encouraged wild speculation that got way out ahead of actually existing productive assets, and the role of bankers, ratings agencies and brokers in pushing mortgage products that were marketed dishonestly. Why were so many bad loans approved? In part, so that the people Santelli reports on could make huge, short-term gains on grossly inflated assets.

While looking through the opinion pieces in support of the tea parties I was struck by how little they talk about the Wall Street Bailout. It does get mentioned, but the auto bailout gets more play. Their main targets are the stimulus, the mortgage bailout, the proposed budget, plans to address healthcare, and, of course, the specter of massive deficits passed down to our great-grandchildren. It is a bit of a tricky framing challenge for them --- blasting government without blasting those who got us into this mess. People are angry at both Wall Street and the government. But the government is an easier, clearer target.

People should be mad about the bailouts. Mad enough to demand a new and powerful set of regulatory tools that change the way in which Wall Street operates. It is up to us to channel peoples’ frustrations toward constructive solutions. To bring greater transparency, to support the efforts of people like Elizabeth Warren, who heads the group that is overseeing the bailout. To increase public control while decreasing public exposure to risks, as we figure out how to deal with failing financial institutions. To win support for programs that will, slowly but surely, shift power away from Wall Street and toward workers and communities.

To help people make sense of what is going on, we need a nuanced approach to offering critical support for this Administration’s economic recovery efforts. We can support what the President is trying to do with the budget, the stimulus, relief for homeowners and healthcare reform. But at the same time, we must provide principled opposition when we should – especially around the current plans for the bank bailout.

My advice for getting through today: have a nice cup of tea.

--Sandra Hinson