Many people are wondering what those protesters are complaining about every Friday night on either the corner of Ocean and H or at the Highway 246/1 intersection near Home Depot. I checked and these aren't your average protesters; they are moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas that are tired of politicians reaching into their pockets every time some rabble-rouser starts screaming.

They are part of a nationwide and truly grassroots movement called the "Tea Party." Most Democrats, and California's own Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, would like you to believe that it is an "Astroturf movement" or a fake, professionally organized protest similar to those organized and paid for by liberal groups.

Of course, why wouldn't Democrats think this way, isn't that how they do things, create a noisy protest, agonize over the "will of the people" and then spend tons of money to resolve the complaint? Of course, in the end, the perceived problem only gets worse; the money they threw at it becomes an entitlement and another generation of Democrat voters becomes dependent on the government. It's sort of like buying votes.

But, the Speaker and the Obama administration may have underestimated the clout of this very polite and proud group. Nearly two million gathered on Sept. 12 on the National Mall near the reflecting pool, a common place for other, much noisier and sometimes violent protests, to express their discontent with how politicians are running things.

The first big difference between this group and the group that gathered at the same place a few months earlier to celebrate the inauguration of President Obama is that they didn't damage anything or leave any trash behind. They respected the government property that our taxes paid for.

So what are their complaints? Primarily they are concerned about how our politicians seem to be spending (or throwing away) our money. For example, the nearly $800 billion "stimulus package" appears to be a targeted pay back to loyal Democrat supporters. How could I come to that conclusion?

Well, the majority of the money is going to "shovel ready" projects, but there is a string attached to each construction project which specifies that successful bidders must pay prevailing or union wages to union workers, or, if not a union shop, the workers must pay dues to unions that don't represent them.

Of course, unions universally endorse and make enormous contributions to democrat candidates who pander to their every wish.

All of these union dominated, government run projects suffer enormous overruns. One example is the "Big Dig," a Boston road project that was estimated to cost $2.6 billion in 1985, and wound up costing $14.6 billion in 2002.

The rest of the money is going to food stamp and welfare programs. These are not work-creating or economic growth programs; they just nurture a personal dependence on the government.

Let's be frank, the economy is in the toilet. The Obama team's answer seems to be to print more money; this is a folly that has the world watching as the dollar, the currency of the world, quickly loses its value.

In a report on Breitbart.com, GFT Global Markets analyst David Morrison said "whatever Fed and US Treasury say, the market believes that US administration is happy to see dollar weaken. They just want to make sure it does it gradually." Morrison said the U.S. government backed a weak dollar because it reduces the value of the country's debt and makes U.S. exporters more competitive.

So, I guess the tea partiers have a lot to complain about. Do they want some massive government give-away to resolve their complaint? On the contrary, that is the problem now, too many government give-aways and too little benefit.

The "Tea Party" includes all ethnicities and political identities; they are just plain folks like you and me who would probably like to see all incumbents of both political parties replaced.

Ron Fink is a longtime Lompoc resident and a community activist.

November 3, 2009