Tea party opposition to government spending is no secret. On Tuesday, according to the St. Petersburg Times, protesters took it to the Pinellas County Commission to make their point.
The Times reports that tea party protesters who showed up at a Pinellas County Commission meeting to oppose â$15 million in future spending for land for affordable housing and a proposed increase in the tax rate for emergency medical serviceâ carried signs that included slogans like, âSay No to Social Justice.â
According to the Times, âthey left behind yellow stickers on doors printed with a message: âGovernment FOR the people, not AGAINST the people.ââ
The Times adds that protesters called âthe spending unnecessaryâ and said it catered to âspecial interestsâ: âGlenn Pav, a host on WGUL-AM 860, compared the housing funding to a United Nations usurpation of our state and local government.â Others said the money would pay for âwinter homesâ or âillegal immigrantsâ or a âredistribution of wealth.ââ
Rasmussen Reports released a poll Tuesday saying that a ânational telephone survey finds that 49% of American Adults now think government programs increase the level of poverty in the United States, while just 20% say they decrease the problem.â
The poll adds that âwhile 68% of Republicans and 60% of adults not affiliated with either major political party think government programs increase the level of poverty in America, just 20% of Democrats agree.â
It also points out that âFlorida and Missouri have already passed measures that require some form of drug testing during the welfare application process, with Florida now requiring all applicants to be tested.â
In late June, Gov. Rick Scott signed a piece of legislation that requires all welfare recipients be drug tested, a decision that Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, called a major âviolation of privacy.â