This Saturday, the historic courthouse square in Buchanan will play host to a tea party; however, it may not be the kind of tea party you would expect. Instead of sipping tea and eating sandwiches, the Haralson County Tea Party Patriots will gather at the square at 6 p.m. to protest against what they call a long line of federal government spending bills they say have generated massive debt for Americans.

The grassroots group is comprised of split party affiliations with a common concern about the direction the government seems to be taking, described member Susan Forrister. The concept for holding a tea party was derived from the historic Boston Tea Party, when colonists protested the unjust taxation of tea and paper from England.

“We want to raise awareness that the idea “too big to fail” is not just cause to burden the American people with massive amounts of debt,” Forrister said. “We are concerned that our elected officials resemble autocrats and are not responding to the will of the people.”

Forrister cited recent spending resolutions, such as the billion-dollar bailout plan for embattled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that was led under former President George W. Bush’s administration, to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. She added that the measure has followed a “long line of government abuses” disseminated by the federal government.

“We believe this ‘financial crisis’ was the result of our government mandating that lending institutions make sub-prime loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got Wall Street to buy into these bad loans and package them as hedge funds and other securities,” said Forrister’s husband, Nathan. “The acquisition of discounted mortgages seemed lucrative as long as real estate prices continued to escalate. The result was an 8,000-point loss in the market and much of America’s wealth. Without this buffering of losses passed on to the American people, and people around the world, the banks would have surely failed. This was the real bailout through the private sector.”

Former President George W. Bush has defended the rescue package saying it was intended to drastically shrink the companies’ influence on Wall Street, while at the same time counting on them to pull the nation out of its worst housing crisis in decades.

However, the Forristers assert that power needs to be put back in the hands of the people, as encouraged by the U. S. Constitution. They also consider healthcare reform measures passed under President Barak Obama’s administration to be an excessive move that will leave an enormous tab for future generations to pay off.

The $634-billion healthcare bill is intended to give every citizen healthcare insurance coverage, and while the couple believes it’s a commendable effort, they’ve raised concerns about the long-term pay off that will also affect struggling families.

All in all, the Forristers agree that the country’s trillion-dollar deficit gained over the years will continue to spiral uncontrollably if citizens don’t stand up for their voices to be heard. They encourage the community to join them along with fellow local tea party Patriots in their protest this weekend.