On April 15^th “Tea Party” protests will take place throughout the United States to voice participant’s disapproval of big government and out of control federal spending.

The protests will take place in an astounding 700 cities, with that number growing everyday. You can see a map of the scheduled protests here. The cities range from large population centers such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to Somerville,Tennessee and Rodgers, Arkansas.

Similar protests to those planned for the 15^th have already been taking place sporadically since late February. Perhaps the largest yet took place in Orlando, Florida which saw a 4,000+ person turnout.

This grassroots movement comes at a time when many conservatives, libertarians and even some liberals are becoming increasingly furious with the record level of federal spending backed by the majority of Congress and the White House.

There is solid evidence that supports the claim that this is truly a grassroots movement. For instance, the successful protest in Orlando was organized by two young mothers neither of whom had much activist experience. Also the cities in which the “tea party protests” have already taken place are not strategic political locations. For example Green Bay, Wisconsin saw a tea party protest of 1500 people strong. Now that the movement is growing is it has been latched onto by conservative bloggers, radio talk show hosts and television personalities though did start on the local level.

Perhaps what sets these tea party protests apart from recent G20 protests in Europe is the clearly expressed message of being opposed to big government. The G20 protests brought together different groups from across the liberal spectrum, from anti-globalization to climate change activists. In the end it resulted in their message being muddled and inarticulate in the media. The G20 protest’s message was also hurt by the spectacle of the protests themselves, while all tea party protests to date have been peaceful. I don’t foresee any of the protests scheduled for the 15^th becoming violent. However, with hundreds of protests taking place at once there is always of the chance of one city’s police force becoming over zealous and perhaps instigating a clash, but again I think it is unlikely.

The real danger in these protests is perhaps that they will be completely ignored in the mainstream media outside of conservative media outlets. If the protests do not receive the media attention they deserve, I believe that the protesters will simply plan the next event and spread the news of the April 15^th protests virally on the internet. If the protests continue into the summer as the economic crisis deepens, I can only imagine that the protests will increase in intensity.

For the media outlets that do choose to cover the protests it will be difficult to capture the scope and magnitude of the protests whether in print or on video. Perhaps the most special thing about these protests is that most Americans will be aware of the protest in their area that ties in with the larger united protest. Therefore the message could very well begin to spread most effectively via the oldest marketing trick in the book: word of mouth.