About 1,200 protestors stood before the State Capitol Building Wednesday evening to protest the federal government’s bailout efforts through a rally and picketing during what was popularized as the “Raleigh Tea Party” — a modern homage to Boston residents who threw British tea into Boston Harbor in protest of high taxes in 1773. The rally was part of the Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party as organizers held more than 33 “tea parties” in North Carolina alone to bring attention to what organizers referred to as “the Generational Theft Act of 2009. Nearly all who gathered at Capitol Square carried signs, many bearing Revolutionary War-era insignia and using diction of that time period, suggesting the federal government was overtaxing Americans in an effort to pay off debts caused by overspending. After Melodye Aben, a Raleigh mother and organizer of the protest, spoke to the crowd, Republican State Senator Phil Berger reminded the protestors why they came. “You’re here because you’re tired of the government making you pay someone else’s mortgage,” Berger proclaimed to the cheering crowd. “You’re here because you don’t believe in our government acting as Robin Hood, and you’re here because you believe people that work should be better off than those who don’t.” Other organizations were in front of the Capitol Building also, including the Republican Party, and petitions to regulate illegal immigration and limit the terms of Congressmen. Ross “Bubba” McDowell, an organizer of the event, said the main issue of the gathering was the U.S. Constitution. “If you wanted to boil it all down, it’s about the Constitution,” McDowell said. “90 percent of what Congress and the President do, they can’t do according to that document.” McDowell added the issues with executive powers didn’t begin with the election of President Barack Obama. “I’m not talking about just this president,” McDowell said. “But this administration has brought it to where we’re afraid it may be the point of no return.” McDowell said the bailout was just an opportunity for the government to help out those who have spent unwisely. “We’re waiting for our fellow Americans to grow up,” Mc- Dowell said. “But that may not happen.” Taylor Morrow, a junior in public relations, said he was disgusted at the use of a federal income tax to generate revenue for the government. “That income tax is illegal,” Morrow said. “There is no law saying the federal government can take average working citizens’ money. There is one for the state income tax, but none for a federal one.” Morrow said he was also concerned about corruption in politics. “The government has been packed with lobbyists since Clinton,” Morrow said. “They’re rich and they’ve been buying power.” David Carlton, a junior in civil engineering, said he was hoping a large showing at the protest would show others what’s wrong with the government’s decisions. “I’m here to protest these socio- economic reforms,” Carlton said. “And hopefully open up people’s minds to the flaws of the bipartisan system.” Natalie Visage, a junior in communication, said she was also at the rally to show her displeasure with the state of the nation. “I’m sick of big government and wasteful spending,” Visage said. “The government is taking our tax dollars and using them for things we don’t want.” Visage said the protest wasn’t about political parties or alliances, but was meant to be a uniting factor against the government bailouts and tax hikes. “I don’t consider it a conservative protest or a liberal protest,” Visage said. “It’s a ‘We the people’ movement.”