An estimated 4,000 people gathered Downtown Wednesday to say they're tired of high taxes and big government.
The occasion was the Cincinnati Tea Party, one of 26 similar events held across Ohio and 600 around the nation on "tax day."
There was a brief program on Fountain Square before the group marched seven blocks to Cincinnati City Hall.
"Our values are free markets, limited government and fiscal responsibility," Cincinnati Tea Party Founder and President Mike Wilson said during a Noon rally on the square.
Wilson said his call to action came after the TARP bailout, the stimulus and the 9,000 earmarks in the federal budget.
"Our message is a positive message about our faith in America and Americans who get things done when government gets out of the way," Wilson stated to the cheering throngs.
Ray Warrick of Toledo said he believes the government looks at average Americans as forgotten dogs.
"We're friendly. We're responsible. We do that we're supposed to do. We stay under the porch," Warrick said. "It looks like today the dogs are no longer under the porch."
When Greg Knox got up to speak, he called himself a patriot who used to stand on the sidelines politically.
That was until the Franklin man received a request from General Motors to support bailout money for the firm. Knox runs Knox Machinery that supplies high tech metal cutting products to the auto industry.
Knox refused and wrote a response that's gotten 1.1 million hits on Google.
He suggested that politicians and management of the Big Three were infected with an entitlement mentality.
"I would not have given the banks a penny of bailout money," Knox penned. "Yes, this would cause short term problems, but where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop up. That's how a free market system works and it works if we let it work."
With a trio of speeches concluded, protesters marched North on Vine Street and West on Ninth Street to City Hall.
Katie Kirwin of Amberley Village pushed her three children in a stroller along the route, saying she wanted to stand up for the country and its future.
"I'm concerned that the politicians aren't really listening to us," she said. "I've got three kids and I'm really worried about it."
The crowd stayed somewhat subdued until the City Hall steps were in sight.
Then, chants of "USA, USA, USA," erupted from the front of the procession and spread down to the last person in line.
Fiscal responsibility, smaller government and free enterprise stressed during rally and march.
Cincinnati police officers blocked traffic for the protesters and kept a watchful eye from a distance.
More shouts came from the crowd. "No more pork," they cried. "You Work For Us."
The main event came on the steps when Wilson handed petitions with 3,000 names on them to Cincinnati's Clerk of Council Melissa Autry. The petitions urged that the City of Cincinnati not accept federal stimulus money.
Josh Morrison of Mount Adams signed one just before the delivery.
"I'm standing up for limited government -- for responsible fiscal economics," he said, adding he feels government has overgrown its constitutionality.
Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory wasn't at City Hall during the protest, but respectfully disagreed with the premise of the petition effort.
"The President of the United States says he wants to give money to the cities and states to create jobs and improve public infrastructure," the Mayor said. "Congress agreed and passed the American Recovery Act."
"I think it would not be in the best interest of Cincinnati to reject this money," he added, noting that the city has requested money for the streetcar project and Hamilton County has gotten some to help with infrastructure work on The Banks.
An aide to the Mayor said later the petitions contained many names of people who don't live either in the City of Cincinnati or Hamilton County.
Many in the crowd said they were angry at that sort of tax and spend philosophy.
Frank Miller of Mason was one of them.
"We used to be taxed in the millions, then it got to be billions. Now, it's in the trillions," he said. "What do we have next? Quadrillions? Pentillions?"
The protesters were orderly, even when supporters of President Obama's policies engaged them in spirited discussions.
Among them was Rev. Bill Barron.
"If they look at the big picture of him trying to balance and work on every issue they will come to understand that he is doing what's right for all people," Rev. Barron said.
As the Cincinnati Tea Party wound down, Wilson vowed to try and build the movement the same way Mister Obama's backers did it -- at the grass roots level. That way he said members of the federal government in Washington, D.C., will hear what they have to say.
"I think they're going to be listening to protests until the direction of our country changes," Wilson added.
Copies of the petitions were also delivered to the office of Ohio 1st District U.S. Congressman Steve Driehaus. Tea Party leaders asked him to disclose the earmarks he's supporting through the stimulus dollars.
Driehaus wasn't available for comment, according to his press secretary Tim Mulvey, because he was meeting with constituents on a wide range of issues.
However, Mulvey said that the Congressman shared the protester's concerns about fiscal discipline.
