From an excellent commentary by Nathan A. Benefield and Matthew J. Brouillette of The Commonwealth Foundation on the growing Tea Party movement:

Nearly 10,000 Pennsylvanians rallied on Tax Day, April 15th, against wasteful government spending, high and rising taxes, and burgeoning government debt and deficits. The nonpartisan, anti-establishment "Tea Parties" were held in more than 30 cities across Pennsylvania and close to 800 nationwide, and more are scheduled.

Yet despite the clear message, defenders of the status quo kept asking, "Why?" But we have some questions for them: Why do you think the government that got us into our financial mess will somehow get us out of it? Why is it that those who think we need to pay more in taxes have trouble paying taxes themselves? Why are those who want to be more "charitable" with other people's money are the least charitable with their own? Why do you rail against the "rich" for not "paying their fair share," when the top quarter of income earners — those earning $65,000 or more — already pay more than 86 percent of all federal income taxes?

In addition to not answering these questions, many in Washington and Harrisburg are working to discredit and undermine the Tea Party protesters. Media reports and left-wing blogs have searched in vein for the boogeyman or conspiracy behind the Tea Party movement to marginalize it, often erroneously citing Fox News or FreedomWorks as the organizers. Even the Republican Party tried to take credit for the tea parties, which is ironic given how protesters are just as upset by the wasteful spending and increased debt by Republicans as they are with President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress. But no centralized organization could have pulled off the number of events and gathered more than 550,000 people. Indeed, the Tax Day Tea Parties were driven by local grassroots organizers and activists.

Read the full column at The Commonwealth Foundation's Web site.