Opie Pearce said the government was like a suitor, promising you something one day and crushing your hopes the next.

Nicholas Cloer said they were corrupt, bankrupting this country’s future on weird, trivial programs now.

Michele Duncan said they are fiscally irresponsible.

Those and other sentiments, some that cannot be shared in a family newspaper, were expressed on Wednesday evening as residents in Franklin County joined others across the nation in hosting a tea party  protest — demanding lower taxes and less government spending.

“What we’re protesting is taxation without our representation,” said Jeremy Neal, the county’s Republican Party Chair and organizer of the event, which was touted as nonpartisan.

“This is about protesting spending that is wasteful.”

Those who shared the same feelings gathered upon the steps of the Franklin County Courthouse, toting signs, waving flags and dangling tea bags — inspired by the Boston Tea Party of 1773, a protest by Boston colonists against the British Government.

Pearce carried around a make-shift sandwich board that expressed her disdain for rising taxes and wasteful spending.

The retired state government retiree’s sign read — “Taxed to Death — on the back.

“I’m tired of being taxed,” she said. “I’m on a fixed income.

“I have more money going out than I do coming in,” she said.

She compared government to a suitor.

“They’ll stimulate you one day and the next, they slam you,” she said.

She compared government to a suitor.

“They’ll stimulate you one day and the next, they slam you,” she said.

Cloer, a volunteer and up-and-coming member of the county’s Republican party, said the recently approved stimulus bill and bailout packages for Wall Street and auto makers will cost current and future generations too much.

“It’s turning the American Dream into an American nightmare,” he said.

Like other protests across the country, the event in Louisburg offered participants a chance to express themselves on a broad range of topics, including some attacks on the Obama administration.

But Michele Duncan said the event was not about Obama bashing.

“What’s going on is not political,” she said. “This is about America.

“There is nothing patriotic about bailing out fat-cat businesses that fail,” she said.

“This is a capitalist society,” she said. “We’re not supposed to bail them out.

“If you want to bail out someone,” she said, “give us back our money and let us support who we want.”

Danny Pearce said big government is a problem federally, at the state level and locally. He said people need to do something to improve the situation.

“It’s time that we stand up and fight for what’s right,” he said. “It’s time we fight for America and stop this nonsense.”

Neal suggested residents start at home. Organizers passed out contact information to local, state and federal representatives, urging those who gathered to contact them and express their opinions.

“If we don’t do something, nothing is going to change,” he said. “... When you leave here, I want you to go out and make a difference.

“Stick a hot poker under our elected officials and make them do something.”