by Leslie Schwab

Created on: April 16, 2009   Last Updated: April 17, 2009

These modern "tea parties" may have been named after the famed Boston Tea Party in 1773 to protest the tax placed on imported tea. The real protest, however, was about taxation without representation. The issue at that time was the taxing of the American colonists, while having little political influence. These modern tea parties have virtually nothing in common with that event.

For one thing, the United States is a representative democracy. We elect representatives to serve in local, state, and federal governments to make decisions that affect all Americans. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States by a clear majority vote. He was given that mandate because most of us were dissatisfied with the policies and decisions of his predecessor. President Obama and Congress have passed legislation that has greatly increased federal spending in order to stimulate the economy. His decisions were made with the advice of prominent experts in business and economic matters. History had clearly recorded the result of lack of intervention in a similar economic crisis by the Hoover administration after the collapse of the stock market in 1929: the calamity known as the Great Depression. One main criticism of these tea party participants is of this record government spending. There was another period of greatly elevated federal spending; that occurred during the George W. Bush administration. In addition to the funding of the war in Iraq, costly programs as the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan were approved, as well. There were no tea parties at that time.

The other issue brought up by supporters of today's tea parties is their complaint of tax increases proposed by the Obama administration. It has been well documented by many reputable sources within the federal government and the national media that these tax increases will only affect those earning over $250,000 per year. Despite these increases, however, Americans who are fortunate enough to have such incomes will still pay lower taxes than they would have during the Reagan administration. These tea parties would have had greater justification fifty years ago, when Americans making over one hundred thousand dollars per year were in a ninety percent tax bracket.

Unlike the Boston Tea Party of 1773, today's events are driven by interest groups who only represent a minority of Americans. The only news station that has aggressively reported these events has been Fox News, and other media outlets owned by Ruppert Murdoch. These tea parties were organized by former Speaker of the House Dick Armey, a conservative Republican and active lobbyist.

Many Americans have expressed their displeasure of the government bailouts of firms as AIG and Bear-Stearns, as well as others whose poor decisions have led to our current financial woes. Supporters of today's tea parties would prefer to cut everyone's taxes, terminate further government bailouts, and cut most government programs they deem as "socialist": those programs include Medicare and Social Security, which help care for many of the parents of the tea party attendees.

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