To underestimate the importance of the April 15th
Tea Parties is to denigrate the right of the citizens to seek redress from their government. One of the reasons this is so dangerous is that it makes it obvious most self-styled commentators never studied United States history and do their research on the mainstream evening news. This does not bode well for the future of our country or our liberty.
The parallels between the original 1773 Boston Tea Party and the recent multiple events occurring in every state are striking if one actually understands the reasons for the original Tea Party. People tend to equate the battle-cry, "No taxation without representation!" with the Boston Tea Party-that is not accurate: The "no taxation without representation" declaration related to events occurring before the Boston Tea Party-namely two separate tax actions levied against the colonists by British Parliament. The Boston Tea Party was a reaction to the final straw against the colonists and involved an act of corporate welfare benefitting the British East Indies Company: The British government gave them a huge tax break in the amount the company paid when purchasing tea in the East Indies. The East Indies Company was essentially "dumping" cheap tea in the colonies in an effort to put out of business colonial tea traders. By this point, the colonists were mad as hell and they just weren't going to take it anymore.
Jump forward to 2009 and see the parallels: government taxes and spends. When they run out of money, they print more. They take from the voters and give to corporations and banks. They attempt to control everything the citizen does; their livelihoods, their property, their choice of vehicles of conveyance, their religion, the food they eat, the medical care they receive. They siphon money out of the private sector to give to their favored businesses and causes. They fund activist groups against the majority of the middle-class. They ignore those they are supposed to represent. In a thousand ways they ignore the Constitution and subvert the laws of the land. The subverted laws are used against the common man. They engage in outright theft of the savings of the middle-classes. They openly flout and ignore election laws with impunity. They take the influence bought with the blood of the forefathers and barter it away to international groups that escalate the attack against the American middle-class. And perhaps the worst sin of all, they laugh at and denigrate the religions and traditions of the People, subvert and educate their children in untruths. They actively destroy the family in favor of the State. They foster a sense of grievance and entitlement within those least productive and use them as an army to subvert the will of the People. They use the subverted youth to try to force a new-yet old-vision of a remade America-an America remade in a much failed idealistic model .
Those who believe that the Tea Party movement was started or orchestrated within the Republican Party really haven't done a modicum of homework on this issue: apparently too lazy to actually find out the history, they mindlessly spout Keith Olbermann's or Chris Matthew's self-serving and spiteful commentary or repeat with childish glee Rachel Maddow's quasi-x-rated sexual innuendo like a gang of eleven year old boys practicing a dirty word. Most of them wouldn't want to have to explain the references to either their mother or their children, so why is it being used in this context? It is simply the last retort of those who haven't the intelligence to craft a valid argument and resort to ridicule and infantile behavior.
The modern Tea Party movement was born of an angry commentary by a CNBC reporter over the banking bailouts: Rick Santelli suggested it was time for another Boston Tea Party. He was right-the time was right. It began in Seattle and within a week had spread to several other states. For many places, this latest was not the first Tea Party they attended but the second. The 2009 Tea Parties were a true grassroots effort, supported via email, Twitter, radio and other types of electronic media. In the last week or so, many politicians, ever eager to have a captive audience, attempted to commandeer the planned gatherings in their own interest. To their credit, many organizers told them in no uncertain terms that they were welcome to attend, as were all citizens, but they should be listening not speaking. Mainstream media ignored the rumblings until they became too loud to ignore. Fox News finally began, through several of their show hosts, to actively support the right of the people to peaceful protest. But, make no mistake; these demonstrations were NOT organized by any big political players or Fox News. They were entirely the effort of concerned citizens who have finally had enough!
This huge demonstration wasn't funded by any large "non-profit" or lobbying cartel. Instead of preprinted signs for Moveon.Org or ACORN, or some union leadership, these people carried signs crafted of empty cardboard boxes and their children's crayons on their kitchen tables. Nobody provided charter buses to attend any gathering to assure there was a good turn-out. With as little as a week's notice, venues that expected 50 people got 400 or a thousand! People stood in the freezing rain in the East and falling snow in the West. As these were mostly the working middle-class, most of the attendees actually had to take the day off work to attend. Many drove over a hundred miles. The elderly and middle-aged were well-represented.
The anger these protestors feel is not particularly aimed against taxes. It is not particularly aimed at the Obama administration except that he "promised change" and gave us more of the same-on steroids! It's against thirty years of wasted money, free-wheeling and dealing with the voters' futures. It's against being forced, under penalty of unconstitutional law, to swallow insults and abuse against our way of life, and our investment in our children's futures. This seems to be what the opposition doesn't understand: these people didn't like Bush's spending any better than Obama's-and many saw through Clinton's creative borrowing against Social Security to pad his budget also. All of these leaders were guilty-and the thinking people very much object to the "I won" attitude being spoken as a decree that any one group now holds dominion over the rest of the People. They also mightily resent our illustrious President's constant arrogance and belittling of the American middle class in favor of special interests and Marxist projects. After watching our so-called leadership lose its moral compass over a period of years, the People have decided to halt the freight train of State, turn it around and redirect it back onto the right track.
For those who believe the major media's claims that these Tea Parties were sparsely attended and consisted only of fringe political thinkers, take a good look at the numbers that are coming in: One source, PJTV.com is tracking the verified numbers of about 25% of the Tea parties. Those numbers currently, after 24 hrs, stand at 400,000 people. Many cities had attendances in the range of 7000 to 10,000 people-sevral had far more. To extrapolate the statistics, this is well and away the largest demonstration by the voters in US history. Many Tea Parties will never be counted but that doesn't matter. These Tea parties were a way for a diverse group to network, exchange email addresses and get on mailing lists. This isn't the end of Tea Parties or the end of political activism by the much-maligned "silent majority". Overseas news outlets realize this and are printing it-only the US media and the administration is ignoring its significance. We the People want our country back-and we will have it!