bobbyw24
04-01-2010, 04:27 AM
WRITTEN BY JOE WOLVERTON, II
THURSDAY, 01 APRIL 2010 00:00
On a cold night in December 1773, some three years after passage of the Tea Act by the British Parliament, colonists were fed up with the British crown’s haughty disregard of their rights as Englishmen, and they dumped 342 chests of the iconic British beverage into Boston Harbor, becoming icons themselves. The protesters (estimates range from as few as 30 to as many as 130) refused finally to be placated by repeated promises of change and reform and, rather than wait for legislative response, they exercised the Lockean right of “self-defense” and boldly resisted the alienation of their God-given liberty.
Modern Americans know something of that level of frustration. It’s been just over a year since Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and the Democratic Party assumed majority control of both houses of Congress. In that short time, there has emerged a vociferous band within the electorate who, like their tea-tossing forebears, feel they have been precluded from participating in the direction the ship of state will sail, and they have decided to protest the insupportable behavior of a government that habitually oversteps its constitutional boundaries. Fed up and fired up, they have chosen to exercise their constitutional prerogative of peaceful assembly, hence the Tea Party Movement.
The disparate coterie of groups confederated, loosely, under a giant “Tea Party” umbrella, and they attracted devotees by the thousands. Scores of frustrated conservatives were drawn to the movement’s assimilation of the patois of 18th-century patriotism. They braved rain and rebuke and gathered in parking lots and municipal auditoriums to listen to speakers selected from the deepening pool of Tea Party celebrities zealously frothing the tea-tainted waters of dissent.
There is not one identifiable spark that set off this conservative conflagration. There are as many “original tea party” claimants as there are reasons for rebellion. One of the earliest demonstrations was held by the ever-active grass-roots legion of volunteers backing the bid for the presidency of staunch constitutionalist Ron Paul of Texas. On December 16, 2007 (on the 234th anniversary of the truly original Tea Party) hundreds of Paul supporters gathered in Boston at the State House steps at 1 p.m. and marched down the street toward historic Faneuil Hall, where they listened to speeches sonorous with Paul’s libertarian message.
Prior to the Ron Paul rallies, and throughout the early 1990s, there were numerous tax-day protests held nationwide. From Florida to California, Americans fed up with being referred to as “taxpayers” descended upon harbors and state legislatures on April 15 to demand their governments, local and federal, demonstrate fiscal responsibility and stop wasting money, increasing spending, and raising taxes. These movements, too, added fuel to the raging inferno of resistance that the present-day Tea Party Movement has become.
More recently, thousands of Americans have united under various banners to voice their consternation for the billion-dollar bailouts rewarding banks, investment houses, car companies, and insurance companies for their malfeasance. This unconstitutional corporate dole was followed by additional egregious government giveaways known as the Stimulus Package. Reminiscent of some 18th-century physician, President Obama set about “curing” the ailing economy by bleeding middle America, hoping to release the harmful humors. What he released was a wave of dissension and demonstrations that continues to thrive, while his own approval ratings continue to dive.
Fast Forward to the Present
While it is impossible to identify who deserves credit for initiating the Tea Party Movement, it is remarkably easy to decide where to lay the blame for making such protests necessary. The federal government, by refusing to restrain themselves and act only within the well-defined sphere created by the Constitution, has invoked the wrath of millions of hard-working Americans vexed by their government’s deafness to or disregard for the citizens’ cries of uncle. Like a playground bully, lawmakers seem to gloat in the fear summoned by their size. Americans, tired of being pushed around, have decided to stand up for themselves and reassert their sovereignty.
Read the rest:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/3214-tea-party-a-brewing-movement
THURSDAY, 01 APRIL 2010 00:00
On a cold night in December 1773, some three years after passage of the Tea Act by the British Parliament, colonists were fed up with the British crown’s haughty disregard of their rights as Englishmen, and they dumped 342 chests of the iconic British beverage into Boston Harbor, becoming icons themselves. The protesters (estimates range from as few as 30 to as many as 130) refused finally to be placated by repeated promises of change and reform and, rather than wait for legislative response, they exercised the Lockean right of “self-defense” and boldly resisted the alienation of their God-given liberty.
Modern Americans know something of that level of frustration. It’s been just over a year since Barack Obama was elected President of the United States and the Democratic Party assumed majority control of both houses of Congress. In that short time, there has emerged a vociferous band within the electorate who, like their tea-tossing forebears, feel they have been precluded from participating in the direction the ship of state will sail, and they have decided to protest the insupportable behavior of a government that habitually oversteps its constitutional boundaries. Fed up and fired up, they have chosen to exercise their constitutional prerogative of peaceful assembly, hence the Tea Party Movement.
The disparate coterie of groups confederated, loosely, under a giant “Tea Party” umbrella, and they attracted devotees by the thousands. Scores of frustrated conservatives were drawn to the movement’s assimilation of the patois of 18th-century patriotism. They braved rain and rebuke and gathered in parking lots and municipal auditoriums to listen to speakers selected from the deepening pool of Tea Party celebrities zealously frothing the tea-tainted waters of dissent.
There is not one identifiable spark that set off this conservative conflagration. There are as many “original tea party” claimants as there are reasons for rebellion. One of the earliest demonstrations was held by the ever-active grass-roots legion of volunteers backing the bid for the presidency of staunch constitutionalist Ron Paul of Texas. On December 16, 2007 (on the 234th anniversary of the truly original Tea Party) hundreds of Paul supporters gathered in Boston at the State House steps at 1 p.m. and marched down the street toward historic Faneuil Hall, where they listened to speeches sonorous with Paul’s libertarian message.
Prior to the Ron Paul rallies, and throughout the early 1990s, there were numerous tax-day protests held nationwide. From Florida to California, Americans fed up with being referred to as “taxpayers” descended upon harbors and state legislatures on April 15 to demand their governments, local and federal, demonstrate fiscal responsibility and stop wasting money, increasing spending, and raising taxes. These movements, too, added fuel to the raging inferno of resistance that the present-day Tea Party Movement has become.
More recently, thousands of Americans have united under various banners to voice their consternation for the billion-dollar bailouts rewarding banks, investment houses, car companies, and insurance companies for their malfeasance. This unconstitutional corporate dole was followed by additional egregious government giveaways known as the Stimulus Package. Reminiscent of some 18th-century physician, President Obama set about “curing” the ailing economy by bleeding middle America, hoping to release the harmful humors. What he released was a wave of dissension and demonstrations that continues to thrive, while his own approval ratings continue to dive.
Fast Forward to the Present
While it is impossible to identify who deserves credit for initiating the Tea Party Movement, it is remarkably easy to decide where to lay the blame for making such protests necessary. The federal government, by refusing to restrain themselves and act only within the well-defined sphere created by the Constitution, has invoked the wrath of millions of hard-working Americans vexed by their government’s deafness to or disregard for the citizens’ cries of uncle. Like a playground bully, lawmakers seem to gloat in the fear summoned by their size. Americans, tired of being pushed around, have decided to stand up for themselves and reassert their sovereignty.
Read the rest:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/3214-tea-party-a-brewing-movement