Jonahan.com

 

Alas this is about the TEA parties, or "Taxed Enough Already" groups that have caused ruckus' around the U.S. I first found out about them through what was at first a Ron Paul meetup group. 

 

The group had staying power and wanted to get together after Paul's campaign was over. After all, Paul himself didn't quit, he created something with lasting power called the Campaign for Liberty.

 

The 1st TEA Parties started on April 15th, 2009, after Obama took office. The whole point of them (at first) was to protest taxation and the fact that our elected reps are ignoring us. It was a cross-platform thing, calling both Republicans and Democrats to task for fucking us over in many ways.

 

The people at the rally I went to made stirring speeches about the wasteful spending in D.C., about how both Bush and Obama are selling us out, how the Federal Reserve is destroying our dollar. The callback to the original Tea Parties, I thought, was a pretty powerful symbol to rally behind.  

 

One guy actually dressed as William Wallace, complete with sword, shield and face paint and had the crowd worked up with his oration. One line I love (I'm paraphrasing here) was, "It is neither the corporate facism of the Republicans nor the liberal socialism of the Democrats - we must call to task our Representatives".

 

All great stuff, I thought: well meaning, and who in their right mind could disagree with such patriotism? Don't we all want to be free and be taxed less? 

 

Alas, the idea got somehow twisted. The fake (corporate) Republicans glommed onto the TEA Parties, with coverage on FOX News. They sent many liars and cheats who voted for Bush's bailout packages to speak at these TEA Parties. It was ludicrous to me that a guy like John Boehner (R-OH) could speak at an event about how we should cut back on spending when he himself voted FOR spending when Bush was in power.

 

Meanwhile you've got the liberals and most of popular opinion (many people I see online and in my circles at least) who decry the TEA Party movement as a bunch of backwards, ultra-conservative nutjobs who are just afraid of change.

 

While this *would* describe the religious right (a group that I disagree with entirely) I would say that yes, many in the TEA Party movement ARE afraid of change, when that change is taking more money from the people and giving more power to the central government.

 

Centralized government is wrong and exactly the thing we fought against to start this country. You can be a liberal, a conservative, or anything at all and believe in what the people that started the TEA Party movement stand for.

 

Getting us to believe in (and fight for) left or right is a big part of distracting us from what's really going on. Those in charge don't care about being tagged "Republican" or "Democrat" - they'll vote for pork either way.

 

So why the hell NOT get behind such freedom movements as the TEA Party? 

 

Well, other than the fact that some call them Teabaggers.