Tuesday, March 10

"On The Road To Perdition..."

A little refresher course in American history... The year is 1763 and the British Crown found itself strapped for cash, having been engaged in the protracted French and Indian War. King George III and his government cronies looked to the American colonies through levied taxes as a means to recoup their war cost and replenish their depleted treasury. As a result the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act followed by the Townsend Act, neither of which was embraced by the colonist, citing their vehement displeasure for being taxed without having any say (representation) about the legitimacy of either of these taxes. Parliament, fearing a wide-spread revolt in the colonies, repealed all the provisions of the two tax acts except the duty on tea, being convinced that the Americans would rather pay the tax than forgo their love of freshly brewed tea. Wrong assumption.

Two ships loaded with tea arrived off the coasts of New York and Philadelphia. They were refused docking privileges. In Charleston, the ship was permitted to dock, but its cargo of tea was immediately consigned to a locked and guarded warehouse, where it remained until sold later by the colonist to further underwrite the then on-going Revolutionary War. On December 16, 1773, three ships laden with their tea cargo did dock in Boston Harbor, where upon the citizens demanded that ships be sent back out to sea. The Harbor Master refused, citing the ships would not leave until such time as the duty had been paid on the cargo. This demand was met with even greater obstinacy. A group of 200 men, dressed as Indians, marched to Griffin's wharf, boarded the three ships and proceeded to toss the entire contents of all three ships into Boston Harbor. Having been told that the King could take his tea and shove it, the British Parliament in 1774 passed the Intolerable Act, which included, among other punitive measures, the closing the Port of Boston. Thus the fuse of colonial insurrection burned ever closer to the powder keg of the American Revolution.


Coming forward 236 years to the latest tea parties and we learn that an estimated 8,000 citizens gathered in Fullerton, California this past Saturday morning to protest the tax increases that are embedded in the state's up-coming annual budget. Families with children, seniors, grandparents, college students, bikers, citizens of all stripes raised their unified voices in defiance of the proposed taxes. Chanting "Repeal, recall, revolt," the disgruntled mass is seeking a means to remove from office the Sacramento politicians who voted for the increase tax burden. All across American tax revolt "tea parties" are breaking out. In places such as Green Bay, Wisconsin, Lafayette, Louisiana, Olathe, Kansas, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and in St. Louis and Kansas City, thousands of citizens have gathered in parks, at city halls, and along public thoroughfares to raise their voices and placards in protest to the worsening, darkening storm of social discontent for being saddled with the responsibility of oppressive taxation without a personal voice in the process. Said one protester, "If this ain't Hell, you can sure see it from here!"



Our Federal government, as well as many of our state legislative bodies, is totally out of touch with the American people. The Democrats in Congress have convinced themselves that your money is their money and they can damn well spend it anyway they chose. The spineless Republicans raised nothing less stringent than a sound bite ruckus as they meekly protested the over 8,000 earmarks contained within the bill, but then turned around and voted for its approval saying, in effect, "It's the Democrats fault that there is pork in the bill, but if they have earmarks, we want ours too." Acting President Obama today signed into law the omnibus spending bill calling it "imperfect." That's like labeling a woman with child as being "mildly pregnant!" It was Obama who promised that he would not sign any appropriations bill that contained any earmarks. What are we Americans to think other than his promise was merely empty campaign rhetoric and that his promises may only from this day forward be considered "imperfect" at best? To be politically correct and not be labeled a raciest, are we to just look the other way?

It is a far gone conclusion that the Democrats are latter day carpetbaggers, bent on taking from those who have and in turn line their own pockets and those of their lapdog constituents with the largess from the labors of the hard working American people. They are thieves in thousand dollar suits who care no more for the plights of the average American than does a ravenous dog give consideration to a soupbone. But it is the Republicans who deserve the lion's share of ridicule. Republican...thy name is hypocrite! Now, today was the opportune time to stand up to the Democrats and say "No! We will not tolerate such wasteful spending. We will pull all of our earmarks from the bill!" Did they do that? No! The acquiesced in the guise of "If its good for the goose, it is good for us too!" Shame. There are no principles lurking within the folds of those hollow suits that walk the Halls of Congress. Just politicians. God save our country.

Our nation is literally drowning in a sea of unsecured debt, governed by an elitist collaboration of self-serving ideologues who are systemically throwing away the life preservers of capitalism for the leaky rafts of socialism. The tea parties are breaking out all of the country in protest...and there are more to come. There is a day looming on the horizon when the American people who make this country work will slap away the overreaching hands of the money grubbing politicians from their back pockets and say, "Enough! We are mad as hell and we aren't going to take it any more!" They won't come as citizens dressed as Indians, but as a united people who will attempt first to oust the present entrenched liberal new world order crowd with the power of their individual vote. Failing that peaceful approach, they shall come armed not with placards and banners, but with an enforceable determination to put our house back in order. That day can't come soon enough to suit me.

"No arsenal, or not weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women." - Ronald Regan

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