The Tea Party...Past and Present

I have been reading everywhere--pro and con--about the "Tea Party". The issue cannot be avoided. Many commentators say that the tea party is about nothing, just a bunch of old and middle-aged white people ranting about everything and nothing in particular.

Then I remember my school book readings about the original American "Tea Party" that soon led to the revolution that founded this country. One of the central unifying issues was "taxation without representation". The American colonies had been dealt a series of new taxes--culminating with a tax on tea. It seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Newly arrived tea from Great Britain was dumped into the Boston harbor. (I read recently John Hancock was one of America's richest importers of tea. Little wonder he signed the Declaration of Independence with such a bold hand.)

The issue that unifies the present "Tea Party-ers" from their historical Boston cousins is not so much unwanted taxation, although that is a common thread, but the issue of non-representation.

The early colonists had no representation in the British Parliament. The Tea Party-ers feel they have no representation in the US Congress; their representatives have been more concerned with lobbyists interests than those of the common taxpayer. Thus the desire for a new revolution: "Throw (all) the bums out." Incumbents beware! That revolutionary cry is being heard today in several House and Senate races, and in all the polls. Instead of throwing tea overboard, all elected factotum are being grabbed by the legs and bottom, and their pain and fear is obvious...and well deserved.

I can't wait until November, 2010. Splash!