Tea Party

I wanted to go to a Tea Party yesterday. Those of you who get your news from the MSM may require some explanation. The Tea Parties were a nationwide protest against the expansion of government during the Obama administration in general, and against Obama's proposed tax increases in particular. These parties were, of course, scheduled to coincide with tax day, and named to invoke the granddaddy of all tax protests, the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Rush Limbaugh reported on his radio show today that there were 800 Tea Parties "across the fruited plain" attended by around 189,000 people (A biased source, I know, but the only one I could find).

Alas, my day job prevented me from attending (responsibility, what's that?). So I did the next best thing, which was to look up some of the coverage and speeches on the Internet. I thought the speech made here in Boston by Carla Howell of the Center for Small Government had a particularly good point. It started:

"I did NOT come here to Protest. I did NOT come here to try to change the minds of Democratic or Republican officeholders in Washington - or on Beacon Hill. I came here to change politics in America — just like the American Patriots who gave us the first Boston Tea Party. The Original Boston Tea Party was NOT a Protest. Let me say that again: the Original Boston Tea Party was NOT a Protest. The Patriots did NOT just hold up signs, give speeches, and complain. The Patriots stopped British ships from unloading Monopoly British Tea — their version of AIG. The American Patriots blocked the collection of taxes. That is why the Boston Tea Party mattered — and why we remember it today. Because it was direct political action, not just protest. And it was action that made government smaller."

Ms. Howell went on to explain that the action needed today, the equivalent of dumping tea in the harbor, is dumping collectivist politicians from office – by means of elections. She told the crowd:

"We must vote out every Big Government officeholder in our federal, state, and local governments. Every one. Democrat AND Republican…We must vote FOR candidates who campaign for, promise, and vote to reduce and remove today's Big Government social and economic programs — and give back every dollar saved to the taxpayers."

The argument is impeccable. That change requires action is a fundamental principle of metaphysics. And in a democracy, the appropriate place for action is the voting booth. After all, it is unreasonable to expect a different course when the percentage of incumbents returned to Congress remains in the high nineties. The Logic Critic gives Carla Howell…

4 Blades - Flawless.