The Tea Party is a Perversion of America's Heritage.

[NobodyInParticular]

The Boston Tea Party was a protest by colonists against unfair taxation on the part of the British crown. The colonists were not against taxes, but only against having to pay them to what they saw as an overseas, anti-democratic authority. When Americans became an independent nation, our elected government was given and exercised its authority to levy taxes as needed. The American people, while disagreeing on individual items in the tax list, never challenged the authority of their government per se because it was a government of their choosing.

Today's tea party is not in the tradition of the historical event in Boston. It is the movement of a special interest group intent on destroying our democratic way of life by financially incapacitating our representative government. Under the sponsorship of corporate oligarchs, they want to assert themselves against the purpose of the Constitution as stated in its Preamble which is to " ...establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty." By pitting themselves against the values that were so clearly formulated by the founders of this nation, today's tea party is perverting the spirit of the colonialists who founded this country.

[provis99]

1. er, not quite. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against taxes that had been lowered.

Specifically, taxes by the British on East India Company tea had been lowered to make the tea more competitive in price with the lower priced illegal tea that American smugglers were selling.

The Tea Partiers were mostly composed of smuggler criminals complaining about competition.

[mzteris]

6. doncha love revisionist history?

99% of Americans don't know that the "tea party" was about smugglers' profits and not one gd thing to do with "taxation without representation". The "revolution" was about PROFITS! G*d bless Amurkha.

[Taverner]

2. The Baggers are traitors, simply put nt

[RKP5637]

4. Exactly, and IMO also terrorists. They are working to undermine and

basically overthrow the government. It's soooo obvious, they even tell people that. God are Americans naive.

[Taverner]

5. The fact that they would rather we default than take out more debt is telling

That means they would rather the American Experiment go to the scrapheap of history than us take out debt tells me they are fundamentally Un-American

[RKP5637]

7. I'm amazed they get voted in, that really unnerves me. n/t

[Taverner]

8. It's either a sign of Diebold's influence or the stupidity of America

Brought to you by the destruction of Education in America - courtesy of the GOP

[RKP5637]

10. Often I think there's no way out of this without a serious reaction by the

populace. Writing and calling our 13% approval rating congress isn't going to do it, and many of them are part of the problem to begin with.

It's a bad situation, a really bad situation. And what also really bothers me is so many are so damn proud of their ignorance. There will be a catalyst wherein people all wake up. Maybe the 2012 election will help when people see/hear the fool the GOP is running for president. I don't know, but eventually something has to give. I hope we don't just descend into some form of theocratic dystopia without a whimper.

[gulliver]

11. They are not traitors!

That's ridiculous. The Tea Party just hates the duly elected government of the United States. They only want to shrink the duly elected democratic government and drown it in the bathtub. Wait...what was my point?

[Rex]

3. The Tea Party is the cream of the anti-intellectual crop!

We are seeing the zenith and wane of the Modern Stupid Era in GOP politics...HOPEFULLY!

[provis99]

9. they are the shiniest turds in the toilet bowl!

[NobodyInParticular]

13. I love that metaphor!

Reminds me of the bumper sticker I saw years ago-- "Flush Rush." May they all spiral downwards until they become homogenized at the sewage treatment facility!

[demosincebirth]

12. They use similar rhetoric as the secessionist politicians used before

and during the Civil War referring to their rights, freedom and liberty -- all pertaining to slavery. Leave out the word slavery and you would be hard pressed to figure out which century you were reading about. The book is Battle Cry of Freedom