April 16, 2009

My Sentiments Exactly

Seen at a Tennessee tea party:
A sign near the center of the crowd summed up the sentiment succinctly: Above side-by-side pictures of President Bush and President Obama were the words “Dumb & Dumber”.
It's too bad the tea parties didn't start under Bush.

Afterthought. The Boston Tea Party was about illegitimate taxes. The main point of the current protests is that illegitimate government spending will ruin future generations and bankrupt the country.

Calling the protests tea parties helps get attention and so does holding them on April 15, but the implication is inaccurate. The passions behind the Boston Tea Party and contemporary protests may be similar, but the issues are different. Today's labeling predisposes the underlying message to be distorted by opponents and misunderstood by the public.

The mislabeling will be corrected if the protests jell into a long-term constructive political movement.

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