Happy Tax Day - Enjoy your tea

As I chuckle on the whole idea of "tea parties", I have to wonder how many of these conservatives think "tea" has to do with the letter "t" as in "Taxes". Then I think that maybe they're a little more historically aware of the Boston Tea Party, where angry protesters dressed as Native Americans (nee American Indians) and dumped the King's tea into the Boston Harbor as a protest against arbitrary taxation.

In either case, the idea that today's tea parties have any relation to the historical event, apart from obscure symbolism, seems to be quite typical of the conservative mind.

In past times, I might have put the word "conservative" in double quotes to make a distinction between thinking, intelligent conservatives and the bloviating nitwits that seem to make up their public face these days. But alas, they are one and the same. There are no thinking, sentient conservatives these days - they're all a part of the same ridiculous club. They have one of the biggest bloviators in Rush Limbaugh, leading their public consciousness and leading them out into the far wilderness of mumbling, angry malcontents.

Well, the truth is, the Tea Parties today have very little to do with the Boston Tea Party. What of the King's (President Obama's) provisions would these conservatives throw away to protest unfair taxation? Should they fire their Police forces? Should they destroy their water filtration plants? How about getting out the heavy equipment and breaking up the King's Asphalt that covers their neighborhood streets?

They're protesting today because they feel they are ENTITLED to a free country where one keeps all of his or her earnings and the government provides a secure environment in which they can live, prosper and profit without any strings attached. Security and freedom come at a cost, but they'll never get it. No one likes taxation. No one wants to see money skimmed off the top of the fruits of their labor. But no one wants to live in a country like Somalia, where "taxes" are paid in the form of tithes to the local warlord for "protection". But that's essentially the trade-off.

I pay taxes because I want to drink clean water. I pay taxes because I want to be able to move around the country in a conveyance that isn't hampered by the local terrain. I pay taxes because I want a ready and able military to defend the country and deter any enemies. I pay taxes because I want an impartial third party to be ready to mediate disputes between me and those who seek to profit by me. I pay taxes because I want my children to have a place where they can learn about life, science and society that may not be drawn from my own limited experience. I pay taxes because I want to support the country that I love and all that it provides.

So I will have a cup of tea today, and I will toast the Federal Government and Income Taxes because they have made my life and my living in this great country possible.

Cheers!

Welcome to the Wilderness!

It would probably be justified to accuse me of partisan leanings, because I am absolutely delighted to see the GOP struggling to find an identity. What they seem to be failing to realize is that they never lost it. The GOP is trying to figure out how this identity can be revered in today's political and economic times. They're bumping up against the brick wall of reality. The problem is, the GOP identity is completely out of sync with a United States struggling to do the right thing for the times.



The GOP is a party of profiteering, privatization, and preaching. They rail against government, socialism, and moral depravity while completely oblivious to the fact that they are the best example of all they despise. The GOP is the strongest advocate for socialization when they demand that government provide a free market economic climate gratis, no strings attached. Without protectionism and government funds in the forms of charters and stimulus incentives, businesses would hardly be profitable. An unprotected market would be so unstable that sales and performance projections would be unthinkable. In this country, businesses can thrive because people are free and secure enough to participate in capitalism and claim some level of economic equality. That's the beauty and the utility of government. It helps to provide an environment where markets and democracy can coexist.