Tax Day Tea Parties

Well, here we are, the day after nationwide anti-tax Tea Parties and the left doesn't get it. In fact, those of us who attended or are in favor of wholesale tax reform have been marginalized in the media as everything from uneducated rednecks to domestic terrorists to racists. There's no end to the namecalling from the liberals when it comes to us "mean-spirited" conservatives.

I expected as much from the media. I watched coverage on the "other" news outlets that typically avoid (CNN, MSNBC, et al) because I correctly surmised that they would ridicule and belittle the scope of the events. The constant "tea-bagging" jokes, a reference to a homoerotic sex act, was present on every network except Foxnews. I couldn't help but notice that Anderson Cooper had a knowing smirk on his face, as if he were relishing his last tea-bagging session.

I have digressed. The point is that either the left really doesn't get it at all or they fear this movement so much that they made a concerted effort to marginalize it. I believe that fear motivated them more than anything because the media response was too over the top, too prepared, and, above all, too predictable. There was not a single network, broadcast or cable, that covered the Tea Parties like Foxnews did. Foxnews was the lone outlet that actually gave full coverage of the Tea Parties. What other event of this magnitude can you remember the media ignoring or belittling? The same media that provided wall-to-wall coverage of the Million Man March that didn't feature anywhere near a million men? The same media that covered the Million Mom March that didn't feature anywhere near a million moms? Non-stop coverage of Cindy Sheehan? Coverage of illegal Mexican immigrant marches?

The Tea Party movement is not unlike the original Boston Tea Party protesting taxation without representation. This time, we are protesting taxation for the purpose of confiscation. The Obama Administration is chock full of tax cheats but they are going to take money from the producers and give it to the leeches that elected them. Sounds like a reason to protest, don't you think?

I was glad to see Neal Boortz prominently featured, along with the FairTax, on Foxnews. The FairTax is the best revenue generating policy currently out there and does not punish the producers for producing. It doesn't punish anyone and doesn't confiscate wealth and redistribute it. You only pay the tax on services and retail goods. It allows a great deal of fiscal decision making on the part of our citizens in that you can avoid paying the tax or at least lessen the amount of tax by defering big purchases, buying used items (since these items have already been taxed when new), and shopping for better prices (which would lessen the tax paid.) Now, the consumer decides what he can afford to pay and when he'll pay it. The wealthy pay the same rate as the destitute, so the tax is fair in that way as well. The biggest advantage is that the FairTax cannot be used by the government to punish "the winners of life's lottery" and reward the "losers."

Of course, the left, being proponents of socialist, big government, want no part of any tax reform unless they are still in the driver's seat for determining who pays and who gets paid. The FairTax would neuter the left by taking away their time-honored vote-buying scheme. In fact, most tax reform proposals would cut Democrats off at the knees and is the major reason why they ridicule any effort to reform. And it won't happen on this watch.

2010 offers the next glimmer of hope. If conservatives (note that I did not say Republicans) can take back Congress in 2010, perhaps the Tea Party movement will get its day. Something has to happen because we cannot sustain our nation the way we have been conducting government business. The Tea Party participants know this and demand real change. Not the 'change" brand that Obama has espoused but real change. Tax reform is a grand place to start making change happen because it will raise all Americans up.

My wife has to listen to me rant endlessly and she asked me to what country I wanted move since this one is so awful. I said, "Texas." She replied, "I said country, not state." And I again replied, "Texas." I saw the puzzled look and explained to her what the Texas legislature had done this week. They had decreed that they reserve their states rights under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, stating

“as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers” and that “all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.”

Governor Rick Perry went further to endorse Texas' right to secession from the union. So, I explained to the wife, when this government finally nationalizes the rest of the financial and industrial sectors, we will move to Texas because Texas will probably be the last bastion of Constitutional government and a represenative republic with a free market economy. I wish my state had the cojones to pass the same resolution but with Tim Kaine, Obama' lap dog, as our governor and the leftist invasion of Northern Virginia, that is likely to never happen, despite a bill, HR61, before the Virginia House of Delegates with a meager 12 endorsees. A guy can dream, right?

What does this have to do with the Tea Parties? Everything. You see, Texas received alot of coverage over the assertation because it has passed the resolution. Several other states, including my home state, have similar bills in their legislatures. That fact cannot be ignored for long and, when coupled with the Tea Party rallies, you begin to see a genuine revolt forming, not unlike the unrest prior to our rebellion against British rule or against Northern rule. What makes this even more unique is that it is no longer just a "Southern" thing. New Hampshire has a bill in its legislature. Arizona. Washington. I expect more states to do the same.

The Obama Administration, despite dismissing the Tea Parties, knows it has a full grown problem on its hands. Mr. Obama wanted all of the parallels to Lincoln and he has them. Obama has been the most divisive figure in American politics since Lincoln, despite his "popularity" ratings. I foresee reports and attacks against supposed "right-wing" extremist groups to come back into vogue soon as a means of scaring Tea Party participants into leaving the cause for fear of ending up on a government list. Especially with states talking about secession, Obama knows if states begin leaving the union, he and his constituency of entitlement leeches would have no more wealth to confiscate, not unlike conditions before the War of Northern Aggression. Just substitute Northern Industrialists with the entitlement leeches and the parallel is complete.

I said months ago that given the direction we are being forced by our unresponsive goverment that a revolution is calling. I advocated a non-violent one and I still do. I endorse the Tea Party tax reform movement, especially the FairTax. Furthermore, I endorse the declarations of these states that have drawn a line in the sand with the 10th Amendment and put the out-of-control federal government on notice. My friends, the revolution has started and Obama and the media know it.

Now for some change we really can believe in.