William Kostnic supports some "Tea Party" themes. AP Photo Joel Page
The current Tea Party activists claim they are taking back the government and reclaiming their rights just like the Tea Party protesters of the Boston Tea Party. The Tea Party Express is about to hit the road with the support of Fox News as can be seen in the video below. While Fox News and the protesters try to sell themselves as a genuine, patriotic movement following the footsteps of our forefathers in reality the current Tea Party protests are nothing like the Tea Party of old. Here are some of the many reasons why:
#1: The Boston Tea Party members had no representation in government the current Tea Party member do.
When the citizens of Boston threw British tea overboard their number one complaint was a lack of any representation in the British parliament. They were not complaining about taxes as much as they were complaining about any ability to have a representative vote on the tax issue.
Today's Tea Party members have plenty of representation in Congress as can be seen by the fact that health care reform is stalled. Furthermore, these Tea Party protesters had every right to vote in the last election and many did. Many now seem upset that they lost and Democrats gained control of the White House and Congress.
While the current Tea Party members have every right to protest they should not compare themselves to the Tea Party protesters of old. The Boston Tea Party members had no right to vote, no legal recourse, and even had their ability of free speech and press restricted.
#2: The Boston Tea Party was fighting against a government sponsored monopoly the current Tea Party members are fighting to keep a private monopoly.
The Boston Tea Party member were also upset about the British East India Trading Company being given favorable trading status in America. They effectively opposed the British, a foreign country, enabling a foreign company to monopolize the trade market in America.
In contrast, today's Tea Party members are effectively arguing for a continuance of the current domination of a few private companies in the health care industry. In many states two or three private insurance companies effectively dominate the market. Rather than enabling a public option to provide increased competition Tea Party member today are trying to maintain the status quo monopoly.
#3: Tea Party members of old face the penalty of death for their opposition whereas today's Tea Party member suffer no real threat.
Contrary to conspiracy theories of White House email monitoring no real stories of government oppression have surfaced against the current Tea Party members. The Boston Tea Party members suffered the real threat of being imprisoned or even hung for their forceful opposition to the British crown. No reasonable person today believes Tea Party members face the threat of imprisonment or death. Instead, today's Tea Party members not only enjoy free speech rights but also are aided by the support of a political party and a major media network in Fox News.
#4: The Boston Tea Party members were not part of Constitutional republican like the Tea Party members of today.
After the Boston Tea Party and the Revolutionary War the Boston Tea Party member, among others, created the Article of Confederation which created an unbelievably weak federal government. Even founding fathers opposed to a strong central government recognized the failure of the Articles to deal with issues like Shay's rebellion and the federal debt. So the founding fathers got together and created a new documents which we call the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Constitution created a much stronger federal government. In addition, over time the American citizenry recognized the need for an even stronger federal government through he passage of 16th amendment and other laws passed by a democratically elected legislature and president. Put simply, our history is one in which the majority of the people have decided that a stronger federal government is not only necessary but preferable. The idea of an very weak federal government was tried and it failed horribly. The current Tea Party members would be best off learning the lessons from the Boston Tea Party members regarding the strength of federal government.
Conclusion:
Once again I fully support the right of Tea Party activists today to exercise their rights of assembly and speech in opposing President Obama's policies. However, we should not confuse the current Tea Party members with those Tea Party protesters of old. Today's Tea Party members have representation in Congress, the right to vote, the right to protest without disguising themselves, and most importantly live in a land not controlled by a foreign power. There is taxation today but it is certainly not without representation.
Comments
What a lame analogy!
It is your personal view of those protesting not the view of those I know who are fed up with BOTH parties.
You are missing the point because you are so desperate to make fun of the protesters and to cause division. Who cares if they are like the revolutionaries of old? How about the content of their message?
Why are we being spent into oblivion?
How will national health care be better for most than the current system is for most?
What is the civilian national security force as well funded as the military for? If Bush had proposed this would you have been silent?
Where in the constitution does it say that the Fed has the right to dictate my health care provider? To dictate how my children will serve their community? To dictate that we should report fishy comments to the authorities?
Is the position of Czar constitutionally permitted?
Why are so many people in high government (Van Jones) people that couldn't pass the background check to get a job as a doorman at an embassy in Mongolia?
Why the hurry to pass health care?
Should the highest taxes on earth be in the US?
123 says: "
You are missing the point because you are so desperate to make fun of the protesters and to cause division. Who cares if they are like the revolutionaries of old? How about the content of their message?
Why are we being spent into oblivion?
How will national health care be better for most than the current system is for most?......."
the answer to all this and to all tea partyers is simple:
YOU VOTE! if you win, things are done YOUR way...if you lose, things are NOT done your way. VOTE and lose, NO WHINE. Vote and win, other party NO WHINE. Me no know how make simpler. You understandum me?
every time a tea partyer speaks, all the rest of us hear is "We lost, so we are here to whine and whine and whine"
walrus suggests that those who's candidate loses must shut up and be silent. Dissent and continued opposition is wrong.
How nice and Fascist of you walnut!
Try reading past the USA today headlines and CNN NEWS pal. You are trying to invalidate the Tea Parties because they already have representation?? how can you say that?... THE BANKER BAILOUT was 99-1 against in phone calls and our representation still didn't listen to us. Wake up MR. Political Buzz guy, Learn what true patriotism is...Dissent and non violent defense of your sovereignty with arms and words...NOT sitting home and parroting the TV. I pray that you some to your senses and stop slanting your writing against those who are your peers. We are the ones who care, the pundits just make money dividing us and your are playing right into it.
Wrong on many counts, notably #1. When the Separation of Powers was created by the United States Constitution, it was designed to create balance of power that was intended to protect the citizens from any one group leveraging their muscle unfairly and robbing the people of their collective voice. This has eroded over the last several decades with the judiciary clearly overstepping their bounds by legislating from the bench. The problem with this is with court appointments and the ability to serve for life without being voted down, the people are robbed of their voice. This is NOT representation, it is unequivocally Fascism.
Quite faulty, you have no clue what you’re writing about, both your history and your current events are wrong. The Boston group did have representation, they voted for who would represent them, (look up colonial assemblies). They were not complaining about representation in Parliament at all, it was about taxes, violations of the rule of law in place at the time, and unfair advantage to one business by government intrusion. Current Tea Party goers, (starting in 2006), are protesting government in bed with big business, violations of the rule of law, and unfair advantage due to government intrusion. Also, the Boston group did not oppose a foreign country; they were protesting their own empire, just like the modern day group. They did not face the death penalty. Boston Tea Party members were under the British Constitution which held that Parliament could not directly tax the colonies, and they openly protested, only the ones was broke the law by destroying property were disguised.
Murph
After reading several of your articles it is clear that you are just another far-left lemming who doesn't give a second thought to distorting the truth. There are so many misrepresentations and outright lies in these articles that it would be impossible to point them all out in the limited space provided for comments. What gives me hope for the future of my country is that most of the people who are reading the trash you write see it for what it is. In fact, I don't think that you even believe half of it. You just publish whatever promotes the BS you're trying to sell. If a fact gets in the way of that you either alter it to fit the message, or omit it altogether.
Now let's compare the "Bush = Hitler" protesters to the plight of those living under Nazi rule...
They are ReThuglicans calling themselves Tea Baggers.
ReThuglicans Tea Party Express Exposed
www.truthiest.blogspot.com/
Tea Bagger's Gun Flops out of Holster at Town Hall
TEA BAG PARTY GUN NUTS & SUBVERSIVE MILITIA AT TOWN HALLS: TEA PARTY PATRI-IDIOTS
www.truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-baggers-gun-flops-out-of-holster-at.html
Tea Baggy ReThuglican Pulls Gun on Old Man, Arrested
Idaho GOP leader, Wells Fargo contractor, pulls .357 Magnum on delinquent homeowner
www.truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-baggy-rethuglican-pulls-gun-on-old.html
TEA PARTY Nuts Plan Massive Sedition and Terrorism
www.truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-party-nuts-plan-massive-sedition.html
"Americans For Prosperity" Florida Chapter Runs Amuck: Leaded Tea Parties, Denial of Service to Emergency Line
Gun Nut Cancels LEADED TEA PARTY, Phone Robo-Spam Chokes Emergency Phone Center
www.truthiest.blogspot.com/2009/08/americans-for-prosperity-florida.html
You make some good points. The two movements are different. That does not diminish the value of the 2009 protest movement, nor does it diminish the impetus for co-opting the spirit of the tea party protest. Both were protests against excessive taxes. The Boston tea protesters were protesting a MUCH smaller tax! So one supposes that they would join in protesting a far more onerous tax burden.
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