Sunday, March 15, 2009

Cincinnati Tea Party Harkens Back To Eighteenth Century

In 1773, American colonists led by Samuel Adams gathered at Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act, a law passed by the British Parliament.  The parliament had exempted Britain's East India Company from duties on teas that colonial merchants were required to pay.  The Act was particularly galling in that the Americans were not represented in Parliament.  Disguised as Native Americans, they rushed aboard ships laden with the tea and dumped the tea into the harbor.

Earlier today, scores of Cincinnatians gathered at Fountain Square for a protest in the best tradition of the Boston Tea Party.  The parallels between today and 1773 are striking.

After all, who would not be incensed by the massive taxes just imposed by our Congress?

Oh--what?  Congress didn't raise taxes, but instead lowered them?  That's all right.  The laws passed passed by our government are still onerous.  Just as in 1773, the citizens of this continent are subject to laws passed by a legislature in which they have no elected representatives and by a king whose power to rule is derived from God, rather than the people.

Oh, dear.  You say that's not right either?  We just elected the entire House of Representatives?  And the two senators that represent each state are directly elected by the people of that state every six years?  Wow....not even the Framers believed in direct election of the members of the Senate; that required the 17th Amendment.  And...we have no king?  Just a president who was elected by a majority of voters just four months ago?  Geesh.

Well...the parallels are still obvious.  After all, the Cincinnati Tea Party was near water.  And the people there want to sell tea at lower prices.  I think.

OK.  Maybe there are no parallels between the tea parties across the country and the Boston Tea Party.  Maybe calling the gatherings "tea parties" is really just a clever marketing gimmick thought up by those who are disappointed that their candidates lost in November.

I suspect the mood of the Cincinnati Tea Party crowd is accurately captured in this Enquirer picture.  Note the clever sign near the front of the crowd reading "Nobama's Bin Lyin'."  Now there's some intelligent public discourse for you.  

Thanks to DF--you know who you are--for inspiring this post.

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