We Behave Even When We (Tea) Party

By Anthony Bialy

Maybe I should forward my pictures from Buffalo’s Independence Day Tea Party to the Department of Homeland Security. It wouldn’t be to help them save time when compiling Janet Napolitano’s Personal Enemies List: it’s more of a preemptive move against those who brand us as radicals for thinking the government shouldn’t be buying lots of stuff. If they’re still fretting about the seething rage among righties, we may as well make the case that attendees are as typical as zealots get.

We held a standard Tea Party. Specifically, a few hundred of us spent an hour or two listening to enthusiastic limited-government speakers while assembled in front of our majestic Art Deco City Hall. It was basically similar to other events across the nation: we were mostly like everyone else everywhere else.

That said, we face particularly onerous burdens based on where we are. Notably, we are subject to income tax for the privilege of living in the Empire State, a risible 8.75 percent sales tax in Erie County, and astoundingly high property tax rates that cost some homeowners more than their mortgages. We have to chant to ourselves, religious mantra-style, the ample benefits of living here just to keep from calling U-Haul.

We’re mostly upset because it’s unnecessary to take all that’s taken from us. There are innumerable examples of obviously genuine waste. But even worthwhile organizations should be funded by private citizens choosing to spend their money on them. Philharmonics, art galleries, and pro sports teams are all significant and wonderful assets, which means that people should be willing to spend their own money in support. If we benefit from them, we don’t need a government mandate to fund them.

Our party also featured the same extremists who criticize the educational system for its astounding expenditure per mediocre student. On a national level, count us among the disaffected reactionaries who think banks and car companies that run themselves into the ground can either dig themselves out or stay there. Barack Obama’s take on the free market is strangely expensive.

Tea fanatics also maintain that the government isn’t obligated to care for our fitness. Lost in the analysis of health care costs is the broader truth that it’s an individual’s duty to maintain his or her self. Simultaneously, we realize that doctors, hospitals, and the rest of us will always step up to help those in need; the true cynics are those who hold that charity only works when forced.

We’re also the same lunatics who oppose cap and trade simply because it will destroy the economy and attempt to force us to use limp power sources for the sake of not having any effect on the environment at all. Of course, the bill will only affect people and industries that use energy, so it’s not as if its consequences will be far-reaching.

In that regard, our foes don’t know history, or at least not our history. They don’t simply oppose distinctively American concepts like personal reliability and being left the hell alone; they don’t even realize that they’re valid options. They’re unable to get around the answer to the question that, if the government won’t attend to the details, who will?

On the other hand, the Tea Party gave us a chance to flaunt our historical knowledge, and not just because we used our First Amendment rights to stand up for our Tenth Amendment ones. For one, judging by the quantity of rattlesnake-clad flags being waved, we clearly know who Revolutionary bad-ass Christopher Gadsden was.

Plus, someone in the crowd at Buffalo’s Niagara Square was proudly flying a Green Mountain Boys flag. The green standard with 13 stars in a blue corner field would probably be misconstrued to be Mother Earth’s ensign by our commie hippie friends. It’s a mistake that would be made by the same types who only know of Ethan Allen as a fancy furniture builder.

By the same measure, John Hancock and Sam Adams would have been branded militant nuts today, but only by those who recognize the names. They would be hassled by dinosaurs like The New York Times and evening network newscasts along with newer reptilian incarnations on the web. The only thing worse would be that others would sadly find themselves unfamiliar with the heroes. For one, JoJo Biden would be confused as to why a financial guy and brewer, respectively, were being treated as menaces.

With that in mind, I’ll hold back and instead make those at DHS keep looking for the pictures of my individualistic comrades and me. They can stumble to http://www.twitter.com/AnthonyBialy if they’re really interested in seeing how we amassed and occasionally cheered as we behaved. Alternately, the feds can search for photos posted by one of the numerous other normal diehards based in a plethora of other cities.

It’ll be good for those keeping an eye on us: they can learn what we already know, namely that we just want to keep more of what we make. If we’re the biggest threat to security, consider this nation blessed. That was just another reason to have spent the rest of the Fourth celebrating.

Anthony Bialy is a freelance writer and "Red Eye" Conservative in Western New York.

The Tea Parties are Coming, the Tea Parties are Coming!

By Theosebes

The Tea Parties are coming, the Tea Parties are coming! For a second showing, the Tea Parties are coming to a neighborhood corner near you on the Fourth of July, 2009. If the first event was missed, then participation is highly suggested. So come one, come all and bring your red, white and blue tea cups to share with others, in the ever growing frustration that has taken most Americans by storm.

Is the storm brewing as a result of our twenty first century Tea Tax or is there a greater angst, a deeper discontent than just the enormous deficit that will be handed down to our great, great-grandchildren? I suggest that as with the colonists of the 1760’s, the taxation without representation was only a part of a greater injustice that was imprisoning the patriots who gave so much for us, their great, great, great-grandchildren. Would men fight and die because the tax man, in this case Britain, was assessing “unfair taxes”? The taxation they faced was only twenty percent of those being taxed in England, so where did the cry for independence gain in fervor?

The issue that shook the world then and I believe is beginning to shake our world today is not just about the exorbitant taxes that Obama and Company are laying on the backs of millions, but the shackles brought on by an enormous government and the freedoms that are being stripped away, daily in the name of change, in the name of progress. The colonists didn’t shed their blood because they were angry that England was asking for more money, in fact after the War of Independence, colonists were taxed twenty fold more than they had been under the crown. The blood of these patriots ran on the soils of Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill and Brandywine because their freedoms were being stripped away.

What freedoms have been confiscated from the hands of private citizens today and given to the oligarchy on the hill? To sum up: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have become endangered ideals under these ruling elite. Economic freedoms under government regulation, property rights, and the freedom to succeed and fail in business are just a few areas in which the government has overstepped the limits of its Constitutional powers as seen in the frantic vote of the Stimulus Bill. There is a strong arm push for mandatory government run health care. There is the deceit in the Obama plan for educational reform that strips parental rights to choose what is best for their children under the guise of the Convention on the Rights of Children, a treaty if ratified would supersede American law and sovereignty. The First Amendment is under attack through the Fairness Doctrine which was “rooted in the media world of 1949, when lawmakers became concerned that by virtue of their near-stranglehold on nationwide TV broadcasting, the three main television networks — NBC, ABC and CBS — could misuse their broadcast licenses to set a biased public agenda” this is being revisited by Pelosi and friends and yet we see Obama-mercials for his policies without the benefit of hearing from the other side of the discussion.

Fourth Amendment rights are under attack as Obama is using the oft-disproved contention that "90% of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States" as the stated basis of his support for the international treaty he is promoting. The treaty is formally known as the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials (CIFTA) treaty.

The list of liberties at risk is lengthy and could not fit into a mere blog. Perhaps our greatest liberty, the right to worship God, as guaranteed under the First Amendment, is our most tragic loss. Any honest reader of history will recognize that many of the first settlers in America came for religious freedom and the cost that so many paid for such freedom was the utmost price, their very lives or the lives of their loved ones. Individuals die for those things which have intrinsic value and the right to worship God, unimpeded by the government, is one of those invaluable rights. Today we see this First Amendment right under attack as evidenced by the H.R. 1592 that is pending committee in the U.S. House. This is a bill that would “criminalize thought or emotion or even speech," said Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund. But I suggest that this attack began decades ago when the Supreme Court ruled in 1947 that it was unconstitutional for the government "to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion."² in Everson v. Board of Education 330 US 31.

Tom West of the Claremont Institute wrote, “The victory of relativism has made the Founders' understanding of religious liberty alien to us. Liberty today is taken to mean "the right to choose," the right to do whatever one pleases.

Surprisingly, both liberals and conservatives agree on this definition. Their disagreement is over the extent to which government should impose limits on abuses of liberty. A sign of our shared view of liberty is that we often speak of balancing liberty with order, with responsibility, or with community. If we define liberty as the unlimited right of the irresponsible will, we do have to look to a source outside of liberty for some restraint on it. But if liberty is inherently responsible liberty, as the Founders thought, it does not need to be balanced by anything. It contains within itself its own balance.

For the Founders, the irresponsible, irrational will is not free. It is enslaved. James Madison said that "the tyranny of their own passions" led the Athenians to condemn Socrates to death. What Madison meant by this phrase was spelled out by the Reverend Samuel West of Massachusetts in a 1776 sermon: "The most perfect freedom consists in obeying the dictates of right reason, and submitting to natural law. When a man goes beyond or contrary to the law of nature and reason, he becomes the slave of base passions and vile lusts. . . . Hence we conclude that where licentiousness begins, liberty ends."⁴

http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.669/pub_detail.asp

The liberty and freedom that Americans once enjoyed, free from governmental legislation, came from the idea of personal, conscientious self rule that denied self in the best interest of society or in closer context the best interest of one’s neighbor. There was also the belief of God or a Deity that had defined standards of behavior that human kind should follow because it was best for the individual and society. Because many Americans have shunned the notion that there is absolute truth and therefore absolute law, and because the government operates on the same premise, they legislated on what is good for now, for the ruling class, to remain relevant to the voting population. But those who have remained steadfast in the knowledge that there is in fact absolute truth and who temper their lives through self control and self rule for the best of society, will not only make a distinct stand against the direction of this type of government, but will also perhaps lose their rights to speak out against this abuse of power by the very government they hope to rebuild.

Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America, “It must never be forgotten that religion gave birth to Anglo-American society. In the United States, religion is therefore mingled with all the habits of the nation and all the feeling of patriotism, whence it derives a peculiar force….Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America…Christianity itself is an established and irresistible fact.”

For this reason men and women have paid the ultimate sacrifice, not because they were angry that taxes were too high, but because loss of liberty was too costly. Freedom and liberty come from God, and the Christian religion has been the tool that has shaped this country from the beginning. Calvin Coolidge stated, “If American democracy is to remain the greatest hope of humanity, it must continue abundantly in the faith of the Bible.”

So let the Tea Parties begin, but let them begin with the purpose of regaining the liberties that the Left has so easily taken from the American people. The fight is for the future, the fight must begin now, or the wars of the past, the signatures on the Declaration of Independence, the sacrifices of the Founders, the Colonists, the Military, the fathers and mothers, who for hundreds of years have given their utmost, will die in vain, as the America they founded dies on the threshold of the twenty-first century.

Yes We Can - Be A Communist Nation

by Angela Rockwood

Communist? Think that's too strong a word? Even the Russians are sitting up and taking notice of what is happening to our country. Communism? They know it when they see it. They've lived it.

We’re barely six months into the first term of a new presidency. Six months, and look what has happened to us. The government has expanded and grown, tentacles reaching into private business. Redistributing wealth with incredible taxation, enslaving the nation with unsustainable debt... or how about the GM take over? General Motors? Now it's Government Motors.

See this from our friends across the red sea at Pravda, a Russian Magazine:

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

“The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world how free he really is. The world will only snicker.”

Even the Russians know what this is, and it isn’t freedom. The President of the United States now has the self appointed power to hire and fire us from our jobs. Build them up or destroy them according to whim.

The Democrat controlled Congress is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set “fair” maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses

This is not the change America needs. Stand Up! Make a noise! Had enough? I have!

Are you ready for yours? http://www.teapartyday.com/

Link: http://beetlebabee.wordpress.com/

We Are Not Mad Conservatives, We are Disullusioned People

by Carmen Grant

Contrary to popular belief, the Tea Party Movement is not a conservative agenda movement. It is a movement against increased taxation and wasteful spending. There are many democrats that voted for Obama and support Pelosi who are equally as disgusted with the increase in spending and increase in taxation on the wealthy that is unfair. Perhaps if the government would elaborate on HOW spending more can make more money, then perhaps the feuds would end. I wish I could spend more to get out of debt. Sounds fun.

Instead the White House is leaving their own followers in the dark and the only thing left for them to think is "maybe we should have voted for Ron Paul?" That would have been historical too.

Now before I get backlash for being anti-historical, anti-Obama, anti-government and anti-family (yes CNN, I'm talking to you), let me relay a message from a loyal reader. He is a long time San Francisco resident, Pelosi supporter and Obama voter. He admitted he doesn't like what the Democrats are doing. For the first time in 30 years he decided to take a strong political stand by taking up a sign and joining the over 550,000 people that rallied on tax-day. After a long day of exercising his American rite, he came home and saw Pelosi's opinion of his efforts. She belittled the protesters, said they were being controlled by high power corporations, and were "astroturf" activists. A hard slap in the face for anyone who favored her and her fellow Democrats.

Here is what my reader professed in a letter to Pelosi:

"I found her words not only insulting and dismissive but also disheartening and discouraging. If this is not true grassroots I guess I don't know what is. For her to not understand this it means one of two things. Either she has not taken the time to take a closer look at what we are doing or she does know better and ridicules our process as it better fits her agenda. I find both of these to be disturbing."

I don't think anyone got the memo that we're not allowed to protest the Democratic agenda. Apparently we have to agree and adore the intentions of the Democrats and not criticize the results of their policies. Love the intention people, the intention.

Calling all extremists! Let's keep it up!

By Lisa Farrar Wellman

Nearly a month later people are still yapping about the tea parties. Big name liberals can’t stop calling us (by us, I mean radical extremists like myself who attended a tea party with my husband and 2-year-old) ignorant, racist, redneck, and backward. The tea parties have been ridiculed and belittled all over TV and the Internet. The mainstream media claims our little shindigs were ridiculous, promoted by the GOP, and a failure. Yet we definitely riled ‘em up, didn’t we?

Sure I’m irritated by the left-leaning (or toppling over) media’s version of how things went down on April 15, but I’m also flattered and inspired by it. We got their attention whether they want to admit it or not. We’ve upset them. I think maybe they thought we’d just roll over and let them tromp all over our Constitution without even a peep of protest. They assumed we couldn’t organize or unite behind a cause. The media has told the country for years that the conservative movement is dead. How can the dead rise up by the thousands and holler “taxed enough already"? But we did. And we were joined by Democrats with voter’s remorse and Libertarians and Independents alike. This tea party movement is not about right or left. It’s about Americans saying, “I don’t think so” to a group of politicians who aren’t told “no” often enough…or ever.

The hypocrisy of the left is so obvious; I don’t want to waste your time digging around in it. You and I both know that they spent the last eight years raging about President Bush. If we were Code Pink, they’d have been out in full force, lobbing softball questions and bringing us sandwiches and lemonade to quench our thirst and hunger.

Let’s do it again. Let’s shock their elitist socks off again! Show up for a tea party on July 4. March on Washington. Write your representatives. Send them a tea bag or 40. Join The 9-12 project.

And above all, in 2010, don’t you dare send these morons back to Washington, D.C. Let’s elect us some radical tea-partying patriots instead and change the course of this nation and get it back on track. That will really give the media something to talk about!

For a view of what Tea Party goers are really like, check out Andrew Klavan’s column on Glenn Beck’s website.