Within the last two or so weeks, if you’ve been watching the news, there’s been a lot of buzz over taxes and such related things. People have been rallying across the country in protest of taxes and the tax hike. There’s also been talk of (gasp) SECESSION! But seriously, what the hell is going on here?
First off, let’s consider the Tea Party movement. This first came into the national consciousness when Rick Santelli of CNBC had a little blowout on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange back in March. He was fed up with the rich having to pay for everyone else’s mortgages and taxes and other such things. He suggested throwing tea parties in protest. Now, if my memory of social studies serves me right, the colonists protested in Boston in the 1700s because they weren’t being represented in Parliament. They did so by dressing up as Native Americans, boarding ships that had tea from the East India Company and tossing the crates of tea into Boston Harbor. Now, if my memory of the modern political system serves me right, the only place in the United States that isn’t represented in Congress is the District of Columbia. So … that would mean that the citizens of Washington, D.C., who protested are in the proper mindset. But what about the other … would nutcases be too strong of a word?
From what I saw on the news and read online, most of the people at the “Tea Party” rallies were, more or less, the same people from the crazy McCain-Palin rallies back in September and October. You know full well the people I’m talking about. People with signs like “Obama is a socialist,” and plush monkeys with an Obama bumper sticker on them … those people. Except, this time, they had a “reason” to protest: tax hikes! But wait, aren’t these taxes from the final stimulus of the Bush presidency? If so, why weren’t they protesting then? Oh, right, because the new guy has only been in office for around 86 days. Perfect reasoning! And all this talk of fascism? That’s just another buzz word, like socialism! In fact, fascism is a far right ideology. So if these protesters sided with Fox News (who heavily promoted and covered the events), shouldn’t they be in support of this so-called “fascism,” considering Fox’s ideological beliefs?
Also, at one such “Tea Party” rally in Texas, the governor, Rick Perry, was essentially calling for the potential secession of Texas. Wait, am I hearing him correctly? Secession?! Now, hold on one gosh darn minute! Men fought and died to make Texas a part of the United States and now you want to go your own way? With Chuck Norris as a leader? Are you seri — oh, yeah. No seriousness there. It’s all a joke, isn’t it? Or is it just supposed to look that way to the regular people in the nation?
But in all seriousness, pay no attention to all the talk of tea, fascism and secession. Ignore that. Pay attention to the progress the Obama administration has made in almost 100 days. Ignore the damn tea baggers.