Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
- George Santayana
- George Santayana
Yesterday, thousands of people gathered to protest tax increases. These people bought millions of teabags and sent them to congressmen throughout the nation in protest of tax hikes, attempting to revive the idea of the Boston Tea Party. Being that this is America, you can do whatever the hell you want when it comes to protest, so these guys were legally protected. I came across a few problems, though, while watching videos of this event unfolding and playing spot-the-guy-who-isn't-white...
First, a minor problem: One of the major points they were protesting was the excess in spending. To protest this, they bought up all the tea they possibly could and wasted it. That's not fucking helping.
And now the major problem: As you can see, George Santayana had a pretty basic and very true idea set up with that quote up at the top. Apparently, this group of old, rich conservatives have never heard that quote. They also seem to have never really learned what the Boston Tea Party was.
Here's a history lesson.
Once upon a time, American colonists were being taxed without representation in the British government. It was getting pretty tense between the colonies and the motherland when England passed the Tea Act of 1773, which raised taxes on imported British tea to extreme levels, effectively pissing everyone in the colonies off. You see, the colonists were still Englishmen, and as such would go bat-shit crazy without getting their daily fix of tea. So eventually, the colonists decided to resist this act, preventing three ships from the East India Tea Company to dock and force their overpriced tea on America. After the ships refused to leave, colonists sneaked on board and dumped all the tea into the Boston Harbor in protest.
So let's compare these two Tea Parties by asking some simple questions and see if these conservatives did a good job emulating the original one.
What are you mad about?
1773: We're being unfairly taxed without any form of representation in the government that's taxing us. Not only that, but they're hiking taxes on specific items that they know we need and want.
2009: We're being taxed a little more than usual. Also, we're mad that the government is throwing money at a problem that isn't being fixed.
How are you going about solving this problem?
1773: We refuse the tea, and eventually throw it into the harbor, which becomes a catalyst for the Revolutionary War.
2009: We buy huge amounts of tea, send it around, and complain in large groups.
So, 2009 conservatives, are you being represented in the government that's taxing you?
2009: Yes, but our reform ideas are not getting passed. That's the first sign of a dictatorship.
But... You are in the minority, and putting up with being a minority is sort of part of Democracy and the opposite of totalitarianism, right?
2009: Well that still doesn't solve our problem.
That right there is the response I get from most conservatives when talking about this issue. But what is their problem, anyway? Are you going to completely sympathize with them when you hear their sad, sad story? No. Chances are you're probably not. Right off the bat, I'll tell you that the people complaining are the people making more than a quarter million dollars per year. Sympathizing yet? Me either. What if I told you that these people complaining do not even know what Obama's tax plan will do to them? In actuality, these quarter millionaires will have to pay around ten bucks less a year.
What about the poor people who make 600 thousand to 2.5 million per year? How will they ever survive with a nine percent tax increase? Maybe they'll just have to make do with the massive amount of money they have left. They can complain all they want, but I don't think anyone is about to call Robin Hood to help them.
The deal is that if taxes do not increase, the deficit goes up. We need to increase taxes to help the economy right now, and the best place to increase taxes is in the rich part of our nation since they already have so much money anyway. It's been my experience that the only people I've come across who disagree with this approach are the rich, and that's just extremely selfish.
My family consists of two people: My mom and I. We have two dogs, we're losing our house, and we make barely enough money to get by. For eight years I had to sit under the Bush administration and watch the rich thrive while my life, and millions of other hardworking lower-middle class people's lives, fell apart. These rich protesters need to get off their high horses, step back, and consider what might be good for the majority of the country. They claim to be the most patriotic fuckers out there, drinking American beer and vomiting red, white, and blue, but the second that someone suggests we take some of their endless amounts of money for the greater good, they decide they must rebel against the government.
This whole economic debacle is bigger than your income. It's bigger than tea parties. It's bigger than America. So please, if you were one of those supporting this tea party take a moment to consider the other side of the argument.
First, a minor problem: One of the major points they were protesting was the excess in spending. To protest this, they bought up all the tea they possibly could and wasted it. That's not fucking helping.
And now the major problem: As you can see, George Santayana had a pretty basic and very true idea set up with that quote up at the top. Apparently, this group of old, rich conservatives have never heard that quote. They also seem to have never really learned what the Boston Tea Party was.
Here's a history lesson.
Once upon a time, American colonists were being taxed without representation in the British government. It was getting pretty tense between the colonies and the motherland when England passed the Tea Act of 1773, which raised taxes on imported British tea to extreme levels, effectively pissing everyone in the colonies off. You see, the colonists were still Englishmen, and as such would go bat-shit crazy without getting their daily fix of tea. So eventually, the colonists decided to resist this act, preventing three ships from the East India Tea Company to dock and force their overpriced tea on America. After the ships refused to leave, colonists sneaked on board and dumped all the tea into the Boston Harbor in protest.
So let's compare these two Tea Parties by asking some simple questions and see if these conservatives did a good job emulating the original one.
What are you mad about?
1773: We're being unfairly taxed without any form of representation in the government that's taxing us. Not only that, but they're hiking taxes on specific items that they know we need and want.
2009: We're being taxed a little more than usual. Also, we're mad that the government is throwing money at a problem that isn't being fixed.
How are you going about solving this problem?
1773: We refuse the tea, and eventually throw it into the harbor, which becomes a catalyst for the Revolutionary War.
2009: We buy huge amounts of tea, send it around, and complain in large groups.
So, 2009 conservatives, are you being represented in the government that's taxing you?
2009: Yes, but our reform ideas are not getting passed. That's the first sign of a dictatorship.
But... You are in the minority, and putting up with being a minority is sort of part of Democracy and the opposite of totalitarianism, right?
2009: Well that still doesn't solve our problem.
That right there is the response I get from most conservatives when talking about this issue. But what is their problem, anyway? Are you going to completely sympathize with them when you hear their sad, sad story? No. Chances are you're probably not. Right off the bat, I'll tell you that the people complaining are the people making more than a quarter million dollars per year. Sympathizing yet? Me either. What if I told you that these people complaining do not even know what Obama's tax plan will do to them? In actuality, these quarter millionaires will have to pay around ten bucks less a year.
What about the poor people who make 600 thousand to 2.5 million per year? How will they ever survive with a nine percent tax increase? Maybe they'll just have to make do with the massive amount of money they have left. They can complain all they want, but I don't think anyone is about to call Robin Hood to help them.
The deal is that if taxes do not increase, the deficit goes up. We need to increase taxes to help the economy right now, and the best place to increase taxes is in the rich part of our nation since they already have so much money anyway. It's been my experience that the only people I've come across who disagree with this approach are the rich, and that's just extremely selfish.
My family consists of two people: My mom and I. We have two dogs, we're losing our house, and we make barely enough money to get by. For eight years I had to sit under the Bush administration and watch the rich thrive while my life, and millions of other hardworking lower-middle class people's lives, fell apart. These rich protesters need to get off their high horses, step back, and consider what might be good for the majority of the country. They claim to be the most patriotic fuckers out there, drinking American beer and vomiting red, white, and blue, but the second that someone suggests we take some of their endless amounts of money for the greater good, they decide they must rebel against the government.
This whole economic debacle is bigger than your income. It's bigger than tea parties. It's bigger than America. So please, if you were one of those supporting this tea party take a moment to consider the other side of the argument.
I don't think the issue is the taxation, it's the fact that we're throwing money at problems that can't necessary be solved by brute force checkbooks and making an already bloated government bigger and bigger in the process. It's probably misguided to rant against tax increases, but to protest adding another couple trillion to the national deficit? Sign me up.
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