Let's Get Political!

Every now and again I get a little too upset about something and just need to rant about it. It seems this has been happening more and more lately, generally when it comes to those Republicans with their head so far up their asses (now I'm not saying all Republicans are like this, but many of the loudest are) that they can't see the country can't continue without more income and that ought to come from those who have the most to spare...THE WEALTHY! Jefferson supported a graduated system of taxation. There are some people who have more money to give and they should WANT to work for the common good. THAT, my friends, the COMMON GOOD, is actually a foundation of America. Independence and individualism in a sense, but all of these individuals understood that the common good needed to be supported. This is a cornerstone of Puritanism! Actually, I feel like that's probably a cornerstone of Christianity, another idea that these right-wing conservatives like to throw around without actually supporting it. Politicians make a living out of grabbing an idea and using it on occasion, when it supports them (say, in a fight against terrorism) but not when it could potentially take away from them (like helping those who need it).

Now, that, honestly, is not the actual topic that prompted to me to write this entry today. I was reading the book American Insurgents, American Patriots by T. H. Breen today for one my courses and something struck me. The Tea Party (as in the political group that has BASTARDIZED the name of a political event in our history) claims that they can use the name they have chosen, because they want to get back to libertarian principles present at the founding of the country. They claim that the colonists fought the British because they were overbearing and they didn't want to pay taxes. The patriots wanted government out of their lives. Well, to a certain extent this is true; they did want BRITISH government out of their lives for a myriad of reasons these fools could never comprehend, hell I can never comprehend it all and I study this stuff! They, however, wanted their own colonial governments back. The colonists wanted a kind of independence and individualism, but they also knew that this came with a great responsibility to their community, to helping those in need, to supporting the less fortunate and to work for the COMMON GOOD!

There were institutions, during the mid-1770s, that came together and acted as governments for the rebellious colonized. These groups organized nonimportation movements, collected donations for those suffering after the closing of the port of Boston, and put in place PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMS! That's right, colonial organizations collected money and put out of work men to work fixing roads in Boston, so they would have money! What else does this sound like? Hmm...perhaps a bit reminiscent of FDR? Perhaps like some of the programs that conservatives continually denounce on principles that they say come from the Founding Generation? Did you know that when local townsmen didn't want to donate (for whatever reason) or spoke against these programs they were harassed for not supporting their fellow colonists in need of help?

Maybe members of the this terrible movement I can't stand calling the "Tea Party" should crack open a history book before they latch onto a fraction of an ideology and run with it. They look like the fools. They are, in actuality, ruining the memory of the events they claim to respect so much. I would prefer that they all suffered some kind of amnesia and could no longer remember the event than to manipulate its meaning in the dreadful ways they have.