Tea Parties and Taxes

Having attended two "Tea Parties" in Colorado, one at the Capitol and one in Loveland, I obtained an interesting perspective on the meaning behind the events. With news media headlines the following day containing words like "Anti-Government Protests," and "Most Americans OK With Big Government," and the Department of Homeland Security releasing warnings about "Right Wing Extremests" being terrorists, I was happy to have attended the events personally so I could get the true story behind the events and the people in attendance.

I didn't just attend the rallies and hold a sign. I walked around and talked to people to find out why they were there. Sure there were people representing fringe groups at the event promoting conspiracy theories or their pet issue; however, from my perspective, the vast majority were there to protest BIG government and out of control spending. Fundamentally, they attended because they felt their individual pursuit of happiness (and that of their posterity) was being infringed on by government.

The atmosphere felt more like a "4th of July" celebration as opposed to a protest. People were celebrating the founding principles of the country as much as they were protesting the erosion of their individual liberties over decades of government growth and expanding statist idealogies within our political system. Each individual may have had their own reason for being there, but everyone I spoke with had tossed aside their party affiliation and were unified by the principles that our forefathers had framed in our country's founding documents.

Unfortunately, much of the mainstream media are not reporting what I found out. In fact, they glossed over most of the true story. They led with stories such as "Most Americans OK with Big Government for now." Not only do they lead with this story but they back it up with statistics that are clearly flawed. It is amazing that a poll can be reported that says "52% of Americans feel they are ok with the amount of taxes they are paying." The poll didn't throw out the ones that weren't paying any taxes! Also, with a progressive income tax system where a minority of people pay the majority of taxes, wouldn't you expect that the majority would say they felt they were being taxed appropriately?

What most people don't realize is there are many hidden taxes they don't know they are paying. Corporations hand off their taxes by raising the price of goods and services. Employers reduce salaries (or hire less people) to pay the hidden portion of the payroll tax. Trickle down taxation is dangerous because hard-working Americans don't even realize they are being raped! To top it off, people are being told that spending (which obviously results in HIGHER taxes) is the solution to our current economic problems. This recovery plan is so idiotic (and ironic) because excessive, uncontrolled spending is what got us in this economic mess to begin with.

Isn't democracy great! Americans are being lied to and big government is being justified by using the tryanny of unchecked democracy. Politicians and the media are twisting the truth to make it appear that "the majority" of people support something (e.g. big government spending solutions and the current levels of taxation) to justify their position. If the United States had relied on this as a basis for determining our principles and policies throughout history, minorities would never have any rights whatsoever. In forming government policy, politicians must always rely on the founding principles of our constitution and that of an individual's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Surely politicians must NOT rely on the tyranny of the majority or the "progressive" whims of the "collective."