It would seem that an increasing number of Americans have finally, at long last, become alarmed with the way our federal government is deficit-spending us into financial oblivion. There have been protests breaking out all over the country, often referred to as “tea parties” in reference to that historical tax revolt in Boston during our colonial days, designed to send a message to Washington that they need to do a better job managing our money, or else.
Given my deeply-held and oft-expressed concern about our country’s debt situation, you might think that I’d be first in line to join the party, hold up a picket sign, and lob tea bags (or something heavier) at whatever big-government liberal happened to wander by. But you would be mistaken.
For one thing, I’m highly suspicious of the motives behind these protests. I have to wonder what these protesters (who are being egged on by certain right-wing media “personalities”) were doing while President Bush and a Republican congress were burning through money like there was no tomorrow. Sure, Obama and his cohorts are expanding the hole with a much bigger shovel, but it seems like too much of a coincidence that this display of outrage is so perfectly coordinated with the changing of the party in power.
But the worst part of this whole thing is how the protesters are trying to relate what we’re going through now to a uniquely brave and dangerous act of defiance by some truly disenfranchised individuals. Remember, the colonists in Boston were protesting taxation WITHOUT representation. They did not have an opportunity to vote for or against the people who were bleeding them dry from across a wide ocean.
We are in a very different situation. President Obama and every single member of congress were elected by the very people on whom they are perpetrating, and have long been perpetrating, the financial chicanery that has an increasing portion of the population in an uproar. Do you really want to know who is really to blame for the mess we are in? Go take a look in the mirror.
Instead of carrying signs and waving around dehydrated plant matter, Americans who believe the country is moving in the wrong direction need to think about making some real changes in leadership. Everyone seems to think that managers of failed corporations like AIG should be replaced, but how about the members of congress who were asleep at the wheel (or even actively participating in the problem) while these businesses skirted or ignored laws and business standards designed to discourage the nonsense they were engaged in? Do they deserve to keep their jobs?
I would say no, and a year from now some of them will be coming before you with their hats in their hands imploring you to let them continue to “finish the important work they have started.” Maybe you would say that we should throw the bums out, but do you really mean it?
Would you vote for someone who said they would oppose ALL pork barrel spending, even if it meant your district got short shrift when bacon was being served? Would you vote for someone who pledged to yank Social Security and Medicare back into the real world, even if it meant tax increases and benefit reductions? Would you vote for someone who told you that the government really can’t manufacture jobs, wealth, security, or any of the other good things in life that we all want, but that everyone has to work hard to procure those things for themselves and their families?
I certainly would vote for such a candidate. In fact I have in the past, but usually I’m joined by less than 2% of the voting public. Until that changes you can hold all the rallies you want if it makes you feel better, but don’t expect anything to change.
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