I Don’t Get the Tea Parties!
I honestly do not understand this Tea Party business going on around the country lately.
There seem to be a lot of Republicans get very excited about joining in on these Tea Parties, but I can’t figure out what exactly they are protesting.
The original Tea Party, the Boston Tea Party, was all about Taxation Without Representation. England was imposing a tea tax on the colonists in order to increase their revenues from the East India Company. The colonists resented this taxation because they believed they had the right to only be taxed by their own elected officials, hence the Boston Tea Party, where in protest they dumped three ships-worth of tea into the Boston Harbor.
So fast-forward to today. These groups have latched onto this name Tea Party, I guess recalling this great protest in our American history, but I fail to see the connection.
Are they protesting the fact that they are being taxed without representation?
No, because they aren’t. We have a democracy, and we had an election, and our elected officials are in charge of our taxes.
So are they protesting because our taxes are too much?
No, they shouldn’t be at least, because our taxes just went down! Starting April 15, 2009, President Obama’s tax cut for 95% of Americans just started taking effect. Almost everyone that’s protesting just got their taxes decreased by President Obama. Check your pay check, I bet yours went up too! 95% of Americans just got a tax cut, it’s the biggest tax cut in American history! Why would they be protesting about taxes being so high now when their taxes are less than they were during Bush’s presidency? Why weren’t they holding Tea Parties when Bush was president?
So are they protesting because taxes are being raised for those who make more than $200,000 a year?
I don’t know why there would be this much outrage over this. The taxes of the really wealthy are being raised so that practically every other American can get some tax relief! And how much is it getting raised? 3%. Yeah, that’s right, just 3%! The rich, instead of being taxed 36%, are going to be taxed 39%. 3% more. And not even yet; this won’t even take effect for another couple years. And it wasn’t really even something Obama did, this was when the tax break for the wealthy Bush passed was set to expire. It was going to revert back to 39% either way, unless the new president renewed it. I’ve heard a lot of people claim that this is socialist! Taxing the rich more! Well, all it does is bring the tax rate back to what it was when Clinton was president. We weren’t a socialist country then, why are people all the sudden saying this is going to make us socialist? It’s just back to the way we were in the 90’s! Remember the booming economy back in the 90’s, by the way? Also, during Reagan’s presidency, the champion of conservatives, the tax rate for the wealthy was even higher than this! Is Reagan a socialist? (No, by the way, neither of them are).
So are they protesting because President Obama’s budget proposal is a record 3.6 trillion dollars over the next 10 years?
Again, why now? Why weren’t the Republicans holding Tea Parties when Bush proposed his 3.1 trillion dollar budget? Is 3.1 trillion acceptable and 3.6 going to burn American down? And besides, Bush did not include Iraq spending on his budget. He’s allowed to keep that number separate and secret for national security reasons. So although we were spending that money, it wasn’t included in his budget. Obama’s budget decided to disclose and include Iraq spending. So Obama’s 3.6 trillion dollar budget includes Iraq spending, and Bush’s 3.1 trillion dollar budget does not include Iraq spending; so the difference between them isn’t much, if anything. Why protest now?
Are they protesting because Obama’s spending is pushing our National debt higher and higher?
They can’t be, because if so, where were the protests before? During Bush’s presidency we went from a budget surplus to double the national debt in 8 years. There weren’t any tea party protests then. We spent a trillion dollars in the war in Iraq, and these Tea Partiers didn’t protest.
So are they protesting Obama’s stimulus bill or the bailouts of the banks?
If so, almost every conservative and liberal economist alike disagrees with them. Almost every economist agrees that capital needs to be injected into the economy in order to avoid exponential collapse, and also that the major banks have become too big to fail. If we let the banks go down, our economy goes down with it for many years to come. And besides, our former President was bailing the banks out as well, where were the protests then from Republicans?
Are they protesting because they believe Obama is walking all over the constitution?
This one makes the least sense to me. These people were overwhelmingly in support of our last president who authorized warrantless wiretaps and the suspension of habeas corpus, both in direct contradiction to our Constitution. What has Obama done to violate the constitution?
I really believe at this point that the only reason for these Tea Party protests is a simple one: they do not like Barack Obama, and they will protest anything he does. Regardless of what policies he supports or actions he takes, they will continue to protest, because they have made up their minds that they do not like him. I don’t know what happened to all the people that told liberals during Bush’s presidency that it’s wrong to criticize your president during war times and that it was unpatriotic to be so against the president. That’s what these conservatives are doing now.
There’s a survey I would like to see done, and I think the results would be very telling. Everyone would be asked their political affiliation. One half would be asked what they thought of President Obama’s support for the NEC resolution, if they agree with his support for it, disagree, or are neutral. The other half would be asked what they thought of President Bush’s (or McCain’s) support for the NEC resolution. No one would be told that there is in fact no such thing as the NEC resolution. I believe that you would find that many conservatives asked the first question would heartily disapprove of Obama’s support of this fake resolution, and conservatives asked the second question would heartily approve of Bush’s (or McCain’s) support of it.
They just don’t like Obama, that’s what it all comes down to.
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dude, can I post this as a guest post on my blog? I don’t get it either and you made such a solid case!
I completely agree with your conclusion, Zach, and to be honest, the hypocrisy of the Republican movement is sickening. However, I just wanted to point out that the new tax policy may not help as many people as you think. There were a ton of blogs and academic papers by people like Greg Mankiw (http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/) and Tyler Cower / Alex Tabarrok (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/) talking about who the tax policy really helps/hurts. I’m not sure exactly where I stand on the tax issue (I’m not a tax economist in any sense of the word), but I thought I should give you a heads up in case some of our rather politically conservative friends start commenting.
Hey Luke, thanks for the comment. I’m interested to read what those two people have to say about the new tax policy. I went to those websites, but I didn’t come across the articles you were talking about. Did I need to go further back or did I just miss it? If you know specifically where I can find those, I’d love it if you posted those links!!
Similar thoughts crossed my mind yesterday when I received my pay stub and saw that $30 less in taxes had been taken out of my paycheck. Why would I protest having to pay less taxes?
I was also somewhat perplexed when I read a conservative blog this morning describing one of the tea parties as a “diverse” and “non-partisan” event, particularly when more than half of the photos accompanying the article were of people holding signs that seemed to be mean-spirited hold-overs from a McCain/Palin rally.
Here’s a clue for you regarding that “tax cut” you’re seeing in your paycheck: w-i-t-h-h-o-l-d-i-n-g.
Maybe you can ask one of those conservative tea-baggers who couldn’t conceivably have an intelligent reason to attend a tea-bagging party. They would know.
My bad, I had $30 less withheld from my paycheck.
What’s your point?
Well, I just made a point without even trying… this is too easy.
I know I’ve totally lost you but try to keep up.
The point you’re actually asking about is this:
Less money is being withheld from your check. Your tax liability has.not.changed. Let me know how that goes for you on April 15 2010.
You haven’t lost me at all.
I have $30 less being withheld in my check but still have the same tax liability. I get it.
Why should I be outraged?
Don’t recall ever saying the word outrage. You’re projecting.
No, just aware. Anyone who makes the statement “Almost everyone that’s protesting just got their taxes decreased by President Obama. Check your pay check, I bet yours went up too!” or anyone who agrees with that, is obviously not aware. The same goes for every “point” argued above.
The outrage will come next April when people don’t see their usual refund, if any, or even have to pay some of that money back because they thought they were getting a tax cut.
I guess time will tell won’t it.
I went to my local tea party because I am sick and tired of the outrageous spending in Washington by Democrats and Republicans!
TexanbyBirth
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’ s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
~Abraham Lincoln
I know this is an older post, but I feel I must make a response. I have to challenge the claim that the tea parties are just a bunch of Republicans. I am an registered Independent and I have had it with the spending in Washington. I don’t care who is doing the spending, Republicans, Democrats, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care that it is Mr. Obama – I care that ridiculous spending has gone on for far too long.
I also have to say that I have some serious issues with the way Mr. Bush handled certain things in his presidency. The PATRIOT ACT doesn’t have a Sunset – and that’s a serious issue.
So, no, Mr. Swee – I did not attend a Tea Party because I dislike Mr. Obama – I attended because I’ve had enough.
As a side note, I completely disagree with raising taxes for the wealthy – just because they are rich doesn’t mean they deserve higher taxes. I say if the Church can do it with 10% of people’s income then our government should be able to as well. I don’t care whether you’re poor, rich, make minimum wage or millions of dollars each year – you’re taxes should not exceed 10%.
Hey Bobby, thanks for commenting! I think you’re right about it being unfair of me to label the people having the tea parties as Republican, because you’re right, a lot of them are Independents. What I should have said was Conservatives. Although, I’d be willing to bet that you, and most of the other Independents at the tea parties, voted for Republicans anyways, which makes the point a bit mute. I consider myself very much an Independent as well, and I’ve voted for third party candidates for President when I’ve felt like the major parties don’t represent me. That would be my advice as well to any Independent that’s disaffected by the two major parties.
The point of this post was to wonder why people weren’t having protest Tea Parties before now?
As far as how much taxes should be, I guess that’s just a difference of opinion and reasonable people can differ on that. I don’t mind the government taxing us more than 10%, and I don’t mind giving more than 10% to God.
Texanbybirth, I don’t think that quote is from Lincoln. I believe it was said by William J. H. Boetcker in 1942.