TEA Party 2009

When government fears people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. ~Thomas Jefferson

Today marks a historical day in America - all over the nation, there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Parties. Inspired by the December 16, 1773 Boston Tea Party, America's first grassroots movement, American citizens will gather peacefully at their local city halls to protest the runaway spending, larger government, and the projected tax increases that has been imposed on our generation and our future children by Barack Hussein Obama and his "Change" administration. I'm not here to argue about whether his spending policies were appropriate or on whether Classical or Keynesian economic philosophies are effective - I'm talking about the prospect of our hard-earned money going to the ballooning size of our magnificent government.

In response to this movement, I've affixed a tea bag on my car's rear view mirror in support of this effort. I can't go to my local rally, but I won't be silent - I hope that the government will hear the loud voices of many disgruntled citizens to stop spending money and pulling us deeper in debt. If they don't, then democracy is on our side at the ballots.

I found it amusing that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report to watch out for "right-wing extremism." If DHS categorizes this movement as a form of extremism, that means the government is trying to discredit and minimize this event. Yes, terrorism risk is always present in the post 9-11 America, but that's not the reason why they issued such a report. As some critics assure, this is a veiled attempt by the government to label conservatism as a form of extremism (which DHS has denied earlier this year).

Here's my simple analysis: the government fears the voice of the People. They know that American people are able to bring change if they deem the government unsuitable, as is revealed in the Constitution. If no such fear exists in the government, liberty would have been stamped out; we, the People, have achieved Liberty today.

UPDATE (04/17/09): There will be another TEA party on July 4th, appropriately named "American Freedom Day TEA Party" - check out www.taxdayteaparty.com for more information!