Tax Day Tea Parties

[ray245]

NBC

Tax day this year also means it’s Tea Party Day for hundreds of cities across the country, including 16 here in Alabama, including Hueytown and Trussville.
Tea stands for “taxed enough already.“
It harkens back to the Boston Tea Party during the American Revolutionary War.

The main message in Hueytown: spend less, tax less:

“We’re tired of being taxed. We’re taxed enough. If it were managed right in Washington, there’s no need for any more taxes,“ says Gwin Coffee of Hueytown.

Participants also prayed for protection of Constitutional rights they worry are becoming threatened:

Things like the freedoms of religion, speech and the right to bear arms.

Another hot topic of discussion: the overall direction of the country.

“This country is already moved partially into socialism. We might as well tell it like it is. That’s where it’s at right now,“ says Senator Charles Bishop.

Folks in Trussville voiced similar concerns.

“I think we’re spending way too much money right now. Money we don’t have. We’re going pay for it. My son’s going to pay for it, and so will my future grandchildren,“ says Alli Dearman.

Although President Obama’s bailout and stimulus plan were topics of discussion, participants say this was not an Obama- bashing event.

“We’ve been getting away from the founding principles of the Constitution for 150 years. It’s been incremental,“ says Albert Snow.

A career firefighter by profession - Snow’s job today was teaching people what the U. S. Constitution really advocates.

Snow says tea party organizers want to educate people about what beliefs this country was built on.

“We reaching a tipping point where people are saying, ‘Hey, what happened to our country. I don’t recognize it anymore,‘“ says Snow.

Ah yes, how conveniently of you guys to forget the fact that under the Republican administration, we see a huge increase in the US budget deficit, wasting all those money on the Iraq war for instance.

Even then, what the hell is wrong with socialism? More than half of US allies can be called socialist, and even then, socialism is different from communism.

Ask the government to stop spending money? Great, it will be nice to see what happens to you guys when you actually experienced depression 2.0 .

Sigh, I wish people can stop thinking that political and financial issues is as simple as ABC.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Why are we still talking about all of this ball-sucking for lower taxes, exactly? Also the behaviour and ideology of the people doing this is well-established, and yet the purpose of this thread seems solely to complain about the existence of such attitudes, i.e., random bitching. Ray, this was.. unnecessary. Though that's not really a surprise...

[Darth Wong]

It's just sad, that's all. Even after the folly of the tax-cut economic plan (literally, the entire Republican economic plan can be summarized by "tax cut") has been laid bare for all to see, people in America still think their taxes are too high. In reality, their taxes are too low. They're writing cheques and refusing to pay the bills.

[Stark]

This is -almost-, -almost- as funny as listening to V8 musclecar driving Americans talk about their 'impossibly high' fuel prices.

[neoolong]

So, Snow is a firefighter? Isn't the fire department funded by taxes?

[Nephtys]

So, Snow is a firefighter? Isn't the fire department funded by taxes?

He clearly wants to be a Ultra-Capitalist Private Sector Firefighter, where if you don't write a cheque, your house burns down without intervention.

[Stark]

He clearly wants to be a Ultra-Capitalist Private Sector Firefighter, where if you don't write a cheque, your house burns down without intervention.

Then when the fire spreads to another house they put it out and charge that guy his premium. CAPITALISM! Way better than taxes.

[ray245]

Why are we still talking about all of this ball-sucking for lower taxes, exactly? Also the behaviour and ideology of the people doing this is well-established, and yet the purpose of this thread seems solely to complain about the existence of such attitudes, i.e., random bitching. Ray, this was.. unnecessary. Though that's not really a surprise...

Ah, sorry about that. Keep that in mind next time.

[Pulp Hero]

I want to try arguing to these "CAPITALISM!" people that taxation is kind of like mandatory capitalism- payment for municipal services. And that they really should be happy that everyone in America is allowed to participate in this major national joint venture.

[erik_t]

Of note: there are tax protests in the US every year.

[HamsterViking]

Aren't most of these people being taxed less than they were before? Aren't they the same ones demanding this and that from the government? Aren't they the same ones who supported Bush's tax bullshit? Now all of a sudden, the taxes might, maybe, go to helping people other than themselves and their favorite politicians (socialism!) so they throw a tantrum? This is sick.

[Covenant]

Aren't most of these people being taxed less than they were before? Aren't they the same ones demanding this and that from the government? Aren't they the same ones who supported Bush's tax bullshit? Now all of a sudden, the taxes might, maybe, go to helping people other than themselves and their favorite politicians (socialism!) so they throw a tantrum? This is sick.

There was actually a "gotcha!" moment at one of the Tea Parties where a guy got a microphone and eventually asked "How many of you make less than 250,000 a year? Just yell out!" And the crowd went wild, of course, and then he went "You're all going to be paying less taxes than before!" And then they boo'd.

Basically, it has almost nothing to do with real taxation.

[ray245]

Of note: there are tax protests in the US every year.

Except they are not protesting taxatation in general, but opposing Obama's policies such as the stimulus plan.

[Kanastrous]

Except they are not protesting taxatation in general, but opposing Obama's policies such as the stimulus plan.

Which is why the whole thing is so fucking stupidly inverted. Somehow we've gotten collectively dumb and lazy enough that a partisan bitchfest about budget policy can be successfully sold at an emotional and patriotic level as spiritual successor to the Boston Tea Party.

The BTP was about a violation of the colonists' legal right to be taxed only by their own elected officials. It was provoked by a new British law - the Tea Act, and was followed by further new British laws - the Coercive Acts. The colonists' response led directly to the assembly of the Continental Congress and the Revolutionary War.

By comparison this grab assery - which metaphorically has more in common with the sex act than the historic event - is complaining about the actions of their own elected officials who are in the main lowering their taxes without having to pass anything remotely similar to the Coercive Acts or destroy any valuable tea in the process.

[B5B7]

Participants also prayed for protection of Constitutional rights they worry are becoming threatened:
Things like the freedoms of religion, speech and the right to bear arms.

: "I have a message from god for you sinners. It's too late for you to start praying for this; if you didn't do this prior to November 2008, then god doesn't give a shit."

Oh yes - let's get rid of the evils of socialism - can start with the agricultural subsidies that they have been getting.

[Crossroads Inc.]

The rampant fear that Liberals are out to "Destroy our rights" seems to be the big stick the conservatives are driving hom. I found the following on a blog posting that was organizing a "teabag" party.

The more powerful Liberalism becomes, the less it will be tolerant.

The main goal of Liberalism is the destruction of Individual Rights. Individual Rights are the 'First Line of Defense' against a Totalitarian Government.

Barack Obama's Clarion Call, 'Sacrifice for the Common Good', is proof positive that Liberalism demands 'Collective Rights' rather than 'Individual Rights'.

Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all." -- Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, addressing the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, 2-25-56

"The unity of a nation's spirit and will are worth far more than the freedom of the spirit and will of an individual; and that the higher interests involved in the life of the whole must here set the limits and lay down the duties of the interests of the individual." -- Adolph Hitler

"We need to stop worrying about the rights of the individual and start worrying about what is best for society." -- Hillary Clinton

"...we understand only the individual's capacity to make sacrifices for the community, for his fellow men." -- Adolf Hitler, 10-7-33

"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, June 28, 2004.

"To be a socialist is to submit the I to the thou; socialism is sacrificing the individual to the whole." -- Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, National Socialist German Workers' ("Nazi") Party

"...true patriotism also means a willingness to sacrifice for our common good..."
Barack Obama July 6, 2008

Barack Obama believes the 'Destruction of Individual Rights', will pave the way for a Liberal 'Totalitarian Government'.

For one I can't believe just how hypocritical the right have become screeching about Obama and him "taking away our rights" More then that, some of the "quotes" they are using... I mean REALLY, did Hillary REALLY say """
"We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." --""" ???

[Nephtys]

"...true patriotism also means a willingness to sacrifice for our common good..."
Barack Obama July 6, 2008

Because you know, this totally isn't what every president has said about the armed forces or anything. Five years ago, saying anything against this labeled you as 'anti-american' by the right. Now I guess it's totally okay, since a black demmycrat is now president.

[Gil Hamilton]

Because you know, this totally isn't what every president has said about the armed forces or anything. Five years ago, saying anything against this labeled you as 'anti-american' by the right. Now I guess it's totally okay, since a black demmycrat is now president.

It's Dhimmicrat, get it right. Because as the Muslim Manchurian Candidate, you know what Obama REALLY wants. Islamofascist communist black-panther liberal hippyism. At least by doing a linear combination of the signs at these tea parties, he does.

[Uraniun235]

So, Snow is a firefighter? Isn't the fire department funded by taxes?

He clearly wants to be a Ultra-Capitalist Private Sector Firefighter, where if you don't write a cheque, your house burns down without intervention.

That, or he thinks almost all firefighters should be volunteer firefighters. There are of course many volunteer firefighters throughout the country, but you still need a lot of dedicated firefighters as well.

[That NOS Guy]

Comrades! We must abolish the cult of the individual decisively, once and for all." -- Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, addressing the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, 2-25-56

haha oh wow. The text of a speech discrediting the cult of Stalin and the hallmark of a period of cultural thaw (and gasp, rights!) used as fodder for how liberals want to take away rights.

[Tanasinn]

Quote mining wouldn't be quote mining if one didn't take messages grossly out of context, after all.

[neoolong]

That, or he thinks almost all firefighters should be volunteer firefighters. There are of course many volunteer firefighters throughout the country, but you still need a lot of dedicated firefighters as well.

He's a "career firefighter by profession," which is kinda redundant actually. But, if it's his career, presumably he's getting paid for it.

[The Yosemite Bear]

ahhh, where's the bread and circuses?

surely they remember the whole mess they are recreating?