Would You Like a Cup of Tea?

No tea for them!

Tea...it's wonderful for breakfast, noon, night and every hour in between, according to my husband's grandmother.  With her New Brunswick accent and her sharp Irish wit, having tea with her is never boring.  My husband's grandmother believes that no tea cup can go dry and will pour you a refill, even if you protest.  As my husband says, "Yes," means an obscene amount of tea, "No," means a small amount and her death is the only thing that will stop her from making more tea.  So I drink up and heartily listen to tales from her childhood on a small farm in Canada.

Unfortunately, this post isn't about one of her tales, although she would probably interrupt me now and offer me more tea and cookies.  The tea I would be reluctant to sip, however, is from the non-for-profit group Tea Party Patriots.  This group is all over television, internet and radio.  They stage protests across the country and draw thousands of protesters.

More tea?

The Tea Party Patriots named themselves after the Boston Tea Party, where Bostonians dumped 90,000 pounds of tea in protest of the Tea Act of 1773.  Political groups, often use positive historic events or persons as propaganda for their agenda.  Whether it is Gay Rights Movement evoking the image of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's or the Nazi's using the myth of an Arian race during World War II, history is often used to promote political agendas.  While using history as propaganda isn't always bad, people need to be aware of the events or persons being used and the actual beliefs of those promoting the agenda.

The Tea Party Patriots state they are for fiscal responsibility, limited government and free markets, but is seems their main obsession is taxes.  According to their mission statement page, the Constitution was enacted to protect our fiscal and economic rights and government regulations hamper a person's ability to make money.  For the tea partiers it's all about the money and apparently they believe this was the same thing that motivated the Bostonians to dump over one million dollars worth of tea into the harbor.

While monetary considerations were present for many American merchants, since the East India Company could ship its tea directly to the colonies, thus underselling the American merchants.  It wasn't, however, just about money or taxes.  Many American colonists, especially in New England, were of English stock.  They had read the history of the English Civil War, which was waged against a king who levied new taxes, but refused to call Parliament.  Money and taxes wasn't their main concern, instead it was their ancient rights as Englishmen that was being violated.  Taxes, they believed, could only be levied by a Parliament that they had elected.

The Tea Party Patriots are free to use propaganda in their message, every political group does.  Perhaps, though, they should reread their history books and find a more appropriate event for their cause.  Or maybe, just maybe... realize that there is more to life than taxes.

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