American History 101

Allow me to veer off my usual course of refusing to talk about anything political outside of my home for a minute. This is not a partisan post by any means, merely a lesson to some poor misguided folks.

First, the story. Taken from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Anti-stimulus protesters rally at the Arch

By Tim O'Neil

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

02/27/2009

ST. LOUIS -- More than 1,000 people braved chilly temperatures downtown today to protest President Barack Obama's stimlulus aprogram and to throw tea into the Mississippi River.

The gathering was organized by several local conservatives. There was no official crowd estimate, but the gathering filled roughly one fourth of the grand staircase from the Arch grounds down to the levee.

Among the speakers was former football Cardinals tight end Jackie Smith, who took a bullhorn and said, "We are mad as hell and we need to stay mad as hell. Don't let up."

Smith asked the crowd if this was their first protest rally, and most raised their hands.

Bill Hennessy, said he got the idea for the tea party from comments made last week by CNBC business commentator Rick Santelli about the stimulus program. Santelli urged people to have another Boston tea party.

Before the crowd went down to the Mississippi River, Hennessy urged everyone to rip open their tea bags and dump the tea without throwing the paper into the river. The group ended the 50-minute rally by lining up on the river's edge and doing as asked.

Whether or not me, you or anyone else agrees with the TARP funds being doled out in Washington is not the issue here. If you agree fine, if not fine. However, if you so strongly disagree with the program there are more efficient ways to go about showing your displeasure with the government.

Let's start with the extreme inaccuracies in comparing this protest to the Boston Tea Party. The American Colonists were protesting taxes levied against them by the British government, and efforts of the British government to control their consumption of goods. They dumped tea into Boston Harbor that was a shipment from Great Britain. They were voicing their anger directly to the entity they were disagreeing with.

Dumping random packets of tea into the Mighty Mississippi to protest an economic stimulus package is accomplishing nothing more than being wasteful. A much more effective and relevant way for these people to protest the government bailout package would be to refuse the tax cut they're above to receive in their paychecks.

I highly doubt we could find many Democrats, Republics, Libertarians, Independents or non-voters who would give up their anticipated tax cut though. Don't you?