The Tea Party Revolution Continues

It comes again to that time of year when individual citizens feel the chafe of their wallets emptying on tax day, April 15th.  In response, many will assemble peaceably at Tea Parties across the country in protest of this perennial redistribution of their wealth, as the worth of the money they have left is debased through intentional acts of national policy.

Taxation has been a prime focus of the Tea Party, but what is their real agenda?  By what standard do they judge our society?  How do they propose to fix the challenges we face?

There is a great deal of variation between groups, but on the whole their common core values are fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government, as originally defined in the US Constitution.  A recent Gallup Poll cited Tea Party demographics as "generally representative of the public at large," including 7 percent describing themselves as liberal and 8 percent as Democrat.  A remarkable change since 2009 -- from crazy racists to a mainstream plurality.

More precisely, they are individualists, of every race and creed, who go by many names and labels.  Though there are variations on the theme, they believe in the fundamental idea of our country's founding; individualism -- the idea that each individual has the inalienable right to their own life, liberty, and property, to use in pursuing their own happiness.  Contrast this view to the sacrificial nature of collectivism, where group rights trump individual rights -- the foul wind that has been blowing our national sails off course for over a century, now at a gale force.  This creates a people scorned by that "long train of abuses and usurpations."  As the first Tea Party was ignited by the tax policies of arrogant elite, it is fitting that the modern Tea Party sees taxation by a new aristocracy as their call to arms.

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