Tax Day 2009 has become Independence Day in America. As more than one million Americans make their way to Tax Day Tea Parties across the country, we are reminded of how far off course our nation has strayed from the vision laid out by our Founding Fathers. And, in case we forget, the news media is there to remind us. Not as an objective voice of truth, but rather as a representative of the problem.
The Los Angeles Times ran a headline today that claimed the Tax Day Tea Parties are "Steeped In Insanity". They support this assertion by suggesting that attendees are from the fringe of society and are right-wing extremists. It is likely most other "mainstream" media outlets will spout similar views. The truth, of course, is that these people are average Americans who are sick and tired of an out-of-control federal government that now rules over the people, rather than being "of, by, and for the people". The Times "insanity" comment is far more telling of the state of the American Republic than just another example of a liberal media outlet making noise. The truth is that the tea party movement is a movement back toward our founding principles. The Framers of our Constitution feared a large, powerful, centralized national government. The 10th Amendment says "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." This specifically addresses the Founders fear of large federal governing body.
The Founders also had conservative views on tax policy. They believed in collecting enough revenue to operate the federal government and nothing more. We now have a president, however, who believes in creating tax policy to legislate "fairness". The evil rich need to pay their "fair share"; never mind that the top 1% of income earners make 18% of all income but pay 40% of all income taxes. Since more than half of all Americans do not pay any income taxes, obviously wealthy Americans need to pay more. This is a departure from the Founders. Remember, the progressive income tax only became a permanent fixture in the American economy in the first half of the 20th century. Attempts to force this kind of oppressive, hidden tax policy had been made before, but always abandoned as too radical.
Another theme common to our Founders was the need for a strong military to support the goal of a strong national defense. The Founders understood that there were nations that would attack us if they perceived any weakness. Evidence of this understanding can be found in the first five entries of the Federalist Papers http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fedindex.htm. In contrast, now we want to sit at a table with terrorists and negotiate. This kind of soft diplomatic strategy is seen as weakness by terrorists. When we negotiate with these radicals we put American lives in danger. The Founders understood clearly that the most effective way to prevent an attack from an enemy was the enemies' understanding that if they executed such an attack we would kill them.
These are the same principles that embody the Tea Party movement today. This is not about some radical agenda. It's about a return to the Constitution. The L.A. Times, then, is saying that our Founding Fathers and the Constitution they created are "steeped in insanity". They are literally saying Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, and the rest of the Founding Fathers were insane. So, who is the radical extremist now?
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