A Little Tea and Irony

Irony is lost on some of our more conservative citizens.

You undoubtedly saw the pictures of the demonstrations full of people wearing teabags or tricorner hats who kept comparing themselves to the founding fathers at the Boston Tea Party. Did anyone every tell them that they have the right to vote for their representation every two, four and six years?

Also, these states where anti-tax sentiment is strongest are frequently the same states that get way more back from the federal government than they send in. Alaska gets $1.84 for every tax dollar it sends to Washington.

And of course they have totally overlooked the fact that they were protesting in public areas paid for by taxes; that they rode to the demonstrations on roads paid for by taxes; that they were protected by police and fire personnel paid for by taxes.

In another example, our very own governor of Texas was cheering with the crowd of demonstrators as they waved the U.S. flag while yelling, "Secede!" Yet they called candidate Obama unpatriotic for not wearing a flag lapel pin.

Or they complain about the moral depravity of our citizens for allowing gay marriage. Yet they've allowed 120,000 murders with handguns since September, 2001. Worse still, some conservative pundits have incited their followers into killing police officers and church goers.

Finally, as my very own U.S. Representative has said, regarding the efforts to curb green house gases, "They want to save the planet by wrecking the economy!" It sounds like he thinks we can wreck the planet and have an economy. What is he thinking?

What do any of these folks think?