Not Your Gramma’s Tea Party!

Posted by Larry Miller on April 3, 2009 under How | Read the First Comment

On the evening of December 16, 1773 about 200 men disguised as Indians descended, whooping and hollering, on three ships anchored in Boston harbor. They threw the cargo of tea into the water, denying themselves and their neighbors one of the staples of colonial life. They understood the risk involved in their protest as it was a scant three years earlier that the Boston Massacre took the lives of five of their friends and neighbors. More important than the destruction of the ship’s cargo was the refusal to pay the taxes imposed by the British Parliament a world away in London.

The Stamp Act (1765) and the Townsend Acts (1767) were attempts by the British Crown to recoup the costs of the French and Indian War. Because the colonists raised their voices in protest, most of the taxes imposed were repealed. However, the tax on tea remained as Parliament desired to drive home the point that it, indeed, had the authority to tax the colonies. The colonists, with no voice in Parliament had other ideas. In spite of the risk involved in going against the most powerful empire on earth at the time, these colonists understood the larger problem of refusing to stand up to the Crown’s claim on them. They stood firm on principle and that is why we read about them today.

This year, on April 15… Tax Day… all around the country, modern day patriots will be gathering in parks and public squares around the country to protest irresponsible borrowing and profligate spending of the Federal Government along with the unheard of and unwarranted expansion of federal control on our lives. They are gathering because, to them, it is not right that our children and grandchildren be saddled with the debt of our generations errors in judgment.

Tax day Tea Parties are springing up all around the country. There is probably one near you. Check out http://taxdayteaparty.com/ to find he one closest to you. If you care about the world you leave for your kids and grandkids, make every effort to be there. Sure it may be inconvenient to add one more thing to your schedule. It was inconvenient to board the ships that night to haul up the cargo and dump it overboard. It was inconvenient for Nathan Hale to have the British hangman place the noose around his neck. Convenience has nothing to do with right and wrong. Be at one if it is at all possible.

We can’t afford to get it wrong this time. Besides, you’ll have a great time hanging out with others who share your concerns. You’ll make new friends and put our would-be masters in Washington on notice that we love our freedom and have no intention of giving it up.

You will also let the inside the beltway boys know that we don’t like the direction they are taking the country and we will not put up with it any longer. In the early morning hours of April 19, 1775 thirty-eight men gathered on Lexington Green and fired the “shot heard round the world”. This is your opportunity to gather on April 15 of this year and join in the protest that will also be “heard round the world”.