No Tea

Let's face it; the Tea Party is over. I'm speaking of course, of the Revolutionary War. The war is over, the patriots have all gone home and the smoke has settled. No one now lives who was there when it happened and we, the descendants and adherents of those great men and principles, are all that is left of one of history's most amazing victories. But a funny thing is happening in this country. People from sea to sea are taking a second look at the state of affairs around them and have decided that they don't like what they see. As a result, they are taking to the streets with banners and signs, shouting that they want their country back, or that they want their freedom back, or something. Not that I have anything against freedom, but I have to ask myself, “What do they hope to accomplish with all this yelling, talking, picketing and flag waving?”

There is a way prescribed by the constitution and the laws of this land by which any change desired by the people can be accomplished. It is the way of caucus meetings, discussion, Robert's Rules of Order, campaigning, petitioning, elections and laws. For more than two centuries this method has worked in favor of the people, allowing them to be involved, elect their choice of leaders and to implement any desired outcome in the laws.

However, on one hand we have laws, meetings and elections and on the other we have widespread corruption among those who hold the reins of power. Some people might ask, “How can a person get involved and do any good at all, when the system has been ruined by dishonesty?” Human nature makes us want to do something about it, even if it's wrong. Part of me wants to stand up and shout with the others, break open a few boxes of tea, so to speak, and see what happens. But after a few seconds of contemplating the outcome of this action it becomes plain that even if I do nothing it would better than that.

I am not exactly a pacifist but I fail to see the point in bringing a bunch of mostly nice people together, yelling, screaming and demanding action when their target is a government who spends more on weapons than any other country in the world. It's almost as if they think they are some kind of Cinderella and their fairy godmother has arrived to rebuke the ugly step-sisters and send them packing, while Cinderella goes to the palace with the prince. Do they think that by waving the flag and calling “Foul!” they will be able to frighten any corrupt officials out of power and that they can subsequently just walk calmly into Washington and 'fix' everything?

In the first place, corruption didn't get there by accident. There are, it is true, dishonest individuals at every level of power in this country but they were put there by people who voted for them. It was all done openly, by rules and laws. Caucus meetings, held in small districts around the country, is where it begins. The people who are in power are only there because they were willing to go through the system step by step, vote by vote, meeting by meeting. Many good, honest people don't want to be bothered with the caucuses, the meetings and the system until things go wrong. Then they want a change right away. But no matter how loudly they complain, it doesn't ever happen. You might as well fight fire with oil as fight the system by complaining.

The men who, at it's founding, pledged their lives for this country also foresaw that there would be trouble keeping the freedoms they had gained as long as the people were uninvolved, ignorant or dishonest. This is, by the way, the country where the hand-out is a way of life for millions, where illiteracy rates (around 20%) look more like those of a third-world country and where “good business,” has replaced home-grown honesty. If you aren't doing something about these problems first, you aren't doing this country any favors. On top of that, it would be foolish to shake your little fist at a world power when your budget for arms is something like a hundred dollars. It might be compared to an ant fighting a Goliath. Any way you look at it, it's going to be bad for the ant.