Tea Parties proof of our frustration
Posted by Richard Larsen on Sunday, April 19, 2009
Under: Columns
There was a certain sense of empowerment and cohesiveness at the Pocatello TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party held at the Pocatello City Hall parking lot on Wednesday. For many, it seemed comforting to know that they weren’t alone in feeling like our country is being steam-rolled to a socialistic state where those of us who work hard to provide for our families are shouldering the costs of an out-of-control spending machine in Washington. Participants were unified against expansion of government, encroachment into the private sector, restriction of freedom, and against the massive taxes that will have to be eventually levied to pay for all the spending being done in Washington.
Our nation’s founders intended for there to be a check and balance system where the power and authority of one branch of government could not be expanded at the expense of the others. This check and balance system was designed to prevent governmental excess and oppression of the people. But when the legislative and executive branches function in lock-step usurping not only constitutional power granted to the people and the states, but the people’s capital, a sense of helplessness and disenfranchisement ensues...
It’s hard to say whether the Tea Parties represent an actual movement or were simply a flash in the political pan. If they were a one-time event, the affects will prove ephemeral, as Washington seems impervious to pleas of restraint and discretion in spending and taxation.
But if it was the start of a grassroots movement of concerned citizens for the future of the country, the affects could be monumental. It took just two-and-a-half years from the symbolic Boston Tea Party of 1773 to the Declaration of Independence. If the participants of the 2009 Tea Parties want to have a real impact, they need to keep that spirit alive and growing for the next year-and-a-half to alter the composition of Congress, much like disaffected voters did in 1994. If the rallies didn’t catch the attention of decision makers in the nation’s capitol, you can bet that a realignment of Congress in 2010 will.
Read the article: http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/politics/?p=4784
Our nation’s founders intended for there to be a check and balance system where the power and authority of one branch of government could not be expanded at the expense of the others. This check and balance system was designed to prevent governmental excess and oppression of the people. But when the legislative and executive branches function in lock-step usurping not only constitutional power granted to the people and the states, but the people’s capital, a sense of helplessness and disenfranchisement ensues...
It’s hard to say whether the Tea Parties represent an actual movement or were simply a flash in the political pan. If they were a one-time event, the affects will prove ephemeral, as Washington seems impervious to pleas of restraint and discretion in spending and taxation.
But if it was the start of a grassroots movement of concerned citizens for the future of the country, the affects could be monumental. It took just two-and-a-half years from the symbolic Boston Tea Party of 1773 to the Declaration of Independence. If the participants of the 2009 Tea Parties want to have a real impact, they need to keep that spirit alive and growing for the next year-and-a-half to alter the composition of Congress, much like disaffected voters did in 1994. If the rallies didn’t catch the attention of decision makers in the nation’s capitol, you can bet that a realignment of Congress in 2010 will.
Read the article: http://www.pocatelloshops.com/new_blogs/politics/?p=4784
In : Columns
