Are you really Taxed Enough Already?

As the April 15Th income tax deadline anxiety rose, a different type of anxiety took shape in many U.S. cities, a grassroots movement called a T.E.A. party (which stands for taxed enough already) was taken to the streets. The TEA Party movement is based on the idea that the federal government is over taxing the citizens of this country out of prosperity and taking away money from people who have worked hard for their wages. I have to add that this is group is composed of nearly an all-white following, which may play a role in their dissolution towards the current government? Are these folks really concerned about the possibility of their taxes going up in 2011 or is this movement really about what they perceive their taxes are going to be funding?

I have to raise the point of concern that a pseudo-mob of middle class and upper financial class demographic displaying their displeasure of American tax policy is a little disturbing and a little funny. The last time I checked, the people that were complaining on April 15Th were the people who composed the policies. The conservative television news stations, particularly Fox News, stoked the fire of the protesters that attended the rallies. Isn't it funny to hear Fox News try to be the voice of the populist movement in this country?

Where were these people the past 8 years? NO wait! Where were these disgruntled Teabaggers the last 30 years? This is not some protest on tax policy. This is another example of the racial dog whistle that gets blown by conservative wingnuts to protest this country's new direction as a whole. The change that these people believe in, would be making this the country for 1920 again. A reminder that the 1920s was a time of extreme inequality from rich to poor, and before the social protections of the New Deal like Social Security and Medicare.

Quotes like this were common place from the T.E.A. parties that took place on April 15Th:

“We, the taxpayers who pay the majority of taxes, are sick of supporting those who do not carry their load, we're sick of paying to fund social programs to support those who sit and wait for handouts, we're sick of funding businesses whose fiscal irresponsibility has led to their collapse without a bailout. We are trying to send a message to Congress that We the People have had enough.” --Unnamed Protestor

This angry tax dissenter was not actually complaining about the amount of taxes he has to pay. He was complaining about how the amount of taxes he has to pay will be possibly used to fund government social programs that affect the less fortunate. I feel that it is my responsibility to keep reiterating that poverty disporportionatly effects people of color in this country. The unnamed protestor does not want to support the policies of a president that has vowed to extend a helping hand to those less financially fortunate. The particulary program isn't the point. It could be welfare, Affirmative Action, the worker's right to organize, ACORN, etc., the real point is that the Teabaggers percieve these people are getting a "gift" and the Teabaggers want their gift too.

The Teabaggers were voicing their concerns against immigration and unbridled government spending. After the largest deficit increase in American history, kept them on the sidelines, a new type of president gets these folks up in arms and out on the streets. These rally goers are okay with funding a 10 billion dollar a month war where we invade a country that had zero terroristic connections, but they are not okay with school reconstruction and public health care for the poorest Americans that cannot afford it.

The war in Iraq and Afganistan can easily be seen as another neo-crusade for the hearts and minds of civilization. As Pat Buchanan has said "all politics are not local, all politics are tribal". When our tribe of American soldiers were authorized to go invade Iraq, it was immediately regarded as a Christian imperative to bring democracy and choice to the Iraqis.

This entire movement, no matter how rediculous it may seem to the intelligent people of this country, should be taken seriously, because it highlights several important pillars of a still existing American society. The reverberation from the stains of racism and the original sin of slavery can still be felt in this country. Intolerance towards immigrants is not conservatism, it is just a different form of thinly veiled racism that has taken over the far right.

What should the responsible citizens say to the voiced discontent of the Teabaggers? We should say "to hell with your whining!" For the last 30 years this country has been hijacked by deregulation that have conducted wars under false pretenses and have promoted a mindset that is bent on taking America back to the time of the robberbarons. This country is going through a change. It is a change of evolution not revolution. The evolution of pervailing ideas. If the presidency of Barack Obama does nothing in the next 4 years, he is still not a complete failure. President Obama changed this country, he changed the way we observe this country. When we watched the inauguration in January, those waiving American flags from the sea of observers, were our tickets to a new America. This sect of the country that feels like they have lost something, they did. They lost their tickets to their time machine ride of deregulation back to the 1920s. They lost their stranglehold of concentrated power from the hands of a few all white men. They may be taxed enough already, but I hope the mental taxation of the dawning of a new America dwindles their followers.