Tea Parties Were About Principles, Not Just High Taxes
By Bill Connor
Published: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 2:33 PM EDT
After reading recent coverage and reaction to the “Tea Parties,” I thought I would set the record straight. I know from first-hand experience what these events were really about, as I have spoken to four Tea Parties around our state.
Since the Tea Party movement was started by a seemingly offhand comment on CNBC in February, there have been more than 2,000 events around the country, including more than a dozen here in South Carolina.
Despite cold temperatures and rain, thousands attended the first Tea Party in Greenville in late February, and I spoke to a passionate crowd. The “Tax Day” Columbia and Charleston events were even larger. Anyone who attended and listened to speakers knows these events were about the principles of constitutional democracy and not simply folks “not wanting to pay taxes.”
These events were not organized by Fox News or GOP activists as some claim. Fox News didn’t even cover the Columbia or Charleston events. Most attendees were as angry at “big-spending” Republicans as they were about Democrats or President Obama. Regardless of party, those who have helped expand the size of government beyond what our founders intended are in trouble with the protesters.
These Tea Parties were not primarily about higher taxes. President Obama and the liberals in Congress have not yet begun to raise taxes, though anyone with common sense knows that those tax hikes are coming. The larger issue for those at the Tea Parties is the out of control growth of government we have seen at the state and national level. Much of this stems from the so-called “stimulus” plan and the multi-trillion dollar debt that goes with it. That debt and the effect on our children and grandchildren drive many Americans to say, “Enough is enough.”
Government has seized more power than our nation’s founders ever intended. These protests are about the future of our state and our nation and whether we will remain a free, constitutional system of limited government powers. Will our republic remain free or succumb to socialism? That’s the question we face.
Beyond the size and scope of government spending, many Americans are also concerned about this administration’s potential plans for gun control, limitations on free speech (including the so-called “fairness doctrine”) and intrusions into the free market, making near-daily headlines with some new government takeover of a private enterprise.
Against that backdrop, protesters are also concerned about Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano’s recent warnings about the “potential national security” threat that returning war veterans, Tea Party protesters, anti-abortion activists and even fiscal conservatives supposedly pose as “right-wing extremists.”
Our founders knew and wrote that “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” They understood that people must fight against any small violation of their rights or they would become too weak to fight back. The first Boston Tea Party was not about “saving a few bucks.” The price of tea was lower after Parliament passed the infamous Tea Act in 1773. The colonists fought back to prevent the government from overstepping its bounds and not to save a few bucks. The infamous Tea Act (which was repealed after the Tea Party) gave the East India Company a monopoly on the sale of tea. Parliament overstepped its bounds and that was the issue.
Similarly, Americans are right to protest those who overstep their constitutional authority. Whether in taking over private companies, bailing out private entities or putting our nation into an irreversible debt, Americans have cause to be concerned.
We need to praise concerned Americans and listen to their voices. Media’s attempts to marginalize this movement will only further diminish the credibility of the press. The issue now is whether we can hold onto a free America. The Tea Parties may just be our nation’s best hope for the future.
Bill Connor is an Army lieutenant colonel (reserves) recently back from Afghanistan, where he was the senior U.S. advisor to Helmand Province. He lives in Orangeburg with his family, where he serves as board chairman of the Orangeburg Christian Academy. Bill has announced his candidacy for South Carolina lieutenant governor.
