Why the tea parties don't matter

[bovil]

The "Tea Party" movement is a symbolic failure.

The original tea partiers engaged in criminal acts and risked arrest and imprisonment to destroy product from a company being propped up by unfair reduced taxes by the government, at the expense of what, at the time, amounted to "small business:" the domestic importers of tea who competed with the East India Company.

The current teabaggers are buying tea and throwing it around. That's it. When the DC teabag crew showed up with a truckload of tea bags (yes, I'm serious) to dump in Lafayette Square (because dumping in the Potomac is illegal, can't do that, after all) they were informed that they didn't have the correct permits to dump their load.

So they took it away. They're a bunch of pussies. "Civil disobedience" and "protest" are just words to them. They'll always cave in to authority rather than take a risk for their alleged principles. Samuel Adams would have dumped the tea right then and there.

If they wanted a real symbolic connection with the original Boston Tea Party they would be stealing Chrysler and GM cars and trucks from distribution centers and dumping them in the drink.

But they're not.

Pussies.

Comments

[bovil.livejournal.com]

It is the heart of arrogance to tell someone what is happening in their own community.

I work mere blocks from the tea party protests in San Jose. The Federal Building is closer to me (next to where I have lunch on Tuesdays), but protests were outside the building that hosts the local IRS offices (next to where I have lunch on Wednesdays, it's a big gold-glass cube, always good for a chuckle).

I saw it with my own two eyes. It wasn't a big protest. More people show up for the gay pride parade, and that's not a big event. The Cinco de Mayo parade used to draw a lot more people.

[madoc62.livejournal.com]

Andy,

Did I say it was a "big" protest? Did the folks setting it up promise "hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of citizens will be there?" No?

For a first time out the gate, and for such a here-to-fore unassembled crowd, it'd be unusual for the event to draw such numbers as a gay pride rally in San Jose.

Like I said, if it's still drawing single digit thousands a year or two from now then that'll be more telling.

Madoc

[bovil.livejournal.com]

I've seen grassroots in San Jose. If you can't pull over 10k, it's not grassroots, it's comedy.

BTW, CNN, MSNBC and Fox were all on at the gym today (and every day). I saw no lack of coverage of the tea parties on any of the networks.

[chuckles48.livejournal.com]

I guess that makes this comedy, then?
http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2008/11/10/News/Protest.Goes.Through.San.Jose-3534220.shtml

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Comedy is one lone guy at City Hall at lunchtime.

[chuckles48.livejournal.com]

No, it was not "next to" where the local IRS building is.

That's Market and San Fernando, looking up from the plaza. IRS is one block BEYOND where that cop has the street blocked.

Here's google's map to where that office is.

View Larger Map (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=san+jose+IRS&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&ei=-pbnSfSSO4mYtAPG17z0AQ&ll=37.320244,-121.906333&spn=0.058138,0.068874&source=embed)
One block PAST San Fernando.

If you're going to lie, at least do so convincingly.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

When I went past (a bit before 3-ish), the cops had Market street blocked at Market and Post, and that's where the protesters were. Now if you want to tell me I didn't see protesters at Market and Post in the afternoon yesterday, you can, but you would be wrong.

Oh, but wait, that wasn't your "official" tea party.

[chuckles48.livejournal.com]

Well, I pulled in at 5PM precisely (which, you might note, is when the permitted protest started, and when the counter-protesters showed up, and when the speechifying started). And all the action was in the park.

So I guess what you saw wasn't "official", any more than the nice folks who went black-bashing last November weren't "official" anti-Prop 8 folks.

Seriously - pick a standard. Just make sure you're willing to live with it.