The Tetley Offensive

Letters, I get letters. I heard from at least three different people today asking me to write about tea parties. Apparently there will be as many as 12 different tea parties going on in Minnesota next week. The big one will be on Wednesday, April 15 (the day taxes are due, natch) at the State Capitol. Okay, there you go. Now, a few thoughts.

The original tea parties took place in the 1770s, of course, before the Revolution. In those days the issues were pretty clear -- the colonists were being taxed heavily and not getting a lot in return. It made sense and the early patriots were quite brave indeed.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see that the issues are the same right now. I agree that the government has become increasingly intrusive yet simultaneously less responsive to the limited roles it should actually play. There's no doubt that the current group of politicians are aiming to make things a lot worse. I am acutely aware of the bite that taxes take, as I prepare to write checks with a vapor trail of zeros to the feds and the State of Minnesota. That much is clear.

What is not clear to me is what this movement is accomplishing. Despite the efforts of various bigfoot bloggers on the Right to document the movement, I'm not sure that the efforts have been good for much more than catharsis up to now. Maybe it's a suspicion of mass movements or simply a distaste that I have for being herded, but ultimately my larger concern is that whatever the message is, it's not coherent.

I get why Glenn Reynolds supports tea parties -- he's a libertarian and he would prefer that government be scaled back on any number of fronts (a view that I generally share, by the way). I also get why groups like the Taxpayers League of Minnesota support the effort. Limited government is highly desirable, if especially elusive. Where I start to get my antennae up is when you get sponsors like the Constitution Party, which tends to focus on things (like jury nullification) that are a little out there. I suppose you can develop a coalition that contains libertarians and CP members, but it's not a coalition that is likely to govern any time soon. Perhaps it's enough to get people excited and active; maybe the movement will cohere into something that will lead to real change. There are a lot of ifs in that notion, though.

If you are so inclined to bring your tea bags and listen to the assembled speakers on April 15, I would encourage you to do so. It's always a good thing to participate in our civic life and perhaps you'll meet other kindred spirits whom you can work with to bring about the change you desire. I hope you get something out of it. Meanwhile, I'm still thinkin'.