Don't like TEA? Start your own grassroots movement then.

Here is yet another montage of the liberal media picking a theme to parrot. The current theme, in case you missed it: The TEA party are terrorists wanting to blow up the country financially. As if the government has not already. If the current bill passes, the "debt ceiling" (it's hard to call it that without laughing) will increase by $2.1 Trillion, bringing the "ceiling" to $16.4 Trillion. Up from 2001's "ceiling" of $5.96 Trillion. That is an increase of $10.44 Trillion in the last 10 years, $5.08 Trillion in just the last 2 years.

Bill O'Reilly and Bernie Goldberg thought it was "laugh out loud" funny that the liberal media will not call actual terrorists - terrorists. However, they will call citizens who are concerned about the direction of the country and the huge expansion of government - terrorists. Well, I do not find it amusing at all. The whiny liberal media has labeled the TEA party every nasty name it can think of, hate-filled, anarchist, tea-baggers, racist old white people, Nazis, Hezbollah, Terrorists and Jimmy Carter. Wait, no that last one is what we are now calling president Obama.

It is true the TEA party did form under the Obama presidency, while the democrats had full control of both houses of congress. However, the undercurrents had begun to flow while George Bush was still president and both parties in Congress were spending like liberals. The TEA party is not anti-government, we simply want a Constitutionally limited government that actually represents the best interests of the people. The government has made it increasingly clear that it is incapable of running anything efficiently. Their anti-Midas touch transforms everything they get their hands on into a huge steaming pile of expensive bureaucratic boondoggle.

I would like to offer a suggestion to liberals and those in the media who are so opposed to the beliefs and actions of what has come to be called the TEA party movement. Create your own movement, make some picket signs and get out into the streets and demand that the government raise your taxes and increase the spending. I will even suggest the name for your movement, the Raise Our Taxes party. The ROT party needs to be made up of normal people angry that they do not pay enough taxes, that the government doesn't spend enough money, that the debt ceiling should be $100 Quadrillion instead of a measly $16.4 Trillion. Here are some picket sign ideas for you: "RAISE MY TAXES!" "TAKE MORE OF MY FREEDOMS!" "GROW THE GOVERNMENT!" "SPEND! SPEND! SPEND!" "MAKE MY BOSS PAY MORE TAXES, SO I GET A PAY CUT!" "GIVE ME MORE REGULATIONS OR GIVE ME DEATH!" "KEEP ME POOR AND DEPENDENT ON THE GOVERNMENT!"

I will be watching the 6 o'clock news waiting to see the coverage of all of the ROT party rallies.

Debt Ceiling and Extremists

I would like to take a second to point out a couple of important facts that I do not hear mentioned in the media.

This is not a new emergency. You will notice in the accompanying chart, the debt ceiling was raised 3 times already, just in Obama's first year in office. February 2009 -  February 2010 an increase of $3 Trillion

- Bush took office in Jan 2001 - debt ceiling $5.95 Trillion

- Republicans mostly controlled both houses of congress until 2006 the debt ceiling increased 4 times by a total amount of $3 Trillion. March 2006 - debt ceiling $8.96 Trillion

- Fall of 2006 Democrats win both houses of congress, that means they have the majority in both Senate and House. Until the Republicans won back the House in the fall of 2010. In those 4 years the debt ceiling increased 6 more times for a total amount of $5.34 Trillion. February 2010 - debt ceiling $14.3 Trillion.

What is the point of having a Debt Ceiling if they are just going to raise it every time they have spent so much money that they reach it? What is wrong with expecting the government to actually use the debt ceiling as a ceiling? How much is going to be enough? Why am I and people like me compared to a terrorist organization(Tom Friedman of New York Times compared Tea Party to Hezbollah) or called an extremist(by communist Van Jones) for expecting the government to keep itself in check with tools such as an unmovable debt ceiling. Instead of being run like a bunch of crack addicts who just need one more fix, okay just one more fix, really this time just one more fix, I really mean it this time just one more fix, seriously this time just one more fix...

It took 200 years to get the debt ceiling to $5.95 Trillion. In 2001, why didn't they raise the debt ceiling from $5.95 Trillion to $15 Trillion? Perhaps because that would be way too extreme to pass? Of course, here we are just 10 years later...

Who are the extremists?

NationalJournal.com

Tea Party of Two, Your Table Is Now Ready...

I am very excited about the Tea Parties that are scheduled around the country on April 15. I am encouraged that some people around the country are showing some signs of no longer accepting the status quo from our Government. The first Tea Party was a message to the British Parliament, some of the Bostonians stood together and declared, "We will have no taxation without representation!" They believed they should only be taxed by their own elected representatives. Our current Tax Day Tea Parties are a little different, obviously, the King and the Parliament are not across the ocean, instead they are in Washington DC posing as our elected representatives. The Tea Parties are a good starting point, however, we have some long and arduous battles ahead of us, I believe. April 15Th will be an exciting day for sure, but what will April 16Th look like?

What exactly do we hope to accomplish with the Tea Parties?
The obvious answer is that we hope to send a message to Washington, that there are a lot of angry people in the country. There are a lot of reasons for average hard working Americans to be angry as of late, that is for sure. There is certainly plenty of blame to go around, both ruling Parties are at fault, corporate executives have made bad business decisions, unions have been unwilling to make concessions, and we continue to elect the same politicians and support these same businesses as if there is nothing we can do about it. So come Wednesday, April 15, some of us will hit the streets to demonstrate to Washington that we are angry and we are not going to take it any more, well at least not until Thursday, April 16.

What will be the response from Washington?
Probably the same response that I always get from Washington when I write an email or call, a polite and concise form letter, basically stating, "Thanks for writing, but I am going to do what I want." Unfortunately, I fear that the government is familiar enough with the American people to know that if they put it off long enough, all of the angry people will become distracted with American Idol and the start of baseball season and forget what they were angry about to begin with. What was I saying? Oh yeah, American Idol, the blind guy got kicked off tonight....wait...that's not right, oh yeah, Tea Parties...sorry...

What happens on April 16Th and beyond?
That, my friends, is up to you. We, the American people, are going to have some big decisions to make in the near future. The country is pretty divided at the moment. It appears to be split right down the middle. Some people believe that the government is the answer to all of our problems and that the government is going to "fix" everything. Some people, like myself, believe that the government is the problem, and they need to step back, decrease (or cease) taxes and stop spending money like they earned it. Until there is a greater consensus one way or the other, I fear that not much is going to change. However, I do believe that this is one major reason why these Tax Day Tea Parties are so important. Washington will not be impressed by your efforts, but hopefully, more Americans will be affected in a positive way and will join the effort to return America to the founding principles that this great nation was built upon: individual liberty, personal responsibility and a Constitutionally limited government.

Copyright 2009 Stephen Rigg