Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Conservative to a ‘tea’

On December 16 1773, colonial protesters boarded British ships moored in Boston Harbor. The ships were carrying shipments of tea that had been taxed and were set to return to England. The protesters, dressed in Native American garb, emptied the tea stores overboard and into the harbor water. The action, taken in response to what the protesters believed to be unfair taxation of colonists by the British government rather than by their own representatives, served to spur the colonies towards their ultimate revolution. This was an act of defiance in the face of unfair government action against its own citizens. It was an act of independence.

Today, the Tea Party returns to Boston. The enraged crowds, the racial epithets, the ill-informed, misguided and redirected anger, the picket signs that make no sense; it will all be prominently displayed on the Boston Common, as ten thousand people are expected to descend upon on our state capital. The movement, which gained national steam as a collection of citizens angered by what they have perceived to be the Obama administration’s wanton and reckless spending spree throughout its first several months in office, has grown in size over the past year.

Among the Tea Party faithful are the birthers (a group of conspiracy theorists who believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, which would in turn disqualify his eligibility for the presidency), the don’t-tread-on-me factions (those who believe that any federal action – healthcare, stimulus package, et al. -with any direct or indirect effect on citizens’ lives is illegal and worse, tyrannical), anti-gun control neurotics, anti-gay marriage bigots and an assortment of people with “Just Say No” fever. This latter group has taken it upon themselves to oppose absolutely anything and everything to come out of the White House. Constructive, don’t you think?

At the Tea Partiers’ helm, scheduled to give the keynote address tomorrow afternoon to the plaudits of the troops and for the amusement of the children, will be none other than America’s rogue princess. That’s right. The political darling of all the Joe Six-packs out there. The defender of American freedoms, whatever she considers them to be. The enemy of socialism, that scourge of western civilization. The woman with eyesight so strong, she can see Russia from her porch. Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, angry uninformed white people and more angry uninformed white people, may I present to you, fresh off signing her new reality TV show deal with TLC, the next aspiring lamb to the sacrificial presidential election altar, the one, the only, the incomparable Sarah Palin.

Wait. What? Sarah Palin? The Tea Party comes home to Boston, and this is the best they could do? Better believe it, kids. No one with any true conception of what they have to lose by speaking at a gathering like this would place themselves within 50 miles of Boston Common. Indeed, even freshman GOP Senator Scott Brown, whose special election victory in January is considered by Tea Partiers to be their most forceful victory to date, will be conspicuously out of sight.

Can’t say I blame the guy. Would you align yourself with the same people who spit on black congressmen and taunted them with racial epithets as they set out from their congressional offices to cast the landmark healthcare vote last month?

On what might seem like a less important note, I’m not sure that anyone has bothered to mention to them that their moniker is slightly misplaced. As I mentioned before, the original Tea Party was carried out by people who were enraged at the unfair and indirect taxation levied upon them by the British government. The people gathering today on Boston Common have little, if nothing in common with the colonists who dumped those boxes of tea into Boston Harbor. The grievances they lodge (Obama’s ineligibility for the presidency, the healthcare and stimulus bills’ erosion of American freedom, Obama’s baby-killing agenda, etc.) mirror absolutely none of the colonists’ grievances, but are rather a collection of ignorant and overheated claims by people who wouldn’t know it if reality shook their hand and bought them a Ferrari. 

President Obama has not raised taxes on 95 percent of Americans. He has not made any tangible move on the gun-control issue. He has appointed several Republicans to his cabinet, including former Republican congressman Ray Lahood as Secretary of Transportation and Bush administration holdover Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense.

The Health Care bill just passed by Congress will end up saving the United States close to $900 billion dollars over the next decade (estimates courtesy of the non-partisan but always slightly conservative Congressional Budget Office). The bill will also not provide federal dollars for abortion, which Obama sought to reinforce by signing an executive order, highlighting what has always been his commitment to the power of compromise. The calculated treasury department bailouts of banks hanging on the precipice of collapse are steadily bringing our financial sector back from the brink of cataclysmic failure, with the government now predicted to make sizeable profits off their investments.

All that “spending away our children’s future” muck we heard last spring? All that jabber we heard about how Democrats were trying to kill your grandma with their “death panels?” All that muck about Obama being born in Kenya and falsifying his birth certificate? Well, that’s exactly what it was. Muck. Sarah Palin and her Tea Party friends can take their muck and throw it into the Boston Harbor. It would be the only thing they’d have in common with their colonial counterparts. They can throw themselves in, while they are it. The cold water might wake them up a bit.

Charlie Felder is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].

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  • D

    DanApr 16, 2010 at 4:02 pm

    Chris Dodd is a senator for CT. And sorry, I meant “senator Dodd and cong. Frank.” And he won’t admit to his own wording on Fannie and Freddie. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432173,00.html.
    Yes, I dare post a fox news link; but read through it since its the word for word discussion between O’Reilly and Frank, not an article the liberals at HuffPo believe poisons them.

    Chris:
    You never said “free” anywhere, but the American public is being led to believe Health care will be “free” or very cheap, prices and cost are going to rise just like the healthcare in other countries, as well as our own history with SS, Medicare and Medicaid. How am I dishonest or hysterical? I’m not running around like Beck saying the world or America is gonna end, and I’m not one of these liberals that praise the words coming out of Obama, Reid and Pelosi’s mouths. Obama has done a few good, small things like offering loans for Nuclear Power Plants, but his major issues are spend and worry about fixing later. You wouldn’t give a mechanic ten grand to fix your car and say keep the change on any repairs and go back later and spend more if anything went wrong, would you? I’d rather save a buck, fix what I can myself and after a mechanic looks at it, buy the parts myself to save further dollars and simply pay for the labor; but politicians don’t care about being fiscally conservative.

    I don’t need the healthcare nor am I very worried I will have a hard time finding a job, as I already have offers. So, none of this legislation is really to tied to me. I just understand our politicians, Repub and Dem, are screwing Americans hard by spending and spending without fixing the real problem right now, private sector jobs. Engineering is the highest in demand field along with healthcare positions, and right now hiring for those jobs is almost dead. And insulting me is really a way to get your point across, typical of a liberal to resort to name calling, saying I use “catchphrases” (which are catch phrases and where are they from?) and grammatical errors to disprove an argument rather than have some facts to back yourself up. Secondly, look at the ligislation, READ IT, and look at the results of previous legislation and come back and say the government is a good solution to financial problems.

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  • C

    Chris AmorosiApr 16, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    Dan, when did I ever say “free healthcare” which you so carelessly put in quotation marks as if quoting me? Not that I expect you to know what you’re talking about since you think Barney Frank is a senator and Chris Dodd is from Massachusetts (he’s not my senator, at least). You’re just another dishonest, hysterical twit and you don’t impress me with your knowledge of catchphrases.

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  • D

    DanApr 15, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Leave it to a liberal to take whatever promise for “greater good” and to unyieldingly stand by it without consideration of its effects. Proof: Equal lending practices enforced by our gracious senators Dodd and Frank. We now sit in a huge recession because these two decided that people who can’t afford a half million dollar house should be able to buy it, and to let banks pawn off the mortages to any dummy who thinks they could make some money on the “risk.”

    Chris:
    MA “free healthcare” isn’t free, and is costing the state dearly. MA digs itself deeper and deeper through its liberalsim. Our sales and income taxes are fairly high, yet our state is still in debt. When the trench becomes too big, no medical care will be available for those on the state dole, or they will be rationed off. The state should have looked into ways of making the prices go down, not throwing in some taxpayer backed system bound to fail like most other govt. run programs.

    Liberals have the audacity to sit and blame everyone else, its all the fault of big business or the republicans. Please, grow up and stop demanding for more from the government for “free” and take responsibility for your own lives, act like adults and realize nothing is free and that the govt. is a beareaucratic waste machine. Thats true for Dems and Repubs. The TEA party stands to stop this growth, yet the main stream media will sit there and lump them in with the GOP. Typical liberal scapegoating.

    And no, I’m not a part of and never been to a TEA party. I just don’t buy the crap I see on the news, relentless trash talking conservatives and relentless backing up “hope” and “change” without giving any rational thoughts or weighing the good and bad.

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  • C

    Chris AmorosiApr 15, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    “Scott Brown’s election symbolized Massachusetts’ – and furthermore the majority of America’s opposition to Obamacare. Obama and the Dems passed it anyway completely disregarding the wishes of the people who they represent. The result: the modern American Tea Party Movement.”
    Shane:

    The passage of Romneycare by the General Assembly symbolized Massachusetts’ – and furthermore the majority of America’s support of insurance mandates. Boehner/McConnell voted against it anyway completely disregarding the needs of the people who they represent. The result: hysterical, unemployed welfare-dependent old men and women take up signage made by the GOP and demand the right to vote against their interests.

    If Massachusetts is the barometer of American politics, Shane, why don’t we see the legalization of gay marriage sweep the nation? Is it because you actually don’t know what you’re talking about?

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  • W

    WillApr 15, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    Craig James said: “a well written and adequately researched editorial”

    Is that a joke? It’s already been established for quite some time that neither the ‘spitting’ or ‘racial’ incident occurred, and yet it appears you, like the Collegian author, are going on stale allegations that have already been debunked. Furthermore, you compound this gross error by posting a Media Matters link, a George Soros-funded website whose sole objective is that of a partisan organization.

    Think Progress is another far left organization, as is the Huffington Post. They’re all fairly well known for their blatant disregard of those pesky facts that might disrupt their narrative, such as well, actual proof that the N-word or the F-word were hurled at either Lewis or Frank. I suppose when you’ve been screaming for months that your opponents are racist bigots, you’re desperate for anything that corroborates that, and when finding nothing, simply make it up.

    As for the AP article, the Associated Press itself has run a correction, accurately stating that there is indeed no audio or video proof of the allegations.

    Finally, it has recently emerged that those of your ideological ilk and those philosophically aligned with the author of this travesty are making plans to infiltrate tax protests and scream racist and anti-gay comments in order to finally prove that they are the racist bigots they’ve been claiming. Kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy – you make a dishonest allegation, your allegation is proven false, and you become so desperate that you have to pretend to be a tea partier making racist statements. Aside from being pathetic and embarrassing, it exposes the absolute moral and intellectual bankruptcy of this movement.

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  • S

    ShaneApr 14, 2010 at 11:20 pm

    Scott Brown’s election symbolized Massachusetts’ – and furthermore the majority of America’s opposition to Obamacare. Obama and the Dems passed it anyway completely disregarding the wishes of the people who they represent. The result: the modern American Tea Party Movement.

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  • C

    Craig JamesApr 14, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    Yeah, Charlie. Shame on you for taking the time to put together a well written and adequately researched editorial on what you believe in. And to think… I almost fell victim to your liberal truth-rape!

    These people are right, my friend. I’m not sure what they’re actually writing because I don’t believe in taking other people’s opinions into account, I find it un-American, but they certainly believe in what they’re pontificating on and on about and I suppose that’s what really counts. I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing. Just kind of sounds like someone copy & pasted verbatim from the drudgereport.com, though.

    As for tough guy #1 – Palin said this to Charlie Gibson: “They’re our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” While what Charlie says was not the same, he was using the line for somewhat comic effect. The sentiment of Palin’s idiocy remains the same. (full transcript of the interview here: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5782924)

    Tough guy #2 – It’s inconclusive if the Tea Partier spit on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver or just screamed so hard that spittle got on the Congressman. Either way, here’s a video of the incident: (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/28/congressman-spit-on-by-te_n_516300.html)

    And just to refresh my memory, was the alleged spitting incident the same day some Tea Parties were yelling “nigger” & “faggot” at United States Congressmen, or was that a different day? I always forget.

    (sources, son: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201003280007, http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/20/tea-party-spit/, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_N_WORD_FEUD?SITE=NCGRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)

    Also, apologies. The websites provided don’t come in coloring-book format. They haven’t mastered the technology just yet. I know it’s hard, but power through.

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  • M

    MichaelApr 14, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    Hi, I’m a “neurotic gun owner.” I value the second Amendment. I value my right to self protection from anyone from the government to the common criminals who will forever be armed no matter what the government says. It is funny because when you all screamed bloody murder over the patriot act it was because it was “unconstitutional.” (for the record I fully agree), but when I asked the same people in your camp about the second amendment, “That one is outdated.”

    Just like any movement it will have it’s loony tunes. Need I remind you of all the 9/11 conspiracy theorists?

    Don’t tread on me factions… I just have to laugh. God forbid some people actually don’t want the government crawling up their back 24/7, imposing law after law to solve problems that they just keep making worse, or levying taxes to fund one of the most inefficient systems imaginable.

    All those people who want to turn this country into something which resembles socialist Europe are the crazy ones. If that is the life they want to live, they can move to where they can live it, not bring it here.

    Mike

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  • W

    WillApr 14, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    I’m amazed this article made it past the editors considering the outright untruths it propagates, and the fact that it did speaks volumes about the Editors of the Collegian.

    And for just one example, the spitting/racial incident at the Capitol was fully debunked at least a week ago. Frankly, I’m surprised the author of this piece was unaware of this.

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  • D

    DanApr 14, 2010 at 10:33 am

    You are so right….. how dare anyone challenge the spending Barack Obama and co. are putting into legislation. Everyone loved it when Bush was spending, so its ok for liberals to do it today. Anyone that challenges the democrats must be racist rednecks without any rational thoughts as to reducing our national debt. Who cares about debt, someone else can pay it as long as we get what we want now.

    Sounds like the start of our problems with the housing crisis. The liberals wanted more “affordable” housing, so they fought and won for mandatory relaxed purchasing criteria, and everyone got a bit of something they couldn’t afford. And when it came time to pay, our economy went right down the hole. Obama and co. are just continuing spend policy. And, he won’t raise taxes, liberals will just implement fines and fees, just like the University doesn’t raise tuition, which is barely any of the cost of college, they raise fines and fees.

    Don’t be so delusional. If you honestly believe and buy the trash the media spits at you, you really aren’t thinking for yourself. You and too many others are still gassed on “Hope” and “Change” that you forgot to think about how the U.S. can lower debt and try to better benefit its citizens. Instead, over the current and previous presidency, politicians have spent and wasted. You should be writing articles about how our Gov. should be conservative controlled, not Dem. or Repub. controlled. But, liberals just want social welfare so now half of the honest hard working people can quit their jobs and live off Gov. dole.

    And don’t go off on how health care is paid for, theres 900B over ten years, but only six years of benefits. History shows us that Medicare, Medicaid and Soc. Sec. were projected to cost 10 times less than what they actually did. Other countries have also dug a lot deeper for socialized medicine and been rewarded with rationing. Instead of listening to Obama’s “testimonials”, talk to someone from another country.

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  • A

    AngieRSApr 14, 2010 at 7:30 am

    Not sure you should be making any comparisons at all with these loony tunes. And rather than celebrating the start of a revolution which was only made possible by the wars to clear the French from America, a little note of thanks to those who paid the price wouldn’t go amiss.
    I’ll bet a pound to a penny that the deaths of those British soldiers who fought the French in that first war of independence with Wolf are not marked in any way at all yet a celebration about some men who didn’t even have the guts to show themselves but preferred to blame the Indian is ok.
    They’re heroes for disguising themselves and tipping some tea into the harbour. It’s a shame they didn’t reflect on the cost in lives and money it took to give them the freedom to do that.

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  • E

    Ed CuttingApr 14, 2010 at 1:24 am

    “The enemy of socialism, that scourge of western civilization. The woman with eyesight so strong, she can see Russia from her porch.”

    Sarah Palin never said that line! It was Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live who said it — it was a great line and delivered only the way that Tina Fey could deliver it, but Sarah Palin never said it!

    What she did say was that she was the governor of a state that bordered two foreign countries (Russia & Canada) and Alaska is unique in this regard. We can say what we want about the relevance of this, but it is factually correct. Alaska does border Russia (via a narrow strait) and Canada….

    And it was Comedian Tina Fey who said “I can see Russia…”

    Facts matter. This is supposed to be an academic institution and is it too much to ask that people get their facts right?

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