Something better to do on a Tuesday afternoon

Ahh... a relaxing cup of tea! That's what I fixed for myself when I came home from a five-day trip (I'm a flight attendant- more on that later) this evening. Little did I know that tea would be on my mind for the rest of the evening, and no, not because of the caffeine content. I'm actually writing about modern-day tea parties.

I received an enthusiastic email from the woman who runs my neighborhood watch two days ago inviting everyone on her mailing list to a Rockford tea Party. Apparently a group of people in Rockford, IL, a place I proudly call home, are planning to organize and dump tea into the Rock River on April 14. The email then included an exciting offer to join an even larger group renting a bus to go dump tea in the Chicago river. All this for only $20! Oh... plus the cost of tea. Needless to say the email filled me with such anger and disgust I decided to take action.


Here is a copy of the invite.
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HAS GONE TOO FAR AND TAKEN TOO MUCH. We are Tax Objectors not tax avoiders nor tax cheaters. We pay our Taxes. We pay too much. Taxes must be reduced.. Government waste, fraud and abuse must be reduced. We will be heard on April 14, 2009 at the RockfordTeaParty and make our grievances known not only here in Rockford but also to the United States Government. Our Objections to the American Tax Code will be presented to various leaders peacefully. We are looking for 1000 people who also object. Join the RockfordTeaParty.

So after I vented a little rage I responded to this woman's email. I told her times must be ok if she had enough money to throw tea into the river. I also asked her to please remove me from her mailing list. I want nothing to do with this crackpot group. I would rather have my email inbox flooded with porn, ads, forwards and requests for money by Nigerian kings than this crap. I felt disgusting.

Writing her back wasn't enough to satisfy me. I still felt so sad and appalled. I was beginning to worry that people in Rockford may actually join this group. People from Rockford may actually think they are protesting higher taxes by dumping tea in the Rock River. I went to the city of Rockford website and looked up the ordinances regarding littering. Rockford city ordinance 25 prohibits littering and section c specifically mentions bodies of water. I will post it in a different blog. I forwarded the Rockford Tea Party invite and a copy of the ordinance to the neighborhood watch leader, the mayor, all of my friends and family and the chief of police. In the email I mentioned that hopefully they will be able to get the 1000 people they are trying to get. That would mean up to $100,000 in fines for the city!

I began to feel a little better. I felt like I was taking action but still it was not enough. That's when I decided to start this blog. I think it's important for the other side to be as vocal as the tea dumpers. I find huge fault with the whole tea party protest in general, The protest they are trying to make is nothing like the Boston tea party. Also, at a time when food pantries are overwhelmed and families are stretching their grocery budgets I think it's inappropriate to waste food for protest. Finally, it bothers me that this group is taking something as near and dear to Rockford as our Rock River and using to showcase their selfish, anti-community, anti-middle-class agenda.

The Boston Tea Party took place December 16, 1773 when officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain. The colonists were so incensed that they began dumping the tea into the Boston harbor. They were saying that they would rather dump the precious, expensive tea and waste it all rather than pay a tax to someone other than an elected official. This became a movement. It was not necessarily a protest against taxes. It was a protest against taxation without representation. There of course is so much more to the event, but without giving an American revolution lesson I feel that's the relevant info. One could look into the Tea Act of 1767, regarding huge import/export taxes of Tea, an agreement between one of the largest tea companies in the world and the British Parliament and a surplus of black tea with no buyers. To me, the important thing to know here is times were dire. People were paying taxes to a government that was not representing them. They were funding a monarchy.

Our taxes do not fund a monarchy. We just had one of those pesky little elections. You know, the thing that TV focused on instead of Britney Spears for a few months? So first of all, we have direct representation. We hold sovereignty. Second, we don't pay taxes to fund a monarchy or to help some queen's cousin's company stay afloat. We pay taxes because we have decided to have a society and in a society everyone works for a somewhat common goal. You may not want to drive where I want to drive but I bet you want to use roads to get there, right? Taxes pay for roads. You may not want to live in the same kind of house or apartment as me but I bet you want firemen to come save you if it's on fire, right? Taxes pay for firemen. Taxes pay for police. Taxes pay for schools... for maintenance of our infrastructure... for unemployment... for social security... for parks... for West Nile spraying... for pest control... and so on and so forth. With the number of things taxes are spread to cover it's a wonder we haven't paid more from the start.

I'm not for careless spending. I think our taxes should be kept as low as is possible but i also have a profound belief that it's necessary for everyone to contribute to this whole society idea if it is to work. Some are opposed to paying taxes in general. To those people I offer the idea of Haiti. Go to Haiti. No taxes. Of course, there are no roads, barely any homes, massive poverty and starvation and an overall desperate situation, but no taxes for you in Haiti. You can go and live a relatively isolated life and not have mess those pesky sewers or schools or anything.

Others are ok paying taxes but have a problem with where their tax dollars are going. To those people I suggest movement. We have representation here... now.... We can write to our congressmen, our senators, our alderman, the mayor, the governor, the president. If writing doesn't work we can call. If calling doesn't work we can vote for someone who will listen to us. If no such person exists we live in a nation great enough to allow us the chance to run for office ourselves. The options to be heard are endless but they do not begin by violating the law.

That brings me to another reason I am against the whole tea party protest. It is unlawful and unproductive, I know that tea is not in high demand. Homeless shelters may not need it. I volunteer at a homeless shelter and I know we would not really have use for large batches of tea. The greater point for me is that we are cultivating an atmosphere of waste and carelessness. Why dump any food into the river? It also seems contradictory to the argument that people have no money for taxes. You must have a little money if you are dumping it into the river! At least the tea meant something when the colonists did it. They didn't go home and round up a bunch of salt or sugar and bring it to the harbor to dump. The tea was direct from England and dumping it was relevant. Maybe an equivalent would be to dump a Chrysler in the river? I'm not sure on that one.

It upsets me to no end that this group has decided to dump tea into the Rock River. The Rock River is actually the name sake of Rockford. When early settlers came here they had to ford across certain sections of the river and the bottom of it was covered with rocks. That's where Rockford gets its' name. The recreation path along the Rock River is one of my favorite parts of the city. It's close to the historic downtown district and near many of our most beautiful and treasured landmarks. I'm offended that this group has decided to take a symbol of hard work, cooperation and community and use it to aid in their "every man for himself" agenda. When my grandmother's grandparents moved here from Sweden they had to help build the street in front of their home. They did so gladly because they were proud to help build up their own city. They wanted to live in a neighborhood in which they were vested. Using the Rock River, essentially a symbol of community organization and responsibility to make such selfish, individualist points is an insult to everything our town founders help dear.

In closing, I have one thing to say to those who wish to dump tea into the Rock River on April 14th: Bring your tea to me. I will thankfully take it. I love tea. I spend about eight dollars a week on tea and I could use the bailout!

Thanks for reading my blog. I will keep it going because I feel that it is imperative that we do all we can fight for the middle class. The stimulus package is flawed, to be sure, but an anti-community, anti-tax and anti-government mindset will only lead us further into civil unrest and despair. I love my city and my country and I want to make them better, not just for me but for the people around me.