Betty Blogger

Yesterday, my brother-in-law invited me to a Tax Day Tea Party.

Now, normally, tea is just not my thing. I’m more of a coffee girl, particularly when said coffee is in the venti mocha variety prior to a meeting I’m not looking forward to attending. But when I opened my brother-in-law’s email, I realized that soon, it will be the Time for Tea.

This is because the Tea that my brother-in-law is peddling has nothing to do with refreshment, but everything to do with enfranchisement and having your Voice be Heard. This is because THIS particular Tea Party is the Tax Day Tea Party, and on April 15, my sister and brother-in-law and thousands of other Americans will be gathering in their respective cities (300 cities at last count, per www.taxdayteaparty.com) to peacefully yet unequivocally register their opposition to what our government---both Republican and Democrat alike---has allowed to happen in the span of a few short months.

A true “grassroots” effort, the first Tea Party took place in Chicago in February, and 30,000 participants later, the next event--the Tax Day Tea Party-- has taken on a life of its own. Average working Americans have embraced the example of their colonial forefathers in expressing their dissatisfaction over legislation that they feel is every bit as usurious as the tea tax that the British forced the American colonialists to pay just to enjoy a nice Darjeeling.  

In case you haven’t been paying attention, your 401(k) not being what it used to be and all, our representatives in government have used the faltering economy as a catalyst (i.e., Democrats) or a scapegoat (i.e., Republicans) for the current “change” of our system from one that is fundamentally capitalistic in nature to one that has, at its essence, the belief that everybody should have everything in equal amounts, regardless of effort or lack thereof. The stunning shift from self-reliance to “please, dear, let ME make that decision for you---and by the way, I’m going to have to tax you a (whole big) bit more for the privilege, thanks!” has left many of us feeling whiplashed, unable to tell when the accident happened, but knowing from the pain in our neck (and pocketbook) that we will never be the same.

What do you do? Watch Glenn Beck on the DVR and drink a beer, thinking self-pityingly that if only you had NOT been a responsible worker, you too may have had the luxury of a 4 percent mortgage refinance, courtesy of the stimulus package? Well, yes, you might do that, and you also might enjoy a mirthless laugh when you realize that your children have inherited so much debt that when they graduate from college many years hence, they will be forced to take a government job because that will be the ONLY KIND AVAILABLE, since all jobs with remotely corporate-ish inclinations will have been quashed as anti-American and “greedy” many years ago, during the Age of Obama.

Or else, you can say something. You can say, “Look, people, I’m watching, and I’m listening, and I’m not liking what I am hearing”. You can tell your Congressional representatives that their willingness to give short shrift to things like details and/or the Real Effects of Spending a Trillion Dollars When You Don’t have a Pot to Piss In just is NOT going to fly anymore.

We still have a pot, I realize, but it’s up for auction, in the form of bonds that our best customers (lately, the Chinese) aren’t inclined to, well, BUY, right now or for the foreseeable future. And what are we left with? A bunch of people who are trying to do what is quick and easy, as opposed to what is truly at its essence the right thing to do.

Doing the right thing is sometimes hard, but it is inevitably easier than dealing with the ramifications of taking the path of least resistance. As for me and my brother-in-law, even though we live thousands of miles apart, we will be at our respective Tax Day Tea Party state rallies on April 15. The only hope is that the people who represent us will actually take the time to listen to what we have to say.

Candace Cavanaugh Buehner lives and works outside of Detroit, Michigan, where the unemployment rate hit a new high of 12 percent  last month. We don’t like to brag.