The Next American Revolution

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it".  The American Revolution did not end on 4 July 1776.  I believe that people today are in a state resembling their ancestors of 1776. 

Grievances built up on a period of years by King George, initially passing the Proclamation of 1763 limiting the colonists to the coast area only, no transit over the Appalachian range of mountains to the West.  The Sugar Act followed in 1764, stimulating the cry - 'no taxation without representation'.  In 1765 the Stamp Act was implemented placing a tax on 54 kinds of paper within the colonies - from playing cards, newspapers at a tax of 1 cent to a college diploma tax of $10.00.  Payment were required to be made in gold or silver.

Conversely, November 2010, Americans voted in 60 new Republicans, the largest wave since 1948 and a Wall Street Journal pool of 13 October 2011 indicated 74% of the nation believed Government was moving in the wrong direction.  Harkening back to events of 1776, and before, a Second American Revolution may be brewing up, perhaps already begun.  The acts of George III led toward Lexington and Concord and the revolution; the actions of Barack Obama for TARP of 2008 and Stimulus Bills in 2009, unsustainable debt and voracious spending, tax increases, are comparable to the Intolerable Acts imposed by King George.  And there is the Tea Party, deriving its name from the 1773 Boston Tea Party in not without intention and consideration.

President Barack Hussein Obama targets raising tax on the rich, i.e. those making greater than $250K, in each  year of his Presidency.  While advocating a 'fair share payment', National Taxpayer Union data indicates the top 1% already pay 38% of all federal taxes with the top 10% paying 69.9% of all federal taxes.  Referencing 1999, the top 1% paid 36% of federal taxes suggesting an increase has already taken place in spite of the Bush Tax cuts that so exercise President Obama.

In 2008, 3 October, Congress passes The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and authorizes $700 billion for bank bail-outs. Immediately and early in 2009, the New York Young Americans for Liberty organize the "Tea Party" to protest both the bail out by the Government and taxes proposed by their Governor.  17 February 2009, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passes, adding $800 billion to spending on stimulus.  Two days hence, CNBC Business Editor Rock Santelli condemns the 'Porkulus Bill" just passed and a government advocated plan to refinance mortgages for irresponsible citizen home-owners, giving rise to more actions by Tea Party.  Immediately, the Tea Party Tax Protest sweeps across the nation.

Tea Party protestors rail against Crony Capitalism noting that politicians move freely from companies whose owners contribute heavily to Washington legislators yet those same legislators return to those companies or federal positions where they regulate the donor companies, after or before creating insider legislation or policies. Examples: (1) Julie Gerberding, CDC Head bringing Gardasil vaccine to market, moves to the President of Merck Pharmaceuticals Vaccine Division, Gardasil's manufacturer, (2) Suzanne Sechens, Monsanto GMS academic researcher is a primary Reviewer of Monsanto Bovine Growth Hormone for the FDA; (3)  Monsanto subsidiary Searle Senior VP Michael Friedman become the FDA Acting Commissioner;  (4) Jeff Immelt, GE CEO, 9th largest contributor and Now Obama Jobs Czar;  (5) Wallstreet Firm of Covington & Burling, Attorney General Eric Holder; (6) Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appears in the Obama Administration, an ex Goldman Sachs employee/protégé under Robert Rubin; (7) Congressman Jim Hines, appears in Congress, an ex-VP Goldman Sachs; (8) Richard Y. Roberts, Goldman-Sachs Managing Director but prior is a Security and Exchange (SEC) Commissioner;  (9) Paul Sarbanes of Sarbanex/Oxley Legislation is yet a prior Consultant/Lobbyist for Goldman-Sachs; (10) AARP/AMA and union Ad Agency Director, AKPD owner David Axelrod-Presidential Advisor; and the list could go on for many administrations prior and in depth for the current administration (Source: Hunter Lewis "Crony Capitalism in America").

The disconnect between non-Washington DC citizens and those elected to Washington DC appears to be a growing gap, a disconnect of the highest order, as great as the gap felt by the Founder and Framers 250 year earlier as they began their Revolution.  The level of frustration results in a Second Revolution as entrenched politicians are drummed out of office.

President Obama has discounted millions of citizens who protest high taxes, wasteful spending, excessive borrowing, conflict in the mid-east and a foreign policy of 'lead from behind'.  As did King George III, President Obama proposes high taxes constantly on millionaires as his response to those protestations.  Instead of listening to the complaints of the colonies, King George III treated colonists with distain, like unruly youth, and imposed severe and ruthless penalties.  The public sentiment shifted slowly within the colonies; some returned to England while others joined the ranks of citizens demanding independence from England untenable relationship that had developed.  While the Tea Party approaches problem solution from a Constitutional, fiscal conservative and free-market operational perspective, a second voice of dissention appeared and departed by the name of Occupy Wallstreet.  Both organizations epitomize the primal shriek against and insensitive and oppressive Government.  Like their precursors in 1770's, the majority no longer believe Government represents them.

Just as the Tea Party is linked through Facebook, the internet, Twitter, social media, the colonists in the 1770's began organizing farmers, blacksmith's, teachers, townsfolk, utilizing riders on horseback to spread the necessary word or gazettes in towns and cities to bring forth protest rhetoric.  Minutemen, on short notice, faced off against the British troops in Lexington and Concord, following the British all the way back to Boston while snipping and harassing the then strongest army.  They had defeated three companies of the King's army and inflicted serious damage.  Jumping forward in time some 250 years, a close election is Massachusetts was decided by the entry of the Tea Party, a new force in American political expression, influencing the selection of Republican Scott Brown to fill the empty seat dominated by Ted Kennedy for years.  Through the Tea Party, Brown was able to raise $1.3 million in one 24 hour period from donations by some 16,000 individuals.  In 2013, 2 Colorado Senators have been unseated by 7 determined voters using the recall-voter process because the Senators failed to honor the 2nd Amendment wishes of its constituency.  And in California, bluest of the blue States, Andy Vidak has replaced a long-standing Democrat Senator in the San Joaquin valley.  The first shots have been fired, not through rifles but through the ballot box.