Tea Parties Steep in their own bitter juices

Across the US, in every city and hamlet, if your were to believe the hype, Americans are gathering today to protest taxes and taxation. The truth to be told, the event is a fizzle rather than a tempest. And for good reason. The tea kettle it turns out is calling the kettle black. But the cause of astronomical spending increases the nation has been forced to endure has been to pay for the malfeasance of the past administrations and and their lemming like adherence to a lo tax no tax policy that failed to pay the nations debts. Failed not only to pay them, but to count them, shoved billions of obligations off the books and pretending they didn't matter.

An administration that was so enamored with the hands off - the best government is no government philosophy that it failed to regulate our financial institutions, and permitted naked greed to be the informal "law of the land." And one that failed to tackle the great issues before the American people such as our indefensible health care non system.

Now there can be no doubt that the huge deficits being incurred today are not troublesome. But give credit to Obama and his people for actually counting it, and not shoving it under the rug.

And while health care reform will require additional debt and risk to our system, it at least results in significant savings in the long run to people and businesses and stands a chance of creating a new medical economy based on a sounder financial and ethical footing.

This new debate is yet to develop, but the tea parties of today are but the beginning of a concerted effort to undermine progress forward in that regard. And while those partaking in their tea today, will claim a historical Bostonian link, remember that the tea spilt in Boston harbor was a protest against taxation. It was a protest against taxation without representation. While today's tea drinkers won't admit it, Obama was elected to clean up the mess they created and to set the nation on a new course.

And when I brew myself a cup of Earl Gray this afternoon, I will toast not to todays tea parties but to a brighter American future. Because as great as the deficit is, we can rebuild this nation and forge a more prosperous future for us all if we are willing to look forward, and avoid the idocies of the immediate past.