Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics General Stuff December 16, 1773

Where's the Outrage?

As Bernie Madoff sits in his apartment.
As the banks take hundreds of billions to cover their mistakes
As CEO's guide companies into failure and get millions in bonuses
As Congress gives away 750B after six days of discussion
As we went to war on the basis of lies
As the failed economy puts Americans on the edge of despair
As no one ever goes to jail for their crimes
As bankers and brokers speculated to drive oil to $150bbl
As 40,000 lobbyists buy the government for the Corporations
As every regulative body has failed in it's trust
As the President failed to abide his Oath of Office
As the Supreme Court turned to Political decisions
As the Constitution is ignored
As our children face a life of debt

Where's the outrage?

Americans are like puppy dogs who follow the pack leader, yip yapping all the way, but with an attention span of only seconds or minutes. A psyche that that allow others to guide thoughts and divert intentions to the latest entertainment scandals.

Three hundred million followers who have lost the ability to be angry.

Three hundred million, too laid back to take direct action.

Three hundred million, inured to insult.

Three hundred million, slaves to lies propagated by 1% of their number.

Three hundred million who forgot what it was like to feel the power of their own numbers.

Three hundred million who would never consider repeating the outrage of December 16, 1773.

That's my opinion!

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You are quite right, Cousin It, but that is only one half of the story. Life in America is rather like war: years of mind-numbing inaction punctuated by moments of terror and hysteria. The Boston Tea Party is a good example, since it initiated the cycles of hysteria which which have been so much a part of the American Experience.

The smuggling kingpin, the Mafioso of Boston, John Hancock, organized a mob of thugs to destroy the property of the East India Company because the tax on tea was too low! Hancock could no longer compete selling his smuggled tea from Holland, and he was facing financial ruin. The richest man in America was not going to stand for that! The rest is history ---- the history with which we are brainwashed in elementary school.

In recent times Americans have been suckered into anti-communist hysteria in the 50's, Vietnam hysteria in the 60's, 2001 hysteria recently, and here we go again!



This year so many people will be hurting, we will certainly slide into another period of frantic activity and wasted energy, punctuated by terror and confusion. Fasten your seatbelts; we're entering turbulence; it's going to be a rough ride!

I really wish Americans could find a happy medium between supine indifference and mindless hysteria!

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Sorry, It, but I am not much of a fan of outrage.

A big increase in thoughtful analysis would be very welcome, however.

Why is this thread titled: December 16, 1773? I thought, perhaps, the thread would have something to do with history.

Itstarted is trying to create another salt tea celebration.

You clearly did not read my posting. Oh, well.

Come on! High School American history!

Boston Tea Party!

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THE GODFATHER

Boston Tea Party Historical Society ---- John Hancock - Smuggling Powerhouse


He also pretty much bankrolled the Continental Congress [Remember his signature on the Declaration of Independence?] ---- at least during the early stages of the Terrorist Insurrection.

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Ummm... I spose that's me too... I don't even own a protest T Shirt.
Actually, I'm less concerned about the ones who aren't rioting than I am about the ones who are asleep.

The protestors in Boston were not complaining because tea was too cheap. They were protesting British machinations against American freedom. The colonies were refusing to pay the taxes anyway (the Townsend Acts), so the British lowered the tax on tea as part of a clever ploy. The East India company (a de-facto extension of the British government at the time) had not only a monopoly on tea, but now a rate low enough to make it the cheapest source of tea. The idea, of course, was that they could not only destroy the competition, but force the colonies to tacitly acknowledge the British right to tax them. Once the precedent was set and acceptance garnered, the rate would then be restored.

Did self-interested smugglers contribute to the demonstrations? Almost certainly. In the history of the nation, there hasn't been a bill signed, a protest held, or a march marched, that didn't have someone attempting to maneuver for their own advantage. That doesn't change the fact, however, that the vast majority of participants were honestly outraged, or the validity of their concerns.

Wars are expensive beasts. Anywhere in the world, I don't know of a single war for independence or civil conflict in the last 250 years that wasn't funded largely by someone looking to profit from the new conditions. Do you?

That in itself, however, implies nothing about the moral justification of the cause itself. Pecunia non olet.