Revolutions often begin in unexpected or unplanned ways. For instance, in Boston it was the taxing of tea that helped set our Founding Fathers on the path to war.
In December 1773, colonists boarded three ships and threw their cargo into the Boston Harbor. This tea party served notice to the king in London that his loyal subjects in the New World believed the Tea Act violated their constitutional rights. Of course, the king and the British Parliament did not listen and passed even more authoritarian laws. This led to more protests and eventually sparked the American Revolution.
So it should be of concern to Congress that bags of tea have started showing up in our mail. Constituents fed up with Washington are once again using tea to make a point to their tone deaf leaders. Today, hundreds of tea parties will be carried out across the country, including several here in the Kansas City area.
The issues have changed, but the sentiment is the same. The government in Washington has once again stopped listening to its constituents. In Missouri, we know that you cannot spend your way to prosperity. Yet, that is exactly what this government has been trying to do.
More than $2 trillion has been spent on bailouts and stimulus packages in the last year. In the $800 billion spending package, members of Congress had a few hours to read 1,000 pages of bill text. No one in Congress noticed that it authorized bonuses to AIG executives, which the House later voted to tax at 90 percent. Congress imposed a penalty on payments that it authorized! That should have been a sure sign that Congress was trying to spend too much money too quickly.
The spending has not stopped. Instead, Congress passed the biggest budget in U.S. history. It will result in a trillion dollar deficit this year and into the future. It will double our national debt in five years and triple it in 10 years.
Someone must pay for all this spending. That someone will be the American people. Small businesses that file as individuals will see their taxes rise under the administration’s proposal. A new climate tax would cost the average household $3,128 annually. A new tax rate for charitable giving would cost Americans $16 billion a year.
The president promised during the campaign that he would raise taxes only on the “rich.” Many small-business owners were surprised to find that Washington lawmakers considered them rich. However, that is not the end. As an ever-growing government continues to look for more money, we may all wake up one day to find out that Washington thinks we are rich.
We give Washington our money to spend wisely, but what is becoming increasingly clear is that Washington is just spending it as fast as it can. We are not just spending money that we do not have; we are spending money that our grandchildren will not have.
Americans deserve a government that understands you cannot tax and spend your way to prosperity. Today, citizens from across the country are pleading with Washington to stop spending and start listening. If you are tired of a government that is overtaxing and overspending, I encourage you to attend. Good government requires an active citizenry.
Perhaps a good ol’ fashioned tea party will remind Washington whose money it is spending.
Sam Graves, a Republican, is the congressman from Missouri’s 6th District and a resident of Tarkio.