Saturday Silliness: The World of Tea Party Make-Believe

At the top of the Tea Party Facebook page you find the big problem with the Tea Party neatly encapsulated in one wonderful quote.  The quote is: “When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty.”  It is attributed to Thomas Jefferson.  The problem is that there isn't a shred of evidence that those words ever came out of Thomas Jefferson's mouth.  (for the proof, check out the Monticello Website)   The Tea Party wants to wage on attack on 'big' government.  They want to ground that attack in American history.  The problem they face is twofold.  First, the specifics, the facts, are against the claim that government is inherently evil, wrong, and should be done away with in favor of unfettered markets and concealed handguns.  So, they have to stay vague.  Which is why they talk about 'big' government.  Second, the early history of America is the history of the establishment and strengthening of the Federal Government.  The fight against the British was not against government  but against the British Government.  The problem wasn't taxation, but taxation without representation.  The Constitution wasn't written to limit Federal Power, but to increase it in the wake of the failure of the Articles of Confederation.  Essentially, there is no historical or logical support for their cause so they have to imagine and invent it.  I can't fault them for lying.  They have to.  I do, however, fault the rest of us for believing it.