re: #669 Occasional Reader

Yes, and some were carrying signs saying “Taxation is theft!”, which is a stupid overstating of one’s case.

But to the extent that elected representatives take note that there is a groundswell of people who do NOT think that an ever-increasing government presence in their lives is a good thing, the Tea Parties will have accomplished something.

If you think that will ever happen, you are deluding yourself. It is human nature to seek to expand the scope and scale of your power, and politicians do this for a living. They will only find less obtuse ways to continue doing so if faced with such a groundswell, after pitching a couple of meaningless bones to the crowds. In short, they’ll just start telling a different set of lies.

But if you think politicians are going to vote themselves less power, you’ll be waiting a very, very long time to see results.

The best solution - and really, the only solution - is to post lists of incumbents on the Internet and publicize them, while educating people to instinctively vote against anyone who’s served more than a couple of terms. Despite the “Liberal Revolution” that’s supposed to have taken place during the last couple elections, the turnover rate in congress is still in the single-digit range.