Kent Bush: T.E.A. Parties confused symbolism with substance

Cynics aren't born. They're trained.

Unfortunately the lowest common denominator represents the height to which most people can rise.

Few know the true meaning of public service. Few ever support a cause beyond their own self-interest.

Shakespeare was talking about life in general, but his description pegged yesterday's T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) Party rallies held across America. It was an event promoted by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Watching these people with their tea bags following the lead of a CNBC stock wonk and his band of bloviating broadcast boneheads believing they were recreating one of the most significant events leading up to the American Revolution was intellectually insulting beyond imagination.

Not only was it a sad public relations stunt for all of the radio hosts who planned live broadcasts to pump up their own ratings at the expense of those poor people wanting to feel like they are "sending a message" to Washington, it wasn't even attended by its creator.

Rick Santelli, who led this uprising by calling out President Barack Obama from the trading floor for bailing out people who had purchased houses they couldn't afford while good people like himself were paying for their own mortgages, just couldn't find time to attend one of the events he inspired with his on-air rant.

"I think that this tea party phenomenon is steeped in American culture and steeped in American notion to get involved with what's going on with our government," Santelli said with all of the sentiment of anyone who talks a lot and does little. He went on to say,  "I haven't organized. I'm going to have to work to pay my taxes, so I'm not going to be able to get away today. But I have to tell you -- I'm pretty proud of this."

So he ran his mouth and let other people do the heavy lifting for the silly plan. It was an event so inspiring he didn't even attend.

That is the sort of hypocrisy that inspires true cynicism.

He's like the employee who wants everyone to spend $50 on a Christmas gift exchange but then doesn't even come to the party.

But the event didn't need him. After he provided the spark, afternoon radio was filled with each host one-upping the next until finally, a movement was born.

Mail in tea bags, bring tea bags to events, heck, throw tea bags over the fence at the White House. That will show Obama and his Congress. That will teach them.

In reality, the only thing it did was show that these people really don't like tea.

The Boston Tea Party wasn't a symbolic act. It was a real action that represented the feeling of the colonies about the inherent unfairness of how they were being taxed. When the tea was spilled in the Boston Harbor, the Coercive Acts were passed to force the colonies to pay for the tea they wasted. The reaction to the Coercive Acts led to the Revolutionary War in which America won her independence.

No one's ratings increased. No one profited financially. To compare the April 15 farce to a true act of rebellion against an oppressive government is either cynical or ignorant.

I'm not saying I don't understand the fear that current policies are creating a debt load that will rain down stress on our children's children.

We are leveraging the future hoping that the economy will rebound enough to help pay back the tab we are running up trying to repair our floundering economy.

I am saying that goofy get-togethers don't help anyone except those who pander to well-meaning people by confusing symbolism with substance.

Wednesday's T.E.A. Parties may as well have been held in a little girl's bedroom as on the Capitol steps.

Both are equally effective.

Augusta Gazette