On the way home from the TEA Party in Atlanta I took the MARTA train service. No one expected there to be more people at the protest than at the Braves game, so MARTA was running their normal number of trains. That put a lot of people in REALLY close proximity to each other for a while when we were all trying to get away from the protest at the same time.
It was on that ride that I had to scratch my head and wonder what it was that people miss when they go to events like the TEA Party. The protest was all about preserving freedom, reducing regulations, shrinking government, controlling spending and so on. To me, they seemed like pretty straightforward issues.
I was soon to find out that others have a different skew on the same issues.
Two guys who looked to be in their mid-twenties were chatting as they got on the train and ended up next to me – RIGHT next to me (we’re talking sardines in a can type of next to me). Suddenly I was thrust into their conversation whether I liked it or not. Normally I ignore conversations on trains, but this time they were right there in my face and they were ticking me off, so I had to say something. It was that kind of night.
They said (I’ll paraphrase to keep this brief and get to the point) they wish Atlanta would outlaw smoking in all buildings, and barring that they would like to see a high enough tax put on cigarettes and cigars to MAKE people stop smoking.
Okay… bear in mind we were all coming from the TEA Party. I know they were, too, because I asked them. They asked if I was a smoker and I said no, but that was not the point. The point was they were doing exactly what they were just out there protesting against.
They looked at me like I had two heads – for some reason they were having a lot of trouble understanding what one had to do with the other – so I explained it to them.
First of all there was their desire to pass an ordinance to control a behavior. That seems to be the first/reflex reaction of the Leftists. Pass laws to force people to do what you want them to do. It’s easy to justify it as being for their own good – and in the case of smoking most people hate having to smell smoke while they’re eating. At that point they’re infringing on my right to a good meal, but smoking in restaurants is already banned in Atlanta, these two were talking about a general ban. The whole point of the TEA Party was to protest the loss of our freedom to our government. The way it’s going right now people will no longer be allowed to live their lives without oppressive laws that force them into behavior dictated to by government leaders who think they know what’s best for us. It always starts out as well-meaning laws, but after you pile one after another on top of each other you slowly lose your freedom.
The other problem was that they were okay with using the tax on cigarettes to control behavior – in this case smoking. In a few months we’re going to be facing another tax, this one on gasoline, to control our driving habits and force us to buy those golf carts with a top or force us onto the new rail systems we HAVE to have. Our freedom is not being taken away in a coup – although that is the end result - our freedom is being taken away incrementally with little laws that are usually based in emotions rather than a logical thinking through of what these kinds of laws are ultimately going to do to us as a country. Right now we are slowly handing over our freedom to a bunch of people who are interested only in their own aggrandizement. We have to learn to be more vigilant and resist the tug of sentiment to solve problems.
It was on that ride that I had to scratch my head and wonder what it was that people miss when they go to events like the TEA Party. The protest was all about preserving freedom, reducing regulations, shrinking government, controlling spending and so on. To me, they seemed like pretty straightforward issues.
I was soon to find out that others have a different skew on the same issues.
Two guys who looked to be in their mid-twenties were chatting as they got on the train and ended up next to me – RIGHT next to me (we’re talking sardines in a can type of next to me). Suddenly I was thrust into their conversation whether I liked it or not. Normally I ignore conversations on trains, but this time they were right there in my face and they were ticking me off, so I had to say something. It was that kind of night.
They said (I’ll paraphrase to keep this brief and get to the point) they wish Atlanta would outlaw smoking in all buildings, and barring that they would like to see a high enough tax put on cigarettes and cigars to MAKE people stop smoking.
Okay… bear in mind we were all coming from the TEA Party. I know they were, too, because I asked them. They asked if I was a smoker and I said no, but that was not the point. The point was they were doing exactly what they were just out there protesting against.
They looked at me like I had two heads – for some reason they were having a lot of trouble understanding what one had to do with the other – so I explained it to them.
First of all there was their desire to pass an ordinance to control a behavior. That seems to be the first/reflex reaction of the Leftists. Pass laws to force people to do what you want them to do. It’s easy to justify it as being for their own good – and in the case of smoking most people hate having to smell smoke while they’re eating. At that point they’re infringing on my right to a good meal, but smoking in restaurants is already banned in Atlanta, these two were talking about a general ban. The whole point of the TEA Party was to protest the loss of our freedom to our government. The way it’s going right now people will no longer be allowed to live their lives without oppressive laws that force them into behavior dictated to by government leaders who think they know what’s best for us. It always starts out as well-meaning laws, but after you pile one after another on top of each other you slowly lose your freedom.
The other problem was that they were okay with using the tax on cigarettes to control behavior – in this case smoking. In a few months we’re going to be facing another tax, this one on gasoline, to control our driving habits and force us to buy those golf carts with a top or force us onto the new rail systems we HAVE to have. Our freedom is not being taken away in a coup – although that is the end result - our freedom is being taken away incrementally with little laws that are usually based in emotions rather than a logical thinking through of what these kinds of laws are ultimately going to do to us as a country. Right now we are slowly handing over our freedom to a bunch of people who are interested only in their own aggrandizement. We have to learn to be more vigilant and resist the tug of sentiment to solve problems.
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