Today, April 15, 2009 — tax day — “tea parties” were held all over the country.  While some media outlets came out in support, others came out against, and just a couple reported on the facts without opinion — I stayed home.  The demonstrations were done to protest the rapid growth in government that has occurred over the past six months or so, beginning with the Bush administration and continued with vigor by the Obama administration.  The protestors believe that the federal government has grown beyond control and is acting beyond the authority granted to it by our Constitution.

I very much sympathize with these folks.  I just couldn’t muster the motivation to go to our local tea party.  I think part of my aprehension stems from the fact that I was pretty sure that it would end up being a Republican vs. Democrat thing.  In my mind, the two parties are both to blame.  They are both taking us to the same destination, in the opposite direction from what our founding fathers intended.  One party is just taking us there a little faster than the other.

For me, the discontent is not just about money.  Frankly, I have enough.  I’m certainly not rich, but I’m doing alright.  I have everything that I need and most everything that I want.  I’m very charitable, and I believe that we have a moral obligation to help those who are unable to help themselves.  But that’s where I think the problem is.  For too many years, we have been helping those who are perfectly able to help themselves.

This topic is much too complex to cover with one post on a Catholic conversion blog.  I will finish by saying that I believe the heart of this problem is that we have too many career politicians who have lost touch with reality.  Far too much energy is spent on wooing us for the sake of reelection.  We need congressional term limits.  Unfortunately, it will never happen during my lifetime.

I regret not going to my local tea party tonight.  When my future grandchildren ask me where I was when the people took our country back, I want to be able to say that I was on the front lines, speaking my mind.