Stimulus and Tea Parties - One Year Later

So, here we are, a year out from the Stimulus Package – and where are we?

Let's review the last year. It's been a wild ride!

The Housing Bubble had burst. TARP was passed. The torch had been passed from the despised George W Bush to the newly inaugurated "Annointed One." And the "Stimulus" was brought forth as the salvation for our nation. We stood on the brink… Without the stimulus we would fall over the edge into the abyss.

Unemployment was rising. The economy was failing. We had to pass the Stimulus immediately or we'd have a catastrophe. Without the Stimulus, we'd see unemployment get as bad as 8%.

So the Stimulus passed, and the Omnibus spending bill which tripled the previous deficit also passed. Goldman Sachs and other fat-cat cronies of the Democrat Party were bailed out. GM & Chrysler became wards of the state. Tax & Spend policies were turned loose to run amok in such an unprecedented manner that drunken sailors were chanting for temperance!

So many times in the last year, we've heard how these actions "pulled us back from the brink". But rhetoric notwithstanding, reality seems to indicate that we did indeed fall over that brink, and are currently freefalling inside that abyss!

When the Stimulus passed, 8% unemployment seemed like a catastrophe worth spending 787 Billion dollars to prevent! But it didn't work – we now have unemployment over 10%. The deficit has now almost been quadrupled and the debt limit is being raised almost monthly!

Big numbers are confusing so let's break them down for clarity: With approximately 250 million people in the country (men, women & children) that means it costs every human-being in the USA approximately $4 for every Billion dollars congress spends. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot… till you realize that they're spending so much that after they spend everything they're currently receiving, they're spending more than an additional $3 Billion every day! Over a trillion a year! That's debt! That's money you haven't given them yet, but you owe!! Every trillion is $4000 owed per person (not per family!)!

Our current debt is over $13 Trillion. So you now owe $52,000 over and above your current tax burden that they've already spent! And so do your kids. And they've raised the debt limit to almost 15 Trillion. And how soon before they hit that ceiling? At what point do they max out the credit card and have to stop spending??

Well… What else has happened over the last year?

Just days after the "Spendulus" or "Porkulus" bill passed the House; Rick Santelli made a now-famous rant on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade – calling for a "New American Tea Party"! Little did he know that these words would spawn a grassroots movement, the likes of which have not been seen since 1775!

Within days, on February 27, hundreds of cities saw the first Tea Parties. Some were small; and some were larger. The largest on that day occurred under the St Louis Arch at the Mississippi riverfront. Organizers expected only a couple hundred dedicated souls; but well over 1,200 showed up on a cold, dreary February Friday Afternoon! Productive working people took their lunch hours, or took time off work to send a message to Washington that they rejected big government! (Unemployed people and students were there too – proclaiming how they reject dependency upon Government even in the midst of their own hardships!)

On the heels of the Stimulus & Omnibus, the march was on for Socialized Healthcare. By April 15 (Tax Day) the sleeping giant of the American Patriot was fully awakened and engaged – and enraged! The Tax Day Tea Parties were even larger. A movement was underway. People were becoming informed about the healthcare bill soon to be dubbed "ObamaCare". The more they learned, the less they liked. And they let their elected representatives know about it.

As Congress departed Washington for their summer recess… they got an earful from their constituents. The Town-Halls of the summer of 2009 will go down in history as the re-emergence of the American Patriot Spirit!

Grannies stood up pointing fingers and scolding their congressmen! Servicemen, young people, housewives and students all stood up at these town halls and gave congress a piece of their mind. They rejected the spending. They rejected the encroachment and enlargement of Government. They opposed Socialism. They opposed Cap and Trade. They opposed the taxes. And most of all, they resisted "ObamaCare."

On 9/12, over a million Americans made their way to Washington, DC to march on the Mall against the Progressive Agenda. Smaller events simultaneously took place across the nation, with a sizeable turnout in Quincy, IL!

To date the "conservative resistance" has been very successful!

Obama has not been able to pass his Government Takeover of Healthcare. Cap and Trade has been forestalled. The Global Warming Hoax is being exposed. ACORN has been exposed. Gitmo is still open. Iraq/Afghanistan troops have been reinforced (though only receiving ¾ of the troop levels asked for!). McCain Feingold has been overturned by the Supreme Court. Gun rights have been upheld by the Court. We've seen election turnarounds in NJ, VA and MA. The NY-23 race showed that RINO Republicans can't count on support from conservatives. And Scott Brown proved that no seat is safe for the Democrats. Michael Steele is begging Tea Party Leaders to meet with him!

In all, perhaps the Conservative Majority has much to thank Mr. Obama for in the last year!

Of course, Obama is still saying how all our problems pre-dated him, and he inherited them!

Surprisingly, he's right to a degree. After almost 6 years of economic growth after 9/11… Our problems did begin during the Bush Administration… Right after the 2006 elections, with the takeover of the congressional majority by the Democrats!

February 27, 2010 marks the one year anniversary of the Tea Parties. Rallies are taking place, notably in St Louis, to commemorate one year of Effective Conservative Resistance. It will be interesting to see what the 2nd year of this Patriot Movement has in store.