Like many I thought the original Tea Party was about the British raising taxes on tea. Today I learned that the real Tea Party was about what we commonly call corporatism. Contrary to my belief and that of many taxes were not raised on tea, rather they were lowered. The taxes were lowered to give the East India Tea Company an advantage selling tea in the colonies taking away the advantage of tea "smugglers" otherwise known as American entrepreneurs.
Think about this in view of today's "Tea Party." Today's tea party is all about lowering taxes on corporations and the filthy rich, precisely those people who the original tea party members were fighting. The US revolution was in part about "unfair" taxation; lower taxes on the filthy rich and humongous corporations than on the rest of us. Hardly anyone reports this.
I thank TruthOut for republishing the Thom Hartman video here. The video is where I first learned the truth about the original Tea Party.
I apologize for not being able to find the transcript. The video is below.
Watch and learn.