I have been reading American Tempest - How the Boston Tea Party Sparked a Revolution by Harlow Giles Unger (2011). It explains the social and political atmosphere of Boston right before the the start of the American Revolution. It occurred to me that the wealthy back then share some striking similarities to how the wealthy elite are now shaping and influencing American politics. Unger writes:
The dissenting merchants responded to the increased taxes by organizing waterfront workers into a raging mob that surged through the streets, taking control of the town and its government...Chief Justice Peter Oliver explained "that all this struggle and uproar arose from the selfish designs of the merchants." He called them "mock patriots who disguised their private views by mouthing it for liberty...[but] who will sacrifice everything for money."
Although there is no "raging mob" taking over the government, the wealthy in this country have certainly taken control of the government and are pushing their agenda which will likely make them even wealthier. Their agenda is usually packaged with similar tones of patriotism, small government, and what's "good" for the country.
It is ironic that the modern Tea Party Patriots are named after a group of men who dumped tea in Boston's harbor over 200 years ago because they have very little in common with them. The original Tea Party Patriots were mostly skilled craftsmen. They were protesting a tax on tea by Parliament being imposed upon them without representation, when most of these men would not have been represented in Parliament if they resided in England because, of course, only the wealthy landowners were represented in Parliament. These men were followers of Sam Adams' propaganda. He was successfully able to convince colonists of the evils of Parliamentary rule. The Boston Tea Party was not a unifying event for the colonists; it was divisive. George Washington condemned the act, as did many other colonists, especially from the south. The crown declared it to be an act of treason and closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for. This is what the the modern Tea Party has chosen as their rallying point.
The Tea Party IS for lower taxes, but for the wealthiest. Many Tea Party organizations are backed by very wealthy businessmen such as Americans for Prosperity backed by David Koch. They also support an original interpretation of the U.S. Constitution which was written by wealthy white men and left out rights for a large portion of the population.
I think that the original Tea Party Patriots thought they were committing a bold act by dumping the tea into the harbor. They were rallying to the idea of freedom of the colonists to govern themselves. Sadly, it didn't change their lives the way they maybe expected it would. As Unger writes:
[F]or most Americans - the Revolutionary War and independence from Britain produced few immediate benefits or changes in their way of life - except to free the wealthy elite in each state, America's "aristocracy" of sorts, to govern without oversight by British authorities...Those who served the wealthy before the Revolution continued to serve them afterward, having gained no benefits.
This indeed may be what the modern Tea Party wants...