Tea Partiers Have a Very Mixed-Up Notion of What the American Revolution Was About

[annabanana]

Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/story/150097/tea_partiers_have_a_very_mixed-up_notion_of_what_the_american_revolution_was_about?page=entire

Memo to Tea Party: The major political battle during the American Revolution was over the proper uses of money and credit. Not getting government out of the economy.

The possibly startling fact is that the major social battle raging before, during, and after the American Revolution was over the proper uses of money and credit in American life. For ordinary people of the period, these were hardly abstractions. The only real money in 18th-century America was metal — silver and gold coin from England, Spain, and Mexico — and for long, terrible periods, money was rarely seen by ordinary people. Small farmers and artisans, wanting to survive and improve their lot, had to borrow. Merchants, gaining access to metal through imperial trading networks, used their money to make money, becoming lenders. Well before the Revolution, Americans defined themselves in practical terms either as “debtors” — poor and working people in small-scale enterprise — or “creditors” — well-heeled merchants growing their money by lending it.

[drm604]

1. K&R

Great article.

[nxylas]

2. Proud to be the 5th rec

The article made me want to learn more, which is always a good sign.

[border_town]

3. We should all be

pissed off that these people high jacked the true historic Tea Party. I always refer to these knuckle heads as the fake tea party. I am sure the Texas school board is already changing their history books.

[Populist_Prole]

4. Morphing of the tea party sure didn't take long

To garner maximum legitimacy and credibility as a quasi-3rd party it was all about libertarianism.

Then it moved with ever increasing speed to unabashed corporatisism.

Then the blind eye towards warmongering, if not the outright support of interventionist foreign policy.

Finally they mixed in the christian evangelism and social issues to make the mix complete.

-- And now what have you got? Old George Bush fanboys; Basically the hard right of the GOP.

How different it became of the original stated goal! Populists my ass...............

[Zoeisright]

5. Teabaggers are confused, period.

That's because they're unbelievably stupid and greedy.