The erosion of liberty by government is becoming an increasing concern of the citizenry. "It is jeopardizing the principles this country is founded on." said William Perks of Centerport, NY one of the organizers of a Tax Day Tea Party scheduled to be held on Friday April 3rd at 4pm in Northport NY, a picturesque waterfront community on the north shore of Long Island. Fashioned after the historic Boston Tea Party of 1773, the event is being staged in 115 cities nationwide.

In case you haven't noticed, the many freedoms we have enjoyed in this country have been, and continue to be systematically eroded and "a growing number of people...are worried about losing those rights guaranteed under the constitution" says Mr. Perks. This Friday Tax Day Tea Party is a first attempt in this community to bring together concerned citizens to express their concern over the direction the country has been taking.

This is a great thing - this is a living example of people enjoying their rights of free speech and freedom to assemble publicly without fear of government retribution. This IS a great country...for now.

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Follow up:

While this article is not intended to be an attack on our new administration, few cannot agree that in the last 90 days we have seen a tsunami of bold, and to be honest "troubling", initiatives come out of Washington. I'd like to be able to say "If you've been reading the news/watching the TV lately, you know what I'm talking about" but the sad truth is that even though many of our citizenry believe themselves to be well informed about issues, they are well informed to the point that their favorite news organizations wish them to be.

Rather than being fully rounded and thought out in the traditional sense of a great debate, too many of us take the easy way out by adopting someone else's ideas as our own rather than critically evaluating the information we take in. I've seen this behaviour before, in my own sister-in-law, who took up with the Jehovahs. By falling for their version of the bible - their propaganda (and they do have their own which supports their faith), she abdicated her personal responsibility for the convenience and safety of someone else's ideals. This same trend can be seen in the United Sates of America in relation to our collective attitudes/efforts concerning governance.

There are those (plenty I might add) who condemn this sort of demonstration, particularly the Tea Tax idea, a sham -a GOP public relations stunt. One virulent tirade was posted by one Jeffrey Feldmanon the http://www.alternet.org website on March 1, 2009. His scathing attack on a recent newspiece by CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli was tantamount to a "burning at the stake" because Santelli expressed an opinion contrary to his.

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What we discovered is that Santelli’s “rant” was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a “Chicago Tea Party” was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced.

It is already widely recognized (you did hear about the Pew Research findings regarding the slanted coverage of the presidential election - didn't you?) that almost all major media outlets no longer adhere to journalism's once-sacred principle of objectivity. Just reporting the facts, devoid of interpretation and hence bias, has gone the way of the buggy whip. Most media outlets DO NOT want you to hear ideas and opinions contrary to those of their "puppet masters" and in fact use every opportunity to vilify anyone (like Santelli) who expresses an opinion contrary to their own agenda.

Do we need an organized effort to defend our liberties against the onslaught of media one-sided-ness? You bet we do! Do we need the financial support of billionaires to level the playing field vis-a-vis the huge budgets of media giants? Absolutely!Our democratic form of governance requires that voters be informed about every side of an issue in order to make an intelligent choice about our options.

Is the Tax Tea Party a grassroots or GOP PR Effort? I say, "Who cares????" Someone has to mobilize the silent majority of dissatisfied Americans. Since no one is paying citizens or otherwise compelling people to attend rallies and voice their opinions, who cares who organizes the event? Go, don't go - it's your choice! I just thank God someone cares enough about the basic founding principles of this country, and has the luxury of the time required to mount such an effort, to put in the time and money to do so. Just as we need ALL the facts to make an intelligent decision, we need ALL the opportunities we can get to allow our voices to be heard. I will choose to attend a Tax Tea Party freely, while I still can, in the hopes I never lose that right.

Are you with me?

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Click here to register to attend the Friday Tax Day Tea Party in Northport, NY

Next Round of Tea Parties July 4, 2009 check here for location near you