The Real Danger of Washington Politics

The Tax Day Tea Parties started out as a grass roots protest against ill advised government spending fueled by the likes of Bob Basso and Rick Santelli.  (Basso has another youtube video (below) ).  These peaceful protests were co-opted by some right wingers and derided by left wingers, but it does not appear that Congress has heard it.  More protests are needed.

Interestingly, the real danger of Washington ignoring the protests is the ultimate dissolution of our Nation.  The subtle suggestions of secession were stated in the tea party protests.  The Dallas Morning Herald noted that Texas Governor Rick Perry raised the secession theme in his speech before a Texas tea party.

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry repeated his running theme that Texas' economy is in relatively good shape compared with other states and with the "federal budget mess." Many in the crowd held signs deriding President Barack Obama and the $786 billion federal economic stimulus package.

Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

Certainly, seccession is an unlikely scenario, but it remains a real possibility if Washington fails to act and remains unresponsive to the people that put them in office.  Here is Bob Basso as Thomas Paine in his latest video: