Life

I fit the profile according to this article in the paper today...Tea Partiers are wealthier and better educated than the general public, and the 18percent of Americans who identify themselves as such tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

They hold more conservative views than Republicans generally do. They are also more likely to describe themselves as "very conservative" and President Barack Obama as "very liberal."
And while most Republicans say they are "dissatisfied" with Washington, Tea Partiers are more likely to call themselves "angry."

Their responses to the poll are like the general public's in many ways. Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as "fair." Most send their children to public schools. A plurality do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, and they call Social Security and Medicare worth the cost to taxpayers.

Tea Party supporters' animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the administration is disproportionately focused on helping the poor.

The overwhelming majority of supporters say Obama does not share the values most Americans live by. Twenty-five percent think that the administration favors blacks - compared with 11 percent of the public. Asked what they are angry about, Tea Partiers offered three concerns: the health-care overhaul, government spending and a feeling that their opinions are not represented.

I think I'm going to join the Tea Party, which is appropriate on this day of tax. I'm not entirely sure what the "platform" of the Party is but from the internet I believe its something along the line of "deep love for the uniqueness of the United States of America, a desire for the limited government that our Founding Fathers created, a fairly "strict" interpretation of the Constitution, a belief in capitalism and free enterprise and a strong sense of personal responsibility". I'm all for those things, especially if limited government means less taxes.

I was going to post my total tax payment this year, federal, state and local, medicare, etc. but I can't. It disgusts me how much we pay. This income redistribution is real. 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax. And it's worse than that, they actually get checks back from the federal government. The other 53 percent of us foot the bill for them. Another interesting note, the richest ten percent of Americans pay 75 percent of the entire income tax that the government collects. I don't think this is sustainable. I'm not sure what the end result will be but I don't think it will be pretty. I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said socialism is great until you run out of other people's money. I think we are getting close to that in this country.

The plumbing is finally in the right spot!