Today’s movement is not what you speak of from 1773. I get and respect your unwavering stand on your principles but the current movement was kicked off by Santelli (not a stock broker), Karl Denninger and many others who called for actuial tea parties or suggested sending tea bags to elected officials to show their anger. They used their positions in the media and blogs to stir things up.
With respect to your mentioning FR as a source for Tea Partt activism, sorry but no sale on that. FR wasn’t calling for rallies to stop the spending when Bush was in office, was it? Were you leading the movement to stop the entitlement (socialistic) spending? How about demanding that Republicans stop serving as the puppets of Wall St and allowing them to game the system at the expense of the average tax playing slob?
Well, during Bush our chapters were preoccupied with counter protesting the antiwar liberals. Maybe you missed it but the FReepers protested in every city across the land during both the Clinton and Bush years. And we objected daily on the pages of FR to Bush’s big spending. And FReepers continue to attend and support tea party rallies all across the country. It’s a natural for us.
And, no, we will not try to separate Life from Liberty. They are inseparable.