This editorial appeared in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Conservatives in general and Republicans in particular are going back to their fundamental beliefs of smaller government and lower taxes with todays "tea party" protests against President Barack Obama's handling of the economy.
It's sad that too many of them ignore the role their duly elected representatives and the prior presidential administration played in getting the nation into its current fiscal mess.
Tax cuts, the cost of fighting two wars and increased spending on government-funded entitlement programs – Medicaid and Medicare – played as large a role as the oft-cited waste, fraud and abuse.
It's also important to note that 50 percent of the taxes that folks are railing against on this deadline day for federal income tax filings aren't a function of the federal government at all. Those taxes and fees come from state, county and local governments.
Blame, like credit, should go where it's due.
Tossing tea makes a visual exclamation point, but the partiers are misguided in reviving the "taxation without representation" claim.
The protestors are represented – in the halls of Congress, in state capitols, at city halls across the country. Yes, their kindred spirits may be in the minority these days. But even in the majority they did little to rein in the spending that got the country into the hot water it is steeping in now.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
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