| When conservatives held various Tea Party rallies on | | | | an adult with an income. Too many parents today |
| April 15th, many people turned up their nose and | | | | keep their grown kids on the dole; the kids become |
| pointed to the slogan of "no taxation without | | | | accustomed to it, and are forty years old and |
| representation." The idea was that conservatives had | | | | dependant on their parents. Come on. Sometimes, you |
| participated in the elections which resulted in | | | | just have to say "no," whether you are a parent or a |
| Washington's big spenders, and therefore couldn't gripe | | | | federal government. You have to let your kids - and |
| about the results. Now that states such as California | | | | your states - suffer the consequences of their |
| are asking for government bailouts, however, it is | | | | mistakes, or they will never learn. |
| increasingly clear that Tea Party critics will be unable | | | | California voters and officials have many, many |
| to repeat this mantra for the July 4th rallies (not to | | | | programs that I did not vote for. I never participated in |
| mention the smaller ones in between). | | | | an election for any of these programs. I didn't vote for |
| Various states - not just California - have found that | | | | any of the social or environmental programs that are |
| they are not the federal government. They lack the | | | | enacted in the state. In fact, I don't even know what it |
| ability to print money. Like many Americans, leaders in | | | | is I didn't vote on because, hey, it wasn't my election. |
| these states have found that they haven't been able | | | | If I never had a chance to make my voice - or the |
| to pay their bills. And like far too many Americans, they | | | | voice of my elected officials - heard, then why is it that |
| are expecting the federal government to bail them out | | | | I have to pay for them? Make no mistake; money |
| so they can continue spending more money than they | | | | used to bail out California will come from my taxes, |
| have. | | | | from my income, from my pocket, despite the fact |
| When I became an adult, I moved out of my mom's | | | | that I never had the opportunity to make my voice |
| house and into my own place. I was responsible for | | | | heard. |
| my own bills; I didn't look to my mom to pay them. And | | | | And that, my friend, is taxation without representation. |
| for good cause - she would have told me that I was | | | | |