April Fools?

Today is tax day.

I encountered traffic while driving home. The causes? 1) Maybe tens of people were at a major intersection protesting various things from the idea of global warming to taxes and big government; and 2) I drove past the post office and its backlog of cars trying to file tax returns.

I had heard of this tea-party thing on the news, but it seemed kinda worthless to me in light of its complete lack of constructive ideas beyond grumpiness.

I have seen the urgings to send a teabag to your representative in a cute tip of the hat to the Boston Tea Party even though all taxation now comes from representation. Ironically, today was the day I was reminded that taxes have gone down.

That's right, my taxes have gone down. In fact, I was approached at work with my re-worked withholding because of the "Obama thing" so that I will literally have more money from my paychecks thanks to the stimulus plan. Which got me to wondering... What exactly were these folks protesting?

Should I take my cue from the signs? That's a start. What did those say? Well, I only saw a few because I was driving, but here they are:

"Man Made Global Warming is a HOAX" -- Hmmmm... Scientists don't agree with that one. I think the argument that "pumping billions of tons of carbon into the air has no effect" seems a bit weak. As for it being an actual hoax? Seems like crazy talk to me. She could have just saved some ink and written "I AM A FOOL." An April Fool at that!

"Save our Constitution" -- Bold. Direct. No ambiguity about that one. Unless you wonder from what our Constitution is to be saved. Then, it's really just a big ball of confusion. Can't be from taxes because 1) our constitution allows income tax and 2) our taxes have just decreased to stimulate the economy. Maybe it should be saved from a tax rate that's too low? Maybe this man was worried about not funding our needs as a society by failing to raise necessary funds.

Should we save it from our elected officials? I mean, they are ELECTED, you know and that isn't... wait... nevermind. Honestly, I could guess all day. I'm going to conclude that he wants our Constitution saved from the ravages of age and deterioration. I mean, it's old paper, so it could just turn to dust.

"Congress Kiss My Ass" -- Really, this says it all. Between this sign and the teabag campaign, I'm not sure whether these folks are angry or just really kinky.

"If you aren't outraged, you aren't a taxpayer" -- As someone who is a taxpayer without outrage, I take offense to this one. There, now I'm outraged. I'd be more angry if nothing were being done. Actually, you know what? I had my turn for outrage. Hey folks, it's your turn to be outraged! Knock yourselves out.

"Big Government Equals Smaller Liberty" -- No one seemed to care about this when the Patriot Act was passed. Seems a bit simplistic.

Various signs with the words "tyranny and socialist" -- Sigh. It's like the school yard all over again.

Let me repeat, TAXES HAVE BEEN LOWERED. I realize that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy won't be renewed in 2011 or whenever that comes up for renewal, but that won't affect anyone I know because I don't have extremely rich friends who make more than a quarter mil. But, even the campaign promise of prematurely ending those breaks was put off to help the economy. That's called compromise.

So, if the signs don't tell me why these folks are upset, what could it be? Probably they just disagree with the philosophy of the current administration. I get that. I've had to stew for 8 years. But throwing around "socialist" and "tyranny" during the debate? To quote Jon Stewart, "I think you are confusing tyranny with losing. You're in the minority. It's supposed to taste like a sh** taco."

So what could the gripe logically be?

I guess I just don't care.