Don't Tread On Me!

by Dennis Green

Whether the Egyptian Cobra, (the goddess Wadjet, “the Green One”), the Water Moccasin, the Black Mamba or the Rattlesnake is the more lethal of the venomous vipers, there is some debate.

Federalist? Whig? States Rights? Independence? Libertarian? Who, me? Well, at heart I’m a Rebel, even at my best moments an Anarchist, although some of my rivals call me the AntiChrist. S’all good.

Along with much of the citizenry, I’m sharing a spirit of discontent with my government. It’s expensive, it doesn’t work, and it makes promises it can’t keep. Other than that, why would anyone dislike it?

The most primal instinct of all is the one that tells us we don’t want other people telling us what to do, pushing us around, taking advantage of us, abusing their power, or lording it over us. And those are not just populist sentiments of the working class, or a dislike of the ruling classes. It’s common sense.

So we begin with a native rebellious instinct. And then let’s see just how many incremental layers of imposition we can stand slathered onto our bare bone sense of ruthless independence. In my case, not much.

I grew up, like most of you, believing, being taught, that our leaders govern at the will and pleasure of we the people. And that’s neither a populist or an elitist notion, not class-based at all. Yes, the gap between the college-educated and the hoi polloi has widened since the Sixties, and so has the gap between the Middle Class and the Affluent. But our expectations of government have remained pretty much the same.

“Don’t Tread On Me!” Don’t interfere in my life. Keep your hand out of my back pocket. Keep your nose out of my bedroom and my bong. Provide the very few communal services that the private sector doesn’t do very well, like infrastructure and a general sort of safety net. But we don’t really need a “standing army” for rapid response to threats that haven’t existed in decades.

And it will be a matter of some debate just how much protection we need from big biz, from polluters and Big Pharma and Agribiz. And if the market is really free — free of regulation — then let it go into freefall if the Masters of the Universe screw it up. No bailouts. Let natural selection do its ruthless work.

But if one measure of our character is how easily we are offended, another measure is what and whom we admire. If the Tea Partiers really admire former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as much as they appear to, and former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, who called for a national literacy test, then perhaps these two characters reflect the character of the movement.

Palin, it turns out, resigned her position of Governor a year before her term ended because her polling experts told her she didn’t stand a chance of re-election, that her notoriety from the Vice Presidential campaign would work against her, and that her fifteen minutes of fame and book sales would quickly fade among a wider audience if she stayed in Alaska.

As for Tancredo, most of his legislative proposals failed, along with his 2007 campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. Another loser. With this lack of focus, the Tea Party Movement may be a loser too. And if the Republican Party attempts simply to replace its former ruling contingent, the Neo-Cons, with Tea Baggers, it may just hasten its own demise too.

68% of voters surveyed say they would vote for a candidate who does not belong to either the Democratic or Republican Parties. I’m one of them.

©2010 Dennis Green