Sarah Palin's "Just Like Us?"

That's what her followers say. Yup. They hear her speak, follow her in the tabloids, and yawn through 59 minutes of world news and important stuff, just waiting for a possible soundbite.

So, let's see how it is that she's an ordinary American, just like me? Not sure really. In her speech to the Tea Party (and that's a whole 'nother topic) she said (I'm quoting from CNN here) "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you?"

Now, Dr Phil jokes aside, would I get up in front of a relatively large crowd and use words like "hope-y" or "change-y"? No, and I wouldn't use them in daily conversation with anyone except maybe a 6 month old. "Time to Change-y that stink-ey diaper," comes to mind. Hmmm. So going back to this large crowd of Tea Party conventioneers...sorry...attendees, that's how they converse? They want to take back America with toddler talk?

Maybe! We the people aka Sarah Palin and friends, aren't happy and we want things our way. We will stomp our feet. Throw temper tantrums. Call people names. Until you give in and let us make the rules. "America is ready for another revolution," she told her rabid avid fans...but is she?

To relate herself even remotely to those incredibly brave, heroic folks (love that word) who actually started the American Revolution is really absurd. When you read the actual letters and notes of the colonists at that time, of our founding fathers and mothers....you find they lived an incredibly horrific existence for years. Women stayed home, sure, and worked the farms and took care of the families and nursed the sick and wounded and educated the children and defended their homes and towns while the men travelled in the harshest of conditions throughout the colonies to meet, and recruit, and fight. It was bloody. It was frightening. It wasn't a festive time. There's plenty of documentation out there, but for my husband it's family history. His 5th and 6th great grandfathers and grandmothers lived it.

They didn't criss-cross the country side in a jet plane. Ride in Town Cars. Dine on Gourmet Fare. And get paid $100,000 to be folks-ey.

Or provide rabble-rousing ideas with no foundation. Like No More Taxes. Yeah sure, find some other way to fund the government. This will force us to stop trying to do too much. Government's job should be minimal anyway. So no more funding from the people.

Though, technically, isn't the Government and "We the People" one and the same? But let's ignore reality for a moment, shall we?

So, if I want police protection, I will have to pay for it myself. Here's a thought. How about I kick in a few bucks, and my neighbors will do the same. Then we'll choose someone to hire and supervise our new people-funded police department. Wow! That'll work. Hmmm. We'll do the same for Fire Protection. And the roadwork too. So...what shall we call these forced voluntary group contributions to maintain our safety and security....I don't know...I'm thinkin...hmmm.  A Tax-ey?????

It comes down to this. Extremism in any form is unproductive. The Boston Tea Party wasn't exactly extreme, it was a protest. It was somewhat effective in it's goal of making a statement. More importantly, it helped spur others to protest in a variety of ways,  becoming a collaborative effort across the colonies. Today's revolutionary Tea Party members don't appear to actually know their history. The actual Tea Party was symbolic. The real revolution was in what they did next.

Take Coffee. Yes, they started drinking Coffee. And told everyone else they had to do the same. Yep. That's pretty much why American's drink Coffee and the Brits drink Tea. History 101. By finding our own beverage to consume from a commodity found here in the West, we didn't have to compete with the imported untaxed Tea. Now what analogies can we draw from that. Click here

If you want to change history, start by changing your name. The Coffee Party. Hey! I drink coffee. I can relate to that. That'd be change-y we can believe in. We hope-y you understand.