I am SO embarrassed.

Here I thought I knew the proper way to protest.  Keep it clean.  Stick to the facts.  Be consistent.  At all costs, avoid even the hint of hypocrisy. 

For the last eight years I have felt the need to express my thoughts in regards to my disagreements with the policies of George W. Bush with my list including but not limited to: the war and no-bid contracts in Iraq, warrantless wiretapping, opposition to preserving the environment, support of torture, deregulation of the financial markets, failure to act before and after Hurricane Katrina hit, outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, not equipping our military forces, the disgraceful treatment of veterans (especially Walter Reed) and, most of all, taking the $128 billion surplus produced by the Clinton administration and turning it around to a $428 billion deficit.

Being the etiquette-challenged individual that I am however, I spoke up repeatedly on each issue that occurred and continued to do so until January 20, 2009.

Well, slap egg on my face and call me breakfast but I feel ever so crass now.

Turns out the correct way to politely express your disagreement with the policies of the American president is to do so AFTER he leaves office.

My bad.

Thankfully, there is a group of people who do know the right way to do things.

They gathered on April 15^th to protest the Bush policies on taxes and spending.  On the whole, they obviously must have passionately differed with the way George W. Bush ran up the national debt and gave tax breaks to large corporations and wealthy individuals.  It would have been impossible for them to protest any of President Obama’s tax policies since they aren’t in place yet except for the tax cuts of $400 and $800 for individuals and couples filing jointly respectively which began to take effect April 1, 2009.

I was taken by surprise by who organized these demonstrations.  Here I thought it was just the liberals who did not like the previous administration’s programs.  But it was several conservative institutions who called for the masses to join together.    

The supporters included The Heartland Institute that has the mission of denying the dangers of tobacco.  Freedom Works also set up websites and this is the organization that is run by corporate lobbyists representing pharmaceutical companies and domestic and foreign oil companies.  The Coalition for a Conservative Majority is run by J. Kenneth Blackwell and indicted Tom DeLay and is backed by George Soros who is currently the 29^th richest person in the world.  These and other sponsors came up with an idea of showing their dissatisfaction with George W. Bush.   They had nation-wide tea parties.  That may seem a little confusing since the famous tea party of 1773 was to protest Parliament’s right to tax the American colonists but not allowing representation.  “No taxation without representation” was the rallying cry. 

We have representation now.  The Congress has 435 seats and there are 100 Senators.  We also have thousands of state and local elected officials so I’m not quite sure how the 2009 demonstrations are related to the 1773 events unless the participants were trying to help poor countries. Fox “News” didn’t explain that part.

There is precious little tea produced in the United States.  Most tea is produced in India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Kenya and Malawi.  I did not know the conservative base cared so much about poverty-stricken countries.  In an average month, Americans drink 48 sodas but only 9 servings of tea (either hot or cold.)  Good for you April 15^th tea baggers! 

They also gathered to protest government bailouts.  The Bush Administration requested $700 billion in their bailout package and gave away around half of it and no one knows how it was spent!  It was just distributed without any strings attached or supervision. 

Well, who wouldn’t want to protest that?

There is hope, though.  The average household income is approximately $50,000.  If you were average in 2008, George W. Bush’s last year, you paid $6,698 in federal taxes.  However, if you make that same $50,000 in 2009, under President Obama, you will pay $6,665.  By a process I call “math,” $6,665 is less than $6,698.

If you dislike paying less taxes and would prefer to pay more, follow the etiquette demonstrated yesterday.  Wait until AFTER President Obama leaves office and THEN organize your protests.

Show some class.