Tantrums are in the eye of the beholder

I was hardly surprised by Sun Editor Brian Greenspun’s Sunday column denigrating the tax day “tea parties” as “childish tantrums” and calling the historical reference a “sham.”

After all, from his perspective the government can never take enough of your money.

Now, I’m no fan of gaggles of people parading around with picket signs and shouting rhyming slogans. It is hardly the most persuasive polemic device available in a serious debate about government spending priorities and tax burdens.

I said as much in advance of the “tea party” outings, noting that the original Boston version was less about the 3 pence tea tax than about whether Parliament had the right to tax Americans without proper representation. From what I saw and heard from the rallies, they were not merely outbursts against taxes but also about the principles.

Perhaps it was an unconscious homage on the part of Greenspun’s headline writer, but I was mildly amused that the headline used the word tantrum, though the column never did.

You see, in January I headlined one of my blog items: “UNLV rally as persuasive as a temper tantrum,” and wrote: “To me the scene at UNLV Thursday night had all the eloquence and persuasive power of an organized temper tantrum. They should’ve been sent to their rooms without supper.” Like Greenspun, they were demanding more of your money for themselves.

Great minds travel in the same plane. But fools merely think alike … even from opposite perspectives.