The original tea party was against the world's largest corporation of the time

[divideandconquer]

Irony or 200+ years of effective corporate propaganda? hell 50 years later, the British East India company was in the middle of the first opium war!

[90-percent]

1. Good point!

Very astute comment!

235-245 years ago, our twenty first century tea baggers would have been on the side of the British in the original Boston Tea Party prior to the Revolutionary War.

Give them time to mature. After all, the tea baggers of our times weren't even an organized group until a day after the November 2008 elections!

-90% Jimmy

[The Magistrate]

2. And Aimed, Sir, At Preserving The Profits Of Local Drug Smugglers And Tax Cheats....

[FarCenter]

3. The Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie was considerably larger than the British East India Company

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Still by 1770?

Wikipedia says the Dutch East India company was well on the decline by then. In contrast, the British East India Company was governing Bengal and with huge influence over other parts of India, by that time. The Dutch company disappeared before the end of the 18th century; the British one went on, even more powerful, until 1858.

[FarCenter]

10. The VOC was wrecked by The Fourth Anglo–Dutch War (1780–1784)

In 1776, the Battle of Plassey had only been a few years before and the British were only consolidating the opium trade in Bengal.

[JSK]

4. Ahhh... you must be a Thom Hartmann listener

That is one of my favorite points to make in my Facebook rants. (on other people's pages) They generally think I'm nuts.

[rhett o rick]

7. I am a Hartmann listener. nm

[The Midway Rebel]

5. K&R

For the history lesson!

[optimator]

6. where is the Left's tea party?

celebrating the enslavement of America to private insurance corporations.

[kath]

8. well, our so-called democratic "representatives" have been VERY busy keeping the powder dry...