It’s not taxes. It’s the passage of a new bill that would allow people on both sides of the political divide to be detained without trial.

Sixty-four percent of Americans consider big government the biggest threat to the country, according to Gallup, but who knows what they mean by big government? Do 64 percent of Americans oppose the biggest big government threat in our history — the virtually omniscient, omnipotent national-security state?

I doubt it, and neither the president nor many members of Congress seem fearful of public opposition to post-9/11, big-government authoritarianism. Instead, they cringe at the prospect of seeming soft on terrorism and rush to enact the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA,) including provisions that would arguably allow the indefinite detention without trial of American citizens, seized on American soil. I won’t repeat here the many urgent critiques of this bill emanating from the left and right. But I do want to stress that opposition to the NDAA spans some of the usual left/right divisions. Opposing the indefinite detention of American citizens, Tea Party Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sounds like a speaker at an ACLU convention.  Read more at www.theatlantic.com

There has been considerable confusion over the past few hours as to whether the Senate — which passed the National Defense Authorization Act (FY 2012) — included a last-minute “waiver” to protect American citizens from some of the bill’s more outrageous and fascist elements, including the right of the US government to detain citizens — even those on American soil, and not charged with a crime — indefinitely in military prison. This means that peaceful protesters could be rounded up, dishonestly labeled as potential terrorists or “suspicious,” and imprisoned for life without a trial or attorney. This means that federal military personnel would be patrolling our streets, literally signaling the end of our free republic.

The offending section of the NDAA has been compared to the internment camps the US government ran during World War II, except this time around it will be Ron Paul supporters, Tea Party members, and young Occupy Wall Street organizers in the detainment camps.

It doesn’t matter if a last-minute waiver is in the bill; the offending portions are currently worded so vaguely, that any US citizen can be considered a “terrorist” or an aid to terroristic activity. Any US citizen who is inconvenient to the US government can be detained and silenced. Read more at www.businessinsider.com

Working with Governor Cuomo, and across party lines, in NY, we have balanced the budget, made tough spending cuts and avoided any new tax increases. We need immediate and similar leadership in Washington, D.C. to right the tax code and make the tough decisions necessary to right size this budget.

The most recent failure of the Super Committee to reach any agreement at all is beyond disturbing and may force an automatic trigger for a series of spending cuts. The proposed cuts, starting in 2013, will total $1.2 trillion and are divided equally between domestic and defense expenditures. Our state and local governments will feel a heavy impact and immediate effect if this trigger comes to pass.

I am particularly worried with the inability of our federal government to provide real relief to the millions of working families and small business owners not only in our state but across the country. Every iota of effort seems focused on the next political maneuver and the next election. As a state legislature, and in coordination with the Governor, we must fight for real, lasting tax reform because it is painfully obvious that middle America is paying the bills while the super wealthy benefit from loopholes and the 40% on the lower spectrum pay nothing at all.

If you are a regular, hard working American with a net worth somewhere beneath a ‘gazillionaire’ this government is failing you. New taxes in this broken system will not solve the problem. We need a complete and immediate overhaul of our national tax policy that will make the system itself fair while encouraging, not hindering, real job creation. Read more at southeast.patch.com

“After the first few weeks in this place [the U.S. House of Representatives], I said my biggest problem was that I couldn’t hear everything on the House floor,” freshman Rep. Mel Hancock (R.-Mo.) told HUMAN EVENTS in 1989.  “But then again, probably half of what was said around here wasn’t worth hearing.”  After a few weeks of being frequently criticized for his flip comment about Congress, the conservative from Missouri called us to say:  “I misspoke.  What I meant to say was that 90% of what is said around here isn’t worth hearing.”

hat said it all about Hancock, who took very seriously the mission of cutting taxes and reducing the size and scope of government, but never took himself very seriously.  When he died Nov. 6 at age 83, that’s how the former four-term congressman from the Show-Me State remembered, as one of the earliest forerunners of the movement now known as Tea Party that is a key part of the political landscape today.

Born and raised in southwest Missouri, Hancock graduated from Southwest Missouri State, and after a stint in the U.S. Air Force, spent 10 years in the insurance business.  Starting up and running his own business that leased alarms and other security equipment to banks gave Hancock firsthand experience dealing with government regulations and paying business taxes and other fees.  He hated doing all of those of things. Read more at www.humanevents.com

The tea party is a very simple expression of a desire for smaller government. Occupy Wall Street is more of an emotional outburst and reaction.

The one common denominator between the two is not liking the bank bailout — in actuality, the bank bailout was actually a good thing, but the government failed to penalize the shareholders and bondholders. The taxpayers should have owned the companies and the government should have taken ownership of the companies for a limited period of time. In the real world, if you can’t pay your bills, you go bankrupt.

The reason for this inequity occurring is because of special interests. You had government picking who the winners and the losers were. The tea party’s interest and solution is the best solution for Occupy Wall Street. There are some Occupiers who want entitlements — but I think at the bottom line, people are mad that Wall Street got bailed out, and they are correct. Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

New York Times polling shows that our government has virtually no credibility. Eighty-nine percent of Americans say they distrust government, 84% disapprove of Congress and 74% say the country is on the wrong track. In 1992, the last time there was a viable presidential independent candidacy, Gallup polling showed that voters were satisfied with government, 58% to 39%. Now, voters say they are dissatisfied, 81% to 19%. This is not simply another cycle of discontent. We’re dealing with historic levels of frustration.

In Gallup polling, 69% of respondents say they have little or no confidence in the legislative branch of government, an all-time high. Fifty-seven percent have little or no confidence in the federal government to solve domestic problems, which exceeds the previous high of 53% recorded last year. And a majority (53%) has little or no confidence in the people who seek or hold elected office.

The polarization of the two parties has left a wide open gap in the center for a third presidential candidate. A group that I am working with, Americans Elect, is in the process of obtaining ballot access in all 50 states for a centrist, bipartisan ticket. Americans Elect has no issue agenda, and no candidate has been nominated yet through its online process. It is simply dedicated to offering a nonpartisan, centrist alternative. Polling my firm conducted for the organization showed that 57% believe there is a need for a third party, and 58% favor having an alternative presidential ticket that is independent of the Democratic and Republican parties on the ballot in 2012. Read more at www.nydailynews.com

Unlike the Occupiers, the Tea Party has a unifying set of principles. Those are articulated clearly in America’s founding document, the Constitution. It lays out a system for limited government, delegating specific powers to elected leaders and prohibiting them from exercising responsibilities beyond these enumerated powers.

The Tea Party’s heroes are therefore the Founding Fathers. The Tea Party is all about the small-government, personal responsibility and conservative philosophies espoused by Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk and Milton Friedman.

The Tea Party is not an anarchist, anti-government group. We agree with Barry Goldwater that “the legitimate functions of government are actually conducive to freedom. Maintaining internal order, keeping foreign foes at bay, administering justice, removing obstacles to the free interchange of goods-the exercise of these powers makes it possible for men to follow their chosen pursuits with maximum freedom.”

The Tea Party reveres the values of this country: respect for the law and private property, freedom of expression, assembly and religion, self-government, self-sufficiency, hard work, and the belief that the family — not the federal government — is the major institution in society. We know America’s success stems directly from these values. It’s what sets America apart from all others. Read more at townhall.com

Anyone who’s spoken at any length to members of both the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements should have no doubts as to the similarities regarding their respective origins.

There are stark differences between the groups, of course, most decidedly in terms of their methods and goals. But it’s the similarities that matter, especially if the movements are to have any lasting impact on U.S. fiscal policy and the overall political process.

At their core, both groups formed in response to populist anger in the wake of the U.S. government’s decision in 2008 to bail out the nation’s largest banks. In an effort to stave off what policy makers at the time felt was the impending collapse of the global economy, Congress approved using hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to prop up banks deemed “too big to fail.”

The Tea Party organized in 2009 and gained momentum through nationwide rallies and widespread media coverage. By the fall of 2010 Tea Party-backed candidates were appearing on Congressional ballot boxes across the country, their platforms unified in their disgust for excessive government spending in general and taxpayer-backed bailouts in particular, not least those targeting big banks. Read more at www.foxbusiness.com

Most if not all of the criticism of the Tea Party is unfounded and even malicious.

The Tea Party is made up of citizens from every walk of life who believe in the principles upon which this country was founded, which impose just limits upon the government as well as the people yet leaves people free to pursue their individual goals.

Our Constitution limits the government in scope as well as size and may not be changed except by the people who must live under it.

The Tea Party has arisen because our government has broken out beyond its lawful bounds and is trespassing upon the rights of the people. Read more at www.altoonamirror.com