Mondo Frazier wrote a column for The Hill on why the Tea Party exists and why they have a future. It’s an interesting piece, but one part of it caught my eye. Here it is:
At the Tea Party events that I’ve personally covered, the majority of the attendees appear to be in the 40 and older range. A significant portion of them remember an America prior to 1964: an America with significantly less government.
You’d have to be 46 to have been alive in 1964, and closer to fifty to have any memory of a time before then. And, really, three year-olds don’t have memories about the size of government. So, why did Mondo choose 1964 as his cut-off? I mean, Medicare and Head Start and the various war on poverty programs were passed in 1965 or later, not in 1964. But, you know what passed in 1964? That would be The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which effectively ended legalized segregation.
His story also suffers from basic factual inaccuracy.
Some remember when their paychecks reflected 95 percent of what they earned — instead of the 55-67 percent that government allows them to keep today.
Here’s some reality:
Rather than keeping 95 percent of what they made, under Eisenhower (you know, prior to 1964) the wealthy actually kept 9% of what they earned.
