On April 15, the masses gathered together in cities across the nation. Those “tea-totaller” faced a dilemma, however: they wanted desperately to be heard and taken seriously. Yet, to command attention, they hung tea bags from their tricorn hats and glasses ? all for a tax hike that has not come.

Put bluntly, I hold little respect for those protesting nonexistent policies. I hold even less respect for Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, or anyone else promoting this unnecessary dissent. Whether they realize it or not, the tax increase under President Barack Obama has not occurred. Indeed, his stimulus package included the largest middle class tax cut in U.S. history.

It is possible they were protesting President Obama’s 46 percent tax rate on the top income earners in our society. The reason for this anger could be genuine pity for the most fortunate, or those who will be downgraded to “very fortunate.” But this then begs the question: where were the protests when Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower had the top marginal tax rate at 91 percent? Even Ronald Reagan had the rate set at 50 percent until well into his second term.

If protesters were genuinely angry about an unfair tax structure, their bad timing should be pointed out. It was George W. Bush’s administration that provided more than a trillion dollars in tax cuts for the rich. The Bush years were marked by skyrocketing corporate profits while median income declined drastically from Clinton era highs.

Yet it was not George W. Bush who was lambasted as an elitist posing in faux populist garb. He was not accused of being a radical. At this year’s tax day protests, reality was turned on its head in one sense and ignored in another. The president with a truly populist tax plan was compared to King George III, while the president with the lopsided tax plan was rarely, if ever, mentioned.

That is, of course, the main reason the colonists dumped three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor: The Kingdom of Great Britain issued tax acts that favored the colonial elite and adversely affected the merchant classes. The 18th century status quo found its most avid defender in a monarch. In a strange twist, our current class system was sanctioned by a democratically elected leader.

However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for a party claiming slightly over a fifth of the population to maintain respectability, influence, and relevance. The task becomes even harder when the closest thing they have to a leader is a radio show host.

Consider the tea parties the Republican Party’s last significant whistle. The potency of the Right wing message may be dissipating, but conservative antics are actually growing unpalatable to the American mainstream. This year’s protests did not help.

More than that, they simply amount to a mockery of true dissent against actual policies. What a waste of tea and time.