Resisting harassment

In an attempt to overcome enormous debts incurred in the Seven Years' War, in which Britain eventually won against the French, England's Parliament all but smothered the colonies with taxes. One of those taxes was the Stamp Act of 1765. Americans protested by boycotting English imports. After a yearlong boycott, which proved costly to the British, the Stamp Act was repealed without having collected a penny. It's enough to make me wonder -- are we resisting enough?

In 1774, England declared war against the town of Boston. They sealed off the city and harbor with the intent of starving the inhabitants into submission. In retaliation to the blockade, Bostonians boarded three of the British ships and dumped their cargo into the water -- 342 chests of tea.

Parliament countered by extending the Canadian border to the Ohio River in what was called the Quebec Act. It resulted in the confiscation of tens of thousands of privately owned acres, some of which belonged to George Washington.

Two years away from the Declaration of Independence, this undoubtedly fueled the fire for it. Delegates met in Philadelphia and, after two months of debating, urged the colonies to withhold taxes from the royal government.

Our own government is doing the same thing to us today -- confiscating privately owned land through regulatory agencies. And I wonder: Are our delegates meeting and debating to determine a proper response?

MIKE JONES, Cape Girardeau