As a student of history and a longtime resident of Boston, I am very troubled by the so-called tea party movement’s current (mis)appropriation of the term.

The original direct action protest on Dec. 16, 1773, by British American colonists was the culmination of long-standing grievances against the British government under the battle cry of “no taxation without representation.” According to the British Constitution, only Parliament could levy taxes, and since colonists were prohibited from voting for members of Parliament or of sending their own representatives to serve in Parliament, they considered the series of taxes — including but not limited to the infamous tea tax — a violation of their rights as citizens of the British realm.

The current movement contains no well-developed political philosophy other than extreme hatred of what they consider “Big Government,” which they view as the cause of the nation’s troubles.

House Minority leader, U.S. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, referred to tea baggers as “great patriots,” and stated: “It’s not enough, however, for Republicans to simply voice respect for what the tea partyers are doing, praise their efforts and participate in their rallies. Republicans must listen to them, stand with them and walk among them.”

The tea baggers, with their Republican allies, have very deftly used the rhetoric of fear verging on paranoia to exploit people’s anxieties about their economic well being and, quite ironically, even to vote against their own economic interests.

Tea party leaders espouse all forms of dire warnings, and Boehner himself asserted that the health care bill “is Armageddon” and “it will ruin our nation.” To the contrary, the newly passed law, while unfortunately severely neutralized over the past year, actually serves middle-class and working-class people by limiting insurance companies from restricting coverage to people with previous conditions, increasing the rights of parents to continue covering their adult children on their policies until the age of 26, providing greater choices in health care coverage, and, as projected by the National Budget Office, it will reduce the deficit over the next decade.

I do see, however, a clear parallel between the protesters aboard the ship on Boston harbor and the recent tea baggers. Through a collective mythology, many of us were taught in school that the protesters donned Indian clothing and face paint for their tea-dumping actions. In actuality, while some were so attired, the majority were not. I find this teaching problematic since the original protestors were acting out racist stereotypes of the so-called “thieving heathens,” and while I would hope that the vast majority of current tea party members would not personally condone oppressive actions, a number of followers have engaged in racist, homophobic, ableist, misogynistic name-calling and other acts of violence.

For example, at a rally held in front of the U.S. Capitol shortly before the House was to vote on the impending health care legislation, a protestor spat upon Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.; another called Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a “ni—”; and someone called gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., a “faggot” through distinctive lispy intonations. And supporting the protesters, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, held up and physically swatted a picture of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., from atop the Capitol balcony.

Protestors throughout the country hurled bricks through windows of some Democratic representatives houses and a Democratic Party office, sent death threats and racist faxes and even delivered a coffin to one Congress member’s office.

At a tea party rally held in Columbus, Ohio, some protestors heckled a U.S. veteran who sat on the ground holding up a sign “I Support Health Care.” Screamed one tea partyer, “If you’re looking for a handout, you’re in the wrong damn town.” Another threw $5 bills in his face shouting, “I’ll decide when to give you money!”

In a March 23 tweet, in reference to the passage of the congressional health care bill, Sarah Palin commented: “Commonsense Conservatives and Lovers of America, Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” In addition, on her Web site, she constructed a page listing vulnerable Democratic Party elected officials projected through the crosshairs of a rifle. While I do not connect the current spate of violent actions to Palin’s words, I wonder how her statements constructively contribute to the debate.

I actually agree with tea party followers’ contention that great economic disparities exist and are widening in this country, though not for the reasons they assert. So-called “Big Government” is not the cause of the problem. The relatively unregulated and unfettered Wall Street, banking and “free market” systems constitute the actual threats.

According to the organization United for a Fair Economy, by 2004, the top 10 percent of the population owned 71 percent of accumulated wealth in the country. Subdivided even further, the top 1 percent owned 31 percent of the country’s wealth. The wealthiest 1 percent own approximately 45 percent of all stocks and mutual funds. In addition, the very rich pay less in taxes than at any point in recent history. Overall, the concentration of wealth is even more extreme today than during the Great Depression.

I find it unbelievable that one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world fails to provide quality health care to an estimated 47 million of its inhabitants. Echoing this sentiment, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, during a speech this week at Columbia University, stated, “The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them … is something astonishing to us [in France].”

Quality health care coverage must be considered as a right and not as a privilege for some. Collectively, we cannot allow the merchants of hate to distort and manipulate the facts and divert our attention from the genuine roots of the problems we currently face.

Warren Blumenfeld is an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction.