>>The British people back in Britain actually got a say in it. Actually got to vote on how they were taxed. Actually got to have representatives. We didn't.<<
That's the 'rich' minority - the majority of Brits didn't get the vote until much later; universal suffrage did not occur until the early part of the 20th century.
Still, it's a valid point - I had read that the Colonists were expected to pay tax without even the rich having a say in how they were governed - the tea thing was just intended as a peaceful protest which the Brits chose to punish militarily - remember that the Highland Scots had almost succeeded 30 years previously in overthrowing the usurping Hanoverians and reinstalling a Stuart monarch; and so the King & co. were probably extremely edgy about any open shows of defiance. Also water cannon & tear gas hadn't been invented then, although cabbage breath was probably as potent then as it is today.
As for the monkey v's the queen: Bobo Bush is elected while Mrs Windsor is not, nor does the old bint have any say in the running of Britain - Bobo Bush does that too through his lackey, Saint-Tony-The-Soon-To-Be-Divine. Anyway, there's one thing that will always make the US superior to the UK: a written constitution guaranteeing the rights of individuals; the UK does not and will probably never endorse such a simple empowerment to its citizenry.
>>I don't want to start a war between US and Britain here.<<
No we wouldn't want that either as our only remaining combat regiment is the Royal Caterers who, although valiant in the field kitchen are ill-equipped for actual combat being, as they are, armed only with potato peelers. And parsnips.
Thanks, Deckard, for that interesting link on the words of Thomas Paine; I might even read it one day.