I am a confirmed tea party guy. My last descent into the seventh ring of hell that are the tea parties, this past April 13th was a revelation to me. I finally began to get a glimpse into the criticism of my friends on the left. In my duties as a volunteer I came into contact with many mainstream Americans. Due to my ability to read their minds, a gift I've possessed since birth, I was able to discern their true intentions.
I met attorneys, doctors, teachers, college professors, grandparents, lots and lots of military veterans, families with children, musicians, and not a few members of the clergy. But something kept gnawing at me as I listened to speech after speech from small business owners, housewives, a college professor, a couple of PhDs, and a couple of attorneys who spoke of their worry over the profligate spending by congress, their preference for small government, in favor of a strict interpretation of the constitution and their worry about the deficit. I listened to some country music which I enjoy immensely. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. Having been a police officer for 26 years, my vaunted sixth sense was tingling.
Finally, it hit me, this was all a sham. All of this was fake. These people were really a bunch of racists, homophobes, misogynists, and militia members bent on the overthrow of the federal government. They had cleverly disguised themselves as regular friendly, polite Americans, some very educated, just to throw off everyone. But, you see, I'm too smart for that. I've been around the block one too many times to fall that for that stuff.
I'm just embarrassed that my friends on the left were quicker than me in picking up on this. I was fooled by their underhanded, evil ways that have fooled so many of us. The KGB were rookies compared to these people. I'm convinced there's some underground headquarters somewhere that they hold their racist, homophobe, ceremonies including I'm sure, the frequent human sacrifices of innocent immigrant virgins to whatever unholy deity they worship. Rumor has it it looks like a cross between Glenn Beck and Rush and Sarah Palin is the high priestess in charge of the whole sick affair.
I only wish I had listened to my friends on the left. Perhaps the government needs to be bigger so they make sure we all don't fall for anymore of these evil Rush/Beck minions. After all, someone has to protect us. Please take my warning and bow to the superior intelligence of the left. Big government protect us. Please!
Regular Americans, my ass. This is the seventh ring of hell!!
16 comments:
Glad to see you've seen the tea party for what it is Law Teacher.
Now that we're done with the obligatory sarcasm, the tea party is all things to all the disgruntled. It has no cohesion. No true principle. Just a few meaningless slogans penned for it by the right.
The movement is being used to give the paranoid a place to have an audience. You were a lawman for 26 years. How many times were you dispatched to confiscate a law abiding citizens guns? Do you have any friends still in law enforcement that lament because they had to knock down law abiding citizen's door and take his/her gun?
Name me a program that the tea partiers would agree to cut in order to reduce the deficit and size of government. When push comes to shove, none of them would stand still if it was a program that helped them. They would all say the exact same thing. "It's a function of government."
None of the tea partiers will willingly give up a government benefit. Of course they would al be for the other guy giving it up though. Selfishness and greed must not be comprimised in the name of less government and lower taxes.
Truth,
Thanks for the visit. I would be in favor of knocking out a lot of government programs. But a realistic start would be an across the board cut. A true cut, not a paper one like the vaunted freeze. Start by cutting deeply and ending with eliminating some programs. That's the way I would go.
And you're talking defense. Veterans benefits. Medicare and Social Security. Education. Highway and bridge funding. Agriculture programs. I could go on all night. I can bet that it would go nowhere because the loudest opponents of cuts to their pet programs would raise too much hell. And they would be republicans. Look how they screamed at Medicare cuts that weren't even cuts but cost savings in the nealth reform bill. They all screamed in unison against Bush's scheme to privatize Social Security.
I believe you to be a man of honor. If this included a 10% cut in your retire benefit for serving our Country I think you would accept it. You would be in a tremendous minority however. But you have my email. If you run for something let me know. We ay not be on the same page policy wise but I respect integrity. I'd send your campaign a donation.
I am a conservative, and one who agrees with LOT that we must address government spending. But you are both right to say that cutting entitlement programs is a difficult task. Before I proceed, however, let’s remember that there are two kinds of entitlements. People who served this country earned their entitlement to retirement pensions and health care. That was the government’s commitment when it needed these men and women to place themselves in harms way. Now should government decide it can no longer honor this commitment, don’t look for many Americans stepping forward again for the privilege of dying for a country that doesn’t honor them.
Nor should we suddenly rip away Social Security or Medicare … again, the government made a commitment and mandated participation. We base our society on the propriety of living up to our commitments; at least that’s the way it was when I was growing up.
Still, I think we can cut spending by carefully evaluating the things government is paying for. There are far too many to mention here, but perhaps you will indulge me if I mention two. Where in the United States Constitution does it say that the federal government has the right to regulate education? It doesn’t. And yet the U. S. government is spending BILLIONS of dollars from within the Department of Education. Education belongs to the sovereign states, not to the federal government. Who do you think is paying for ‘state high school graduation tests’? We are talking about spending 20 to 50 million dollars of taxpayer money in each of our 50 states, annually. Why? As a former test developer, I can tell you it is a fraud of epic proportions. What right does the federal government have to require Californians to pay for health care to illegal aliens living in Nebraska? Under what authority does the federal government require states to educate the children of illegal aliens at the expense of hardworking citizens of my state, or any other?
In essence, then, I do not believe the US government should be spending money on programs not specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution. Please, let us remember that our founding fathers wrote our constitution to protect us FROM government. We should get back to observing the letter of constitutional law, and give back to the states the responsibility to government themselves as they … and the people … so choose. There is no health crisis in this country. There is no economic crisis in this country. But we definitely have a politician crisis. To keep electing these bastards is about an un-American as … Barack Obama’s neo-communist ideology.
I have no idea why you feel this is "mainstream". Baggers are only about 20%+ of the population.
Anyway, listening to Sister Sarah's speech on the Common last week, I didn't hear anything new. Trickle down failed supply side economics and "drill baby drill" as a comprehensive energy policy. Color me unimpressed.
But let's get real, this is nothing more than a well funded ad blitz to rebrand the utter failure of the Republican party after the Bush collapse.
You're in law enforcement, I'm in media, believe me. It shouldn't take much to suss this out.
Under what authority does the federal government require states to educate the children of illegal aliens at the expense of hardworking citizens of my state, or any other?
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Under a ruling by the Supreme Court. That's the way the system works.
Notice how you assume illegals don't work hard. Interesting.
Mustang: you said exactly what I predicted the right leaners would say about Social Security and Veteran's Benefits.
I have no problem with fiscal conservatism and careful use of tax dollars. I want a reward for investment as you. There is also a penalty for lack of action. Less regulation and enforcement means more disaters like the one in the mine recently. Financial markets collapsing. S&L scandals. Etc.
I couldn't make heads nor tails out of the comment section and I can say I'm confused....I was one of the first individuals to arrive at a tea party locally.....I went because I had written numerous times to my elected representatives in Washington, but I got no response. and this was not a one time experience. I saw things happening in this country that I could not logically explain and it was very troubling...I wanted answers and got none. That was the reason I went to an organized meeting, I guess trying to find a voice or listen to others grievances and compare. I have seen first hand after 75 years, my individual freedoms being taken away a little at a time and wanted to know why no one is saying hay,,,,,wait a minute, what
is happening???....within the last week, I was informed that in order to fish in salt water I must first register with the federal government so they can have a record of it. Maine has no requirement to have a license for recreationl fishing in salt water....( It's for the good of everyone .....)The good news is that THIS YEAR it's only manditory to register with the feds, at no expense,,,Next year is a different story......I have gone smelt fishing in the spring of the year for at least 70 years,It is similar to the grunion runs in California,,,,,Years ago we use to catch them by hand and ther was no limit..then we had to use a net....currently a person is allowed two quarts per day, as they are netted coming up the brooks to spawn....and its done at night, on the high tide. The wardens are out to check on individual limits..Now the feds are saying no more without us having control,,,,,,,we want to know who is fishing and I assume It'll cost money to allow,,,,,to allow,,,,,us to fish and after all we are keeping track and completing surveys of stock etc and it takes money to do all this.........Next it will be control of the inland waters ....Just a matter of time....Sorry I got carried away L&/W...stay well....
You saw things happening in this country that you can't explain and you want us to believe it started with Obama?
Let's go back to Nixon, huh?
Now just what is it that you think is particular to the Obama administration that is new and different?
... of course it is your inalienable right to decimate the fish stocks the way it was done of George's Bank to the point that the cod stock probably won't come back.
No are you really saying that you feel you should have a free hand and there is no need for stewardship and this comes under your rubric of "freedom".
Sounds like whining to me but maybe there are missing details.
Excellent blog some with some good ideas and encouragement for others who might be interested in starting one of their own.
Truth,
I am with Mustang on some things he mentioned. First, I think that the military is a different animal. To ask someone to lay their life on the line for their country is a stiff request. I have no pension, I was a four and done guy. I went in, did my part and got out.
Those who choose to make it a career do so because they are motivated to serve their country and they deserve to either have benefits or pay that befits their sacrifice. The government choose to be benefit heavy. Members of the military would be the beneficiary of much more in civilian life for their leadership skills.
As for SS and Medicare, it would certainly need to be a slower response, possibly continuing benefits for those already on the two. But for those entering the workforce they should begin to privatize it incrementally until the progress dies a much-deserved death.
As for farm subsidies, I have a problem with them and susidies of almost all kinds. Farm subsidies are a realitively recent abomination that is really no longer necessary. A lot of the money goes to factory farmers who hardly need the help.
I'm in education and I think the Department of Education is a cabinet post that needs to go. I'm a Fair Tax proponent, or even a flat tax. The IRS needs to be done away with. Highway projects are funded with gasoline taxes. That money should be collected by the states who then can fund their own projects. Allow me an historical reference.
Madison vetoed something called the American System, which essentially was the use of federal money to fund state infrastructure projects in 1816. He felt that the use of citizen's money by the federal government for this purpose was unconstitutional because it's not an enumerated power. He wrote the constitution, right?
After all, the feds use the federal funds for blackmail anyway. Remember the 55 MPH speed limit, 21 drinking age, and the .08 DUI limit. States were coerced by the feds with a threat of forfeiture of highway funds.
There are worthy things government does, by they are limited by the constitution. Thanks for the visit.
Ducky,
We are destined to disagree about the scope of government. The tentacles of government are something to be suspicious of and the founding fathers got that. I submit that any movement that gains this much power in about a year is something to be reckoned with. As for Sarah, I respect her but she's not the leader of anything. I'm amazed at the attempts of those outside the movement to brand this or that person a "leader." This is a bottom up movement that seeks a redress of our grievances. As for it being led by the Repubs, they are on the outs too. They pissed away their chance at leadership. I don't trust politicians of any stripe. Sorry. Thanks for visiting.
Tap,
As usual thanks for visiting. You are a voice of reason and I read with interest your first-hand experience with government oppression. What happened before government told every industry how to run itself? The hunting of whales wasn't curtailed by government, it was brought about by concerned citizens who shed light on the abuses. And I might add the entrepreneurship of Americans who found alternative energy sources. John D. Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc. Oh yeah, they're Robber Barons.
Mal,
Thanks for the visit. I hope you stop by again.
Don't trust politicians f any stripe?
That's the deal isn't it? We are all pretty much fed up with this dysfunctional government. This great right/left divide, who benefits from it? One guess.
Liar 101 and Sucky Ducky are perfect cases for post birth abortion....guess I have been wrong all along about being pro life, these 2 Marxist fools make me rethink my stance.
I suggest both move to Mexico and see how they are welcome down there....
Pat,
Good to hear from you.
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