The Modern day Tea Party

[oderlesseye]

I have had an uneasy feeling about the direction our country has been taking on Taxes, Wars, Health care, Bail outs,

The treatment of our savings in the form of 401 ks and the ever increasing encroachment of government into our private lives thru spying on its own citizens.. Or passing a $787 billion stimulus package without even reading it.!

I vote but it seems not enough and simply being an Arm Chair General yelling at or making comments to my television is no longer passe' for me .So I attended my first politically motivated rally called The Tea Party Express. It is a relatively new movement of fed up Americans who wish to make a stand against the aforementioned and our Big Spending Government.

Edited October 25, 2009 by oderlesseye

[Red Cat Jenny]

I was invited to a TEA party but had to work that day. I think this is the right tack. Simply disagreeing to coworkers and such does nothing. Voting...well I have my opinion on the fairness of election methods etc.

I believe people must stand up in numbers and demand to be heard (In a sane manner of course) you sometimes must make enough noise that you simply cannot be ignored. People are too complacent in some ways and too stretched for time in others. But when things get the way they have in this country...it's time to take the bull by the horns. Not just heave a sigh and tighten the old belt ...again.

While the Gov't hands money to banks and car makers with no accountability attached, ignores the borders and doesn't have any game plan excpet Government by crisis. This country's MO for way too long.

Consider the First and then the second trade center attacks..the USS Cole, New Orleans, the fact that all but 1 oil platform was wiped out by Katrina..the fact that in the event of an Anthrax attack that only a few cases can truly be contained..yeah, they don't tell you those things do they?

Don't ge me started on going hat in hand begging money from other countries....etc

Im a Patriot in all ways..but I feel I've lost my country to dogs..

Time to stand up and be counted. I'm in.

[Quartermaster James]

Vote early & vote often!

The ship of State is not well steered by those aft-wise watching the wake!

Vote every chance you get.

Vote for the most minor office offered for a vote.

You cannot steer this republic from the top down.

You are not off the hook with one ballot every four years!

You must have representatives sympathetic to your views in the system, from the most minor local council to the highest post in the land.

Apathy will be the destruction of this nation.

This is not partisan.

This is how OUR government works.

Too many have abdicated the rights and privileges afforded them.

For this matter: I don't care if you're right or left, red or blue, liberal or conservative. Just get involved! Vote! That's the least you can do!

And remember: you vote with every choice you make. You vote with every dollar you spend.

[Ben Fridley]

Good to see some Tea Party going folks here! I have been to a couple rallies, and you get excited to know that you are not alone by any stretch of the imagination in the direction you see this nation heading...and we cannot be silent!

[LadyBrower]

Or passing a $787 billion stimulus package without even reading it.!

...I just saw a news piece that said that this stimulus only created or saved 54, yes that is 54 jobs in NYC. Do the math on how much per job that is... it's nauseating.

Cheers

[Hawkyns]

Not to get too involved in the political here, I do that on other boards, but the Tea Party stuff scares me. Not because of the core of it, I agree that a lot of money is being wasted. I agree with the concept of the bailout and stimulus, it was neccesary, but not with where the money went. No, what scares me is how much the neocons, the pseudo conservatives, have put into this movement and how they are trying to hijack it. There is way too much of the social conservative/religous conservative movement attached to these parties. I have no problem at all with trying to get a handle on the money and steering it to the right place and demanding full accounting. But when these same people start agitating for family values, anti abortion, anti gay, anti porn, pro intelligent design, pro prayer in schools, then I want nothing to do with them and will fight them wherever possible. Those are all anti freedom issues, and when I see stuff about the tea parties on other boards, they always seem to to dragged into it. Keep it at financial issues and I can support at least some of it. Try and drag us back to the 50's, as some of these guys are trying to do, and there is a problem.

Hawkyns

[blackjohn]

I was going to say "Amen, Hawkyns, amen" but then the irony of that hit home.

So instead I'll say right-on, brother!

[Mission]

Nah, you guys are dead wrong on the scary aspects of other people's opinions part. You're basically borrowing trouble from the future - being afraid of what might be not what will be.

Unless you are in office or have direct influence on someone who is, you are individually insignificant to the political process. (Even in elections - more on that in a sec.) So you have to ally with other people who want to achieve some end you want to achieve for each important individual issue in order to move the politicians into action. (And they will all move if the tide is against them or they'll lose their next election - a career politician's greatest fear. The national level is all about career politicians.) Unfortunately the broad political view is like pizza toppings - I'm convinced that no two people in a group ever agree on all the fine points. So if you announce that you're not going to side with anyone who isn't in accord with all your views, you are an individual. See the first sentence of this paragraph.

Better to ally with people who don't totally agree with you to get something done on an important individual issue than to sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity to announce your individual opinion. You can deal with issues and aspects you don't like of those leading the charge if...and that's a mighty big if...those issues actually make it into the political realm as tenable bills. Sitting and waiting is what got us where we have been these last 20 years. Politics is - in fact, must be - about compromise.

Thus goes the dilemma of politics. In fact, this is why your vote does count - because you can vote in such a way that you ally with others to get more of what you want than less of it. But your individual vote is really insignificant, even in a close race. I can prove it statistically if you like. It's only important when you ally with many, many others to get someone elected. This is why the voting for third parties is usually hopeless. It's also why politicians tend to be middle-of-the-road. Alas.

[Liam McMac]

I'm happy to see that the middle class has begun to feel the pinch of our self-destructive, debt-based, fake democracy. The lower class has known it for decades but now that the middle class can no longer afford their gas grills along with the fact that they are losing their retirements (which is something the lower class never had) something is starting to be done about it. Hey... better late than never.

I think the same thing happened in France. No one cares until it affects their pocket.

"Down, Evremonde! To the Guillotine all aristocrats! Down, Evremonde!" _A Tale of Two Cities

[hurricane]

Mission,

That's great philosophy in a non-media world. But when people who have TV and radio time create such movements, they themselves are foisting their agenda on the mindless masses. Think Goebbels. The biggest and most consistent messaged voiced trumps the silent masses. Millions tune into these shows and just shuffle off to do whatever they say to do - go to a tea party, vote against this person, don't shop at WalMart because they pulled my advertising. It is manipulation of the masses as Goebbels could have only dreamed of (and it's both sides - I am politically agnostic - I don't vote because I don't want to encourage anyone. :) If god had meant us to vote, he would have give us candidates.

All the anti-war protests in the Viet Nam era didn't stop the war. Millions of people marching on Washington. Come on. These Tea Parties are just the latest fade, born by discontent with the current situation. They do nothing to change the status quo. They are pimples on the asses of politicians who have to pander to them in order to get some TV time. Otherwise, it's back to the special interests and lobbyists who put them into power and keep them there.

The scariest part of this are the Limbaughs and the Becks of the world who manipulate truth and have millions following them without question. Reminds me of the McCarthy era. That, my friend, is the scary part - lemmings falling mistruth rather than seeking the truth out for themselves, regardless of what it is. None of the media is objective. They are selling us something - whether it's the right or the left. It's our own decision whether we are willing to be spoon fed what they're selling or to seek our own truth. I for one can never goose step behind any cause that has such questionable origins and DNA, regardless if it's left, right or centrist. Too individual for that.

-- Hurricane

[Mission]

Giving up is the philosophy that eventually leads to no-representation slavery.

If all that is true, we have no say at all in the face of media hype which means we're headed for a dictatorship. I think you're giving people too little credit. Sure there is "heat of the moment" behavior from the public vis-a-vis media, but most of it doesn't last very long. That's the interesting thing about the tea party concept - it started with a bunch of people who were ticked off about taxes. Since it worked, there are now people trying to get in front of it so they can claim to be the leaders. (Now if only we could avoid the laws that get made in the heat of those moment when the politicians react...it was less than a century ago that there was no such thing as national income taxes.)

[hurricane]

The vast majority of Americans are sheep and can be lead by the shepherd with the loudest voice to call them. Radio, TV, and now the Internet, accomplish this task for them. I used to work in Corporate Communications and here's how the psychology of communication works there -- 20% of all employees are Pollyanna's, they sing the corporate anthem and it can do no wrong. 20% are the Naysayers, they bitch about everything in the company. The balance -- 60% are the Neutrals. Successful corporate communications involved taking as many in the middle and creating messages that moved them ever so briefly into being Pollyanna's. We never bothered listening to the Naysayers -- a total waste of time.

I don't see the country being much different and communication principles apply straight across. 20% at any one time are singing the country song because they're in power. Those 20% that aren't bitch to high hell. And both of them try to move the 60% to one side or the other.

As a master manipulator of public, stakeholder and employee opinion for most of my adult life, it's a game to all of us. How many can we shift from one pen to another so that there is a critical mass to make something happen (layoffs, a merger, a buyout, pay cuts, war... it's all the same).

That's the main reason I didn't become a journalist. They have to pretend their objective when they're not. In PR, I never had to pretend to be objective. It was all mind manipulation. Still is. Anyone in corporate today can see it play out all the time - positive spins to win the hearts and minds of the undecided.

-- Hurricane

[Guest]

I already posted my disgruntlements about these "Tea Partys" in another thread.....

Hey... you think taxes are messed up... send the IRS a tea bag instead of any money or paper work.....

NOW THAT would be a tax revolt.....

But only if enough people did it.....

Yeah... I know that will never happen.... it's so much safer going to a political "tea" party and complaining than doing something that would make a change.....

Oh yeah.... other than the swine flu..... what Terrorist threat level are we at today?

<the rest was deleted so the PG-13 monitor doesn't have a melt down....>

[Quartermaster James]

Apathy! Apathy!

That's our cry!

A - P - A - T - oh what the hell, who cares anyway...

The people have made it abundantly clear that they would prefer a benign dictatorship to participatory representation.

Provide them bread and circuses, spectator sports and cheap goods from China, and they're happy.

It's only when changes are made too fast and they perceive a change in their "quality of life" that they become agitated.

[Mission]

"I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money." -Arthur Godfrey

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking - is freedom." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

"People who are willing to give up freedom for the sake of short term security, deserve neither freedom nor security." -Benjamin Franklin

"The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves." -Plato

"What government is the best? That which teaches us to govern ourselves." -Goethe

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

It's our own decision whether we are willing to be spoon fed what they're selling or to seek our own truth.

-- Hurricane

110% correct.

Anyone here being FORCED to listen to right wing hate radio? Anyone been FORCED to attend a Tea Party? Now flip side that coin. Are you willing to let the government(any government) decide what propaganda you WILL listen too? . If the Tea Parties be evil then let them be hung by their own devices.

A government actively sponsoring sensorship/suppression/demonization of a political entity/ideological group of citizens. No its not WW2 Germany but I still hear Goebbels laughing.

[Quartermaster James]

“A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote in a national election.” - Bill Vaughn

“Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.” - W. C. Fields

“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.” - Theodore Roosevelt

“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.” - William E. Simon

“Alright guys, I want to get out there and vote tomorrow. And not because it's cool, because it's not. You know what is cool? Smoking. Smoke while you vote.” - Jon Stewart

[Rumba Rue]

Well I had this really bad picture of Oderlesseye sitting at a pretty table trying to drink tea with his pinky finger sticking out and around the table Capt. Syn with Blackthorne are also trying to do it. Yup, that's a pretty laughable picture....

Ah that's it, really mugs of beer!

[iPirate]

A few months ago there was a "Tea Party" rally in D.C. A whole freaking horde of them came through the spy museum where I work.

They were, without par, the most self-righteous, rude and obnoxious bunch I have ever had the displeasure of crossing. They acted like they owned the fucking city and treated the museum staff like shit.

Whatever your political motivation and proclaimed goals, if you act like a bunch of assholes, you get no sympathy from me.

[Guest]

“Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Luckily he died before he ever had to see a "dimpled chad" ........Whole chunks of the country didn't get their vote counted......

So enough of the "Vote, or your voice don't' count" arguments......because our votes have not counted for the last three elections.

[Badger]

To try an' fail is better than t' not try at all. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!" . Hurricane, yer account o' how th' corporates think tae rule us makes me wanna take up th' rifle... all yon evil manipulations work right up until th' people choose tae burn it all down, an' start over. Think that'll nae happen again? So did th' court o' France think...th' British in colonial America....th' Soviets of Gorbachov.... YOU"LL see. Th' cockroaches will run, then! Until that happens...Hehehehehheheh.....pirate!

[Quartermaster James]

Luckily he died before he ever had to see a "dimpled chad" ........Whole chunks of the country didn't get their vote counted......

So enough of the "Vote, or your voice don't' count" arguments......because our votes have not counted for the last three elections.

Oh no, if you don't vote your voice is quite well heard.

If you've only voted twice since November 2000, you prove my point quite nicely.

Thank you.

[Commodore Swab]

"People should not be afraid of their governments, Governments should be afraid of the people" -V

For those of you who have not seen V for Vendetta go out and watch it, it may just scare you how close it can hit to home.

[Quartermaster James]

"The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are." - H.L. Mencken, December 1919

[Guest]

Hummmm.... let's see... my vote counts ?

well it (hopefully) influences how my State's Elector "should" vote....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Electoral_College