I don't like writing about politics. However, there was a very thought provoking interview on NPR today, and I must digress. This issue is almost too important to ignore.
Here's a link... you can listen to the program, and, of course, if you can stomach it, read the internet responses.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128624203
The discussion primarily addressed racial issues that have cropped up in the tea party movement. It also addressed the fact that there are black, democratic members of the tea party, in spite of what the general population believes.
But it got me thinking.
Let me first address the core fiscal concern of the tea party. From the outside, their message sounds like this:
"We hate Obama, we hate government spending, we hate tax hikes on the wealthy."
They are the few tea party members with loud, vulgar, hate-filled and occasionally racist mouths that give us this impression. But if you throw back to the Boston Tea Party, you see something different. Taxation Without Representation.
If I'm honest, I can actually support the idea of a modern day tea party - that being, that we don't have real representation in congress. It doesn't matter whether it's the right or the left - the lobbyists and big business owners run this country through their lobbying of lawmakers. That's something that any conservative or liberal politician with a shred of honesty will tell you, and in my personal opinion, it is one of the biggest threats to our nation's stability. People like you and I have almost no say over what decisions are made in congress.
Problem is, the tea party's supposed message gets lost in a sea of blatant right-wing lingo, which boils down to "don't raise taxes on the wealthy and stop spending money on government." Let's not even discuss the racism until later.
I don't favor excessive government spending. The national debt is deplorable. Fiscal responsibility is a high-minded and wonderful goal. But where has trickle-down economy gotten our society? I'll tell you. Take a look at GM executives flying private jets to Washington to get bailout money... or Wal*Mart moving into a small town and completely crushing out every ounce of local business... or the entire mortgage meltdown and the resulting Great Recession of 2008. That's where trickle down economy got us. If you honestly want to sit here as a reader and tell me that it's not the case, then you must have shit oozing out of your ears.
Government is spending in an effort to fix the preposterous amounts of damage done to this country by capitalists, who helped drive America into a painful recession. You can call that socialism if you want, and it very well may be, but you can't blame the Democrats or President Obama for that. If the rich fatcats aren't going to do something to fix it, then people like Obama will, because they are tired of watching the middle and lower classes getting trounced on by people who have far more than they ever could need.
What concerns me most is how violent things have gotten in the political realm. When I read about racist remarks from tea party members, or watch Glenn Beck act like a raving lunatic on Fox, I start wondering... how long? How long will it be before the guns come out, the riots flare up? To think that this country could see another civil war within the next five years is staggering, but altogether possible.
I think Americans should have the right to protest government spending. Free speech, the right to vote, the right to have your say are some of our most important core values. But when a group of people come across like child bullies in a school playground... well. First, you lose respect, and second, you plant a seed of division that is bound to turn violent at some point.
Usually, when the kid getting picked on decides to punch the bully back, it's not the fight of a proper boxer or the honor of a well-adjusted fencer. It's the brawl of a terrified, angst ridden wimp who fights ugly to preserve whatever he can, out of desperation.
I hope our society doesn't get to that dark place.
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I want to take this opportunity to thank the Tea Party for electing Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown since he voted for the Financial Reform Bill and help the President of the United States with another legislative victory, thank you Tea Party. Have you heard of “Unintended Consequences” or “Blowback”? Was he working for the Tea Party, himself or our Country, hmmm only you can answer this one?
ReplyDeleteThe problem is this. Tea Party candidates will win a number of these congressional races because local districts are often safely partisan in nature. They can make their wild, unfounded claims, crazy accusations, etc., and win. That means not only are we likely to see an increase in Republican seats in both houses, we're likely to see more antics, more insanity, more stupidity. At the same time they're going to do everything they can to derail Obama's policies which will likely mean high unemployment, a moribund economy, and more compromises on policy positions that make no one happy.
That could literally mean that if the Republicans put up a legitimate candidate in 2012, they could win. Such a result is bad enough, but the likely response for the Democrats is to move further to the "middle" to placate voters. As we've seen over the last decade, the "middle" in American politics is basically on the verge of being an 80s Republican. Increasingly that means we'll have a political landscape of a conservative party and ratfuck insane parties. The former, given it's track record, slowly moving to the right, the latter, given it's track record, loudly screaming "socialism, communism, fascism!!!"
If we continue on this course, privatization will be socialism.