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On September 12, 2009, thousands, based on various new sources outside of the conservative circles, who claim that the liberal media is dismissing their numbers. The purpose of the 9/12 project, organized by Glenn Beck and Freedom Works, who is responsible for the "grassroots" organizing of the tea parties. If you look at who runs Freedom Works, it is not a small grassroots organization. ACORN is more of a grassroots organization, and that's saying a lot. People got together, they carried signs, they chanted, they cheered. But why? I'm not quite sure, when interviewed many said they were concerned about rising taxes, the stimulus spending, gun control, the fight against socialism/fascism/communism/marxism, and to bring America back to being a Christian nation. All in all, there was no real concrete reason for this gathering, except to gather together in opposition of the President.
I understand people being upset about the stimulus package, I really do, as of this week, it's been a year since AIG received their first bailout package. Obama has been president for nine months. That means the bailouts started occurring before Obama became President. It makes me wonder, why these people did not organize until AFTER Obama became President. Why did they not protest when George Bush encouraged these bailouts for the protection of our faltering economy? This is the question I often ask those who are pro tea party, and they can never really answer it. I guess it's ok to have corporate bailouts when you're a Republican, but not when it's a Democrat. That's the message I'm getting from this argument. I should note, I was against the bail outs from the very beginning, if figured if we are capitalist society, we should let those companies who mishandled their resources fail. If it weren't for the laissez faire regulation of these companies, implemented by Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr., we wouldn't have had to bail them out to begin with, but that's just my opinion. I didn't protest, I just made sure to save money for this recession, in case my husband loses his job.
Another argument we hear about is the concern of rising taxes. Obama has decided to tax 5% of the population, bringing them closer to the tax rate that President Reagan had them at. Why were these people not upset at Reagan? Why do these people fail to recognize that 95% of people will receive a tax cut? When Obama raises taxes for the majority of Americans, I will be the first to be in line protesting. I, like most Americans, I assume don't like paying taxes, but realize it's a necessary evil. I will however say that, in order to insure my community has great schools, libraries, an effective police, fire, and emergency resources, taxes don't bother me so badly. I like having early childhood development and after school programs for the children of my community. I like knowing that the elderly have a place to go during the day,so that they can interact with others, and keep busy, which in turns keeps them healthy. I guess I don't mind paying taxes when I see where it is going.
The argument on gun control, I don't quite understand it. I don't understand why people are so eager to bring an AK-47 to a town hall meeting. I live in Texas, it is perfectly legal for people to carry concealed weapons, excluding certain places like schools. Note, I said concealed, why would you go around showing your gun to the general public, unless you wanted to instill unrest and discomfort. He did in 1999, urged the prohibiting the operation of a gun store within five miles of a school or park. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound horrible. I don't want a liquor store or a strip club near a school or park either. That's my "conservatism" sticking out. He supports gun control. I do too. I don't understand why anyone needs an AK-47. My understanding you need guns for protection and hunting. Either or, an AK-47 might be overwhelming for such things. Again, just my opinion. Right now most people, depending upon their state, and their criminal record, can get access to a hand gun or gun used for legitimate hunting.
The biggest argument I hear about is the socialism/fascism/communism/marxist. I really don't think the people who throw around these accusations actually know the definitions of any of these things. Obama is not any of those things, not to mention fascism and socialism are complete opposites of each other. Communism is a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership. We can look at the bailouts for that, but we need to look at Bush, not Obama for the bailouts, he was the one who got the ball rolling on that. Socialism is advocating state ownership of industry. We can again look at bailouts, and again look at Bush if you are concerned with that. Fascism is a government that promotes extreme nationalism, repression, anti communism, and is ruled by a dictator. I had no idea the Obama was a dictator, he was democratically elected by the people. I would say extreme nationalism would be something on the right with their patriotism rhetoric. If Obama is a communist, he surely couldn't be a fascist. Marxism is a philosophy in which law is considered an instrument of oppression and control, and which the ruling class uses against the working class. Per many of those at the tea parties, they are concerned with all the "hand outs" for all the "lazy" uninsured people out there. That doesn't sound like Marxism to me. It seems these are just "buzz words" used to smear any of the policies put forth by the Obama administration.
What I have learned from the Tea Parties is that the only cohesive point that people are there for is to oppose the President. Some hold signs that speak untruths. Others hold up signs that are blatantly racist. Some question the legitimacy of this President by trying to proclaim he is not an American. Some believe he is a Muslim, while others believe he is blatant racist because he went to a Christian church led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The tea parties are usually organized and embraced by those on the right. Glenn Beck who claims to be independent is a conservative. Fox News has a conservative leaning in comparison with mainstream media. I don't care what Fox News says, they are really not fair and balanced. If you look at our media, in comparison to the rest of the world, we aren't all that "liberal", unless we talk about Muslim media, which is very conservative.
When you have events organized by people like Glenn Beck, who refers to the President as a racist, which is crazy, considering he is a self identified black man with a white mother, and when you have people embracing Joe Wilson for heckling and being downright rude to the President. When these people aren't really sure why they are gathering, except for disdain of a President, I can't help but to think, all the other issues are secondary to an issue they are not mentioning, which is race. Call it the race card, but I see way too many signs that point to racism, and even if that is your fringe, why do you continue to let them dominate your ranks, and be the most vocal? Why is their silence on the end of the others in your plight, unless there is agreement and approval of these people?
The accusations made from the tea party element are nothing short of defamation. I don't have any respect for people who align themselves with the fringe and refer to themselves as the mob. It seems their intent is it intimidate, and not argue the issues, but express their anger at the fact their man didn't win, and since he didn't win, they feel they are losing control, which is why you have people like Pat Buchanan can proclaim this country was built by white people, and get no reprimand, but rather silence. When you listen to blatant racists like Rush Limbaugh and use their rhetoric, I can't respect you. I know that sounds harsh, but with this last election, I see undertones of people actually reverting back to the past, wanting to embrace McCarthyism, and think that their arguments are valid, when there is no actual proof to back many of their arguments up. It scares me at this time to think that people are scared the President will encourage their kids to go to school and work hard, but are perfectly fine with other Presidents pushing political agendas, such as No Child Left Behind to their children.
The Tea Parties scare me, not because I don't agree with protesting, I do, I love the idea of protesting to show support or dissent, but the unclear,random message that is essentially is to hate the President for no other reason than the color of his skin and that fact his name doesn't sound "American", kind of confuses me.
16 comments:
This is an excellent post!!!
I love a good protest. but the people at the TeaParty had no idea what they were saying. I agree that there was only 1 main reason why they were there and why they were against the President.
siditty you are so on point. I agree with most of the things that you write about and this is another example. Like you said before, alot of people are talking, throwing around ideas and names that they really know nothing about and it is allowed to go on without a peep from anyone else, i.e. Mr. Pat. I almost had a heart attack when I heard him say that and from what i know there has been no one who has called him out on his false remarks. No one is calling these people out on their unwarranted remarks,and what makes this worse is that these were probably the same people who kept their mouths shut when Bush was in the office. I fear for our country and our president if these people don't settle down.
The true purpose for the tea parties is to be an undercover KKK rally...but they can tea bag on some...
...anyways...
...you get what I'm saying.
The true purpose of the Tea Parties was to wake Americans up to the failures of the two party system and return to a more constitutionally based form of government. That’s what libertarians, anarchists, and unaffiliated supporters originally wanted. Check out TeaParty07.com.
This isn’t new and it wasn’t about Obama, ACORN, or ‘returning to a Christian nation’.
But Glen Beck and his fellow failures in the Republican party have co-opted the message and turned it into something else. The neo-cons have destroyed their party and made themselves a laughing stock, so they’ve decided to legitimize themselves by using the rhetoric of another group. But its not working and all they are doing is de-legitimizing the other groups. Maybe that is their true intention. Who knows.
Here are some old Tea Party 2007 interviews. They may be tin foilly, but they are not Republicans or Bush supporters.
http://mp3.wtprn.com/Badnarik/0711/20071112_Mon_Badnarik.m3u
http://media.katherinealbrecht.com/archives/0801/20080111_Fri_Albrecht1.mp3
Hi Siditty,
Your post addressed issues that now stem from the election of President Obama. It seems strange to me that less than 24 hours after mourning Americans killed during the 911 terrorist attack, that many of the same people would gather together and express their disdain for the current President.
You ask an intelligent question, "Why now?" It is one which I do not believe will be answered.
I wonder if this was the same anger, resentment and hatred felt by many towards an abolitionist President (Lincoln); the result of that was his assasination.
It's an intriguing game we play here in America. We are taught the rules and we are led to believe that by following the rules we will find equality. Somehow, we suspect it's not true but we hope (against hope), wanting to believe. We find ourselves not at base camp, not climbing the mountain but atop the summit, where it's revealed to us that we're on the wrong mountaintop.
The truth is that the rules are fluid in America; not black or white. In America, too many Whites are uncomfortable with the concept of racial equality. That would mean accepting the belief that Whites are no better; and in their mind, they just have to be better than Blacks.
I do not fear the protesters; I fear where this country is going. We have always been dysfunctional in America (when it comes to race) but last November we had the opportunity to exorcise the demons of racial inequality, hatred, anger and resentment. Instead, they have been embraced by those claiming, "the right of dissent".
Those people shame what Americans fought and died for during past wars. They dishonor those who died eight years ago at the New York Twin Towers, Pentagon and Shanksville (PA).
There was a saying during the 1968 Democratic Convention held in Chicago which was coined by Vietnam war protesters. While being clubbed by Chicago police, many began to shout, "The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching!"
U
The true purpose of the Tea Parties was to wake Americans up to the failures of the two party system and return to a more constitutionally based form of government. That’s what libertarians, anarchists, and unaffiliated supporters originally wanted. Check out TeaParty07.com.
This isn’t new and it wasn’t about Obama, ACORN, or ‘returning to a Christian nation’.
OK They're Ron Paul supporters. I don't really trust Ron Paul supporters either. But that is just me, I'm not into people with racist attitudes running anything in this country, and isn't he a Republican?
Again if that wasn't the case, why the hell are they all outraged and so vocal now? They didn't seem to have the numbers and the voice until after Obama was elected, why? Why is this question never answered?
Why the racist diatribe and posters and signs. This is way more than about the failure of the two party system. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
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Excellent post! One of the biggest problems I have with these protests (eg, project 9/12) is that the people protesting are the same ones that didn't have sh1t to say during the Bush administration when a hell of a lot of shady, unconstitutional, and expensive things were being forced on Americans.
Another thing about this that gets on my gets on my nerves, is how some whites become so dramatic when the racial aspect of a lot of the criticism is brought to light. I found this thread on the David Icke board (yeah, I know, but I read it for entertainment and to pass the time.):
http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82120
How can people who claim to see the truth behind all the lies be so dumb as to completely disregard race as a factor in these marches? Not injecting racist remarks into your criticism does not mean you can't criticize the POTUS.
Don't some whites realize that they CAN criticize the president and not be called racist? It's not hard to do. Only involves 1) focusing criticism on legitimate aspects of his policies and not him as a person, and 2) not injecting racist rhetoric into criticism (e.g., calling BO a monkey).
There are many answers to your questions, many that I would support.
Why protest now and not under Bush? The exaserbation of time. One bailout is upsetting. Two more, plus a tanked economy, and people are finally mad enough to do something, as well as having had enough time to organize.
Why AK-47's? The constitution, whether we like it or not, has a clause for the public defending themselves against political or national tyrany. An AK would be great for that. Or maybe you just like to shoot recreationally. An AK is actually very exciting to fire.... at a target.
Tax cuts and social programs. Govt. is hugely wasteful. Lots of money spent on programs that are proven innefective, and the expansion of govt. programs would easily lead to increased waste... at a time when we are all going broke. Serving the public good is noble and needed, but lets do it beter rather than simply doing it more expensively.
I could go on.
What scares me is that none of these answers to your questions are being given by the Tea Party crowd.
In stead all we get is the Fascist, Marxist, alarmist rhetoric. I promise the majority of these people have not read Marx or Hitler's writing and simply trust Glenn Beck's recitations.
If there are serious things to complain about, but you choose to voice the most weak and tainted complaints, I think your motives are suspect.
More than suspect.
There was more than one bail out under Bush. There was a federal take over of freddie mac and fannie mae. The government handled the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. There were dozens of banks that received money, and not all of them after 01/20/2009. So again where was the outrage? You act as if Bush did a couple and Barack just went crazy, he didn't. He continued what Bush started, so now it is Obama is responsible for all the bailouts. Why?
I guess your cool with people walking down the streets with AK 47s, I'm not. When the constitution was being written, we didn't have police departments. I don't need an AK-47 to defend myself.I understand a handgun, I understand hunting rifles, I just don't understand machine guns.
We have had lots of federal tax cuts, which explains why all our city and state governments are failing. I am not ok with laying off teachers and closing libraries. The problem is the tax cuts put into place by Bush have not gone to those ineffective programs but affect the things like schools, libraries, colleges, city governments, and after school programs. I don't find those for the most part to be ineffective. I love my libraries, I love my schools, and I am partial to teachers and know in Texas, their classrooms are already crowded.
Ron Paul is a Republican Representative for Texas. He ran as a Libertarian in 1988, but decided to run as a Republican for last year’s election because only Republicans and Democrats get media attention or get to participate in the debates. i.e. How much news coverage did McKinney get? Which televised debates was she allowed on? No access = little or no votes. I’m not into racist people running the country and after researching the accusations, I still supported his policies.
Why the racist diatribe and posters and signs.
Because Beck and his gang have co-opted and tainted the original message. Its sad and sickening to see the same idiots/neocons/faux news fans at these types of gatherings. So far I don’t think they’ve attended the End the Fed gatherings, but I still don’t like them at the Tea Party events because they’ve twisted the issues.
Off topic;
Could this case be racially motivated. FBI says its work place violence. I don't buy it.
Yale Student
This is a great post. I blogged about something similar yesterday.
When people complain they are fearful our country is headed towards Marxism, I think to myself, "I'm fearful of the right-wing nut jobs who have nothing but time on their hands to attend a tea party gathering."
Talking about parties... check this video out.. it's so outrageous.
Dear Francios:
You're message didn't get posted, and I know this hurts your feelings, but your President is a black man.
You can pretend all you want that all the ills of this nation came as a result of Obama, but he won't be the last black President, and so far, I haven't seen the Def Comedy Jam cadence that you think he possess. I can't wait for the 1st black woman President. That would be an awesome day.
Oh and black people might be animals, but we are way more civilized than your ilk of "species"
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