Purple is not good.
Posted on 08/20/2011 12:03:23 PM PDT by Kaslin
SILVERTON, CO – The man in the coffee shop had the look of a no-nonsense Westerner. A retired architect, he told me that he had lived in the mountains for the past few years and that like most Americans, he was appalled at what was going on in Washington.
Cheerfully admitting to being a political liberal, he nonetheless agreed that America’s financial woes were due to government profligacy, not a lack of tax revenue. He acknowledged that the nation’s credit rating was downgraded because Congress had not enacted serious spending cuts.
There’s plenty of common ground here, I thought. That is, until he shook his head and said, “But I worry about those Tea Party types. The right wing scares me. Some of them are so far out.”
I heard similar remarks from others as we traveled the southwest portion of the Rocky Mountain state. Common sense statements were followed by nervous fears about …. The Tea Party.
As Rush Limbaugh recently observed, many people misunderstand what the Tea Party represents. It’s not a third party; it’s not organized in the mass sense. It’s simply a consensus among Americans that a major turnaround will be necessary to save America as we know it. It is a worldview that embraces what has made America great – personal responsibility, smaller government and constitutional law. Plus, God, country and guns. Scary, eh?
In the same coffee shop, two people in their 20s, a man and a woman, discussed the economy. Their gut reaction was like that of the architect – Washington is spending too much. One of them said, “We’re like, $4 trillion in debt and this year’s deficit is in the hundreds of billions.”
Well, the national debt is actually $14.6 trillion and rising, and this year’s deficit is $1.6 trillion. They looked surprised when they learned that the red ink was even worse than they had thought.
With the media intent on diverting blame from Obama and the Democrats, it’s no wonder that some folks are confused. Their instincts seem sound, but they are marinating in the mainstream media’s fantasized world in which the Tea Party is a monster, and that “more revenue” from “the rich” is the answer to our troubles.
There’s Sen. John Kerry on CNN, brazenly blaming the Tea Party for the credit downgrade. The left’s vitriol against the Tea Party knows no bounds, even in far-flung places. In the Vail Daily, which caters to the elite ski resort community, a lengthy editorial by Sam Sterling on Aug. 10 is a fountain of leftwing dogma. He blames George W. Bush for the entire federal deficit, even the $4.3 trillion added under Obama. He says Obama “saved an additional 3.5 million additional jobs from being lost.” He excoriates oil companies for “not exploring for oil in the U.S.,” and suggests that “If the government got into the oil business, prices would drop substantially and the U.S. would have cheap energy for 150 years, without reliance on imports.” Who says faith is dead?
Sterling assures us that “the overwhelming majority of economists believe the government needs to spend money to create jobs,” and ends the piece this way: “Let’s reveal the tea party for what they are – greedy, selfish, ill-informed and irresponsible traitors.”
Guess the civility memos didn’t reach Vail in Eagle County, which went big for Obama in 2008. Over in Telluride, another mega-resort in San Miguel County, which also gave Obama a nearly 4 to 1 margin, columnist Thom Carnevale of the Telluride Daily Planet emoted on Aug. 5 over the mass shooting at a Labor Party youth camp in Norway by “a white, nationalist right-wing Christian fundamentalist” (Mr. Carnevale must be paid by the epithet).
Never mind that the shooter, Anders Behring Breivak, revealed his lack of faith in God and his contempt for Christianity in his 1,500-page manifesto. Mr. Carnevale went on to warn of madness “whether it comes from the barrel of a gun, the blast of a bomb or from the ploys of corporate titans whose sole purpose in life is to reap inappropriate amounts of profit at the expense of the middle and working class.”
Say what? Businessmen in the same league with terrorists? Please note that Mr. Carnevale is a Telluride Town Council member.
It would be wrong to pick out a couple of knee-jerk writers and extrapolate their views on to the people of Colorado or even the ski towns. The papers run some conservative letters, too. And in Ridgway, where much of the original True Grit was filmed, the spirit of John Wayne stands tall over the town and Ouray County, which Obama won by a whisker.
The Tea Party has many adherents in Colorado, a state with just over 5 million people that adds a million or so every census despite the late John Denver’s wish to keep it for the wildlife and dwellers of Starwood in Aspen.
Colorado is a mixed bag, a work in progress like the rest of America. Color it purple, for the time being, while the tea pot simmers and liberals cringe.
The fantasy world that libs live in never ceases to amaze me.
The feral gubbmint should run the oil companies so we can have cheap energy for 150 years? Oh yeah, that will work as well as the postal service.
If the eco, soc., cult.mil, energy, borders disasters continue for the next 14 months, perhaps purple will go red in many unsuspecting states . People do not like to be lied to or conned. They know free enterprise is at stake now. They also know border amnesty, no energy policies for American domestic use, Fast and Furious, Obamacare, loss of their retirement funds due to Dem tax-regs-spending horrors are chipping away at America’s domestic and international respect. Bama is now known as a proven liar and not only do citizens get offended by that but so does a Holy God.
A professional man who has done well and is smart enough to be an architect, but still easily led to believe a falsely constructed media image.
Tea party values are simple:
Limited government
Balanced Budget
Preserve the blessings of freedom for our children and grandchildren.
If Mr. Architect is opposed to those ideals he deserves what ever a 2nd Obama term may bring him.
I remember Silverton whenit still had dirt streets and horse hitches along the street. Lots of miners and loggers there at the same time.
Now it appears to have been “Calipornicated” by the leftists like they did to Teluride.
There are those who walk among us who embrace both enthusiastically.
These writers need to lighten up. The guy has only lived in Colorado for a couple of years. He's a liberal. It is impossible for a liberal girlyman to wear the "look of a no-nonsense Westerner". He probably moved there from New Yawk! Geeesh!
Yeah, but they need to be smart enough to realize it.
I always want to ask those who fear the Tea Party to articulate WHY. They never can.
I think this article nailed it. I spent a week this summer in Ridgeway, Ouray, Telluride and Silverton (if you haven’t been there you really need to see the San Juan’s).
I had to go into a Ridgeway coffee shop every day to teach online classes for the Internet access. We rented a huge log cabin, but it didn’t have Internet access.
The place was liberal to the point of almost being another Boulder in outlook. I thought the owner of the coffee shop was going to kick me out when I wouldn’t put up with her liberal evangelization.
I live in Colorado Springs near the AFA which is one of the most conservative areas in the country. But Denver and areas like these are getting over run.
This reminds me of my spiel I used to post:
Considering Relocating? Think about Colorado Springs…
I f you or a CONSERVATIVE person is considering relocating, I’d invite you to tell them about this family values oasis. I’d personally suggest Northern Colorado Springs as being the best and the most conservative.
And just to lay my cards on the table, I am not in the Real Estate business and make nothing off anyone moving here. I just know that Soros and others have dumped millions into Colorado and have succeeding in taking over the state government for the first time in decades recently.
The Springs loses out to Denver and Boulder in the state elections but it is still close enough to make a difference.
Pass this along.
18. El Paso County, Colo.
Largest city: Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is the right-wing stronghold of Colorado. The Air Force Academy and NORAD are based in the county. About 19 percent of the population are civilian veterans, one of the highest rates in the nation. The other conservative influences are social: Focus on the Family is located in Colorado Springs, as are many other parachurch organizations. Colorado Springs was named by Money Magazine as the best big city to live in 2006.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/19/americas-top-20-conservative-friendly-counties/
Outside Magazine just ranking Colorado Springs as the best place to live.
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200908/best-towns-america-colorado-springs.html
Outside Magazine lists as a drawback that it might be get this TOO CONSERVATIVE for some people.
As you know, Money Magazine consistently usually ranks it number 1 as well.
http://www.ownyourownmountain.com/artman/publish/Gazette_Telegraph_Article.html
Hasn't it happened EVERYWHERE in the West?
Josie; it’s raining!
bump for later
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