Posted on 04/11/2009 3:21:50 AM PDT by Zakeet
I spent the better part of an hour earlier today scanning the various sites and blogs to try and understand what specifically the Fox-Pajamas tea parties are about. Having absorbed about as much of the literature as I can, I have to say I'm still befuddled.
Option 1: It's a protest of the bank bailouts orchestrated by Bush and now Obama. But surely these tea-partiers understand what would happen if we didn't bail the banks out. Are they advocating letting major banks fail? Or are they advocating a Krugman-style government take-over? No idea.
Option 2: It's a protest against tax hikes. But there have barely been any!
[Snip]
Option 3: It's a protest against illegal immigration. Ok, so why the tea? Weren't all the original tea-partiers illegal immigrants?
Option 4: It's a protest against government debt. Yay! I will leave aside the somewhat awkward fact that Fox News and Pajamas Media barely covered the massive debt racked up by the Republicans during a period of economic growth.
[Snip]
What it looks like to me is some kind of amorphous, generalized rage on the part of those who were used to running the country and now don't feel part of the culture at all. But the only word for that is: tantrum.
These are not tea-parties. They are tea-tantrums. And the adolescent, unserious hysteria is a function not of a movement regrouping and refinding itself. It's a function of a movement's intellectual collapse and a party's fast-accelerating nervous breakdown.
(Excerpt) Read more at andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com ...
I find you insipid and boring. Bugger off and leave us to our business.
I think the opposite.
I believe it will be a chance for people to see there are many more who think just like they do...these are people whose opinions are routinely ignored by the MSM and have begun to think they have no voice.
They'll have one on April 15th and we'll get to see how well or badly they put it to use.
It sure beats the crap out of doing nothing!
Some, maybe, but on the whole I'd take that bet. It takes a *lot* to get conservatives riled up. But once they are, get out of the way. Something good is going to happen one way or another.
bingo. It breaks my heart to see so much invested in a glorified "bitch session."
You'd think anyone who is a professional manager would recognize what's going on. I will admit though... I'm very intrigued with who is organizing it.
Somewhat irrelevant to the discussion, but I have a great anecdote that illustrates your point.
I had to file non-resident taxes in Maryland this year (I don't, and would never, live there). I live in a state that has fairly low tax rates.
Maryland has a special 1.4% tax that they charge to non-residents. I have to pay a HIGHER rate than people who live in Maryland, and I can never vote or campaign against it, because I don't live there. "Taxation without representation" indeed.
On top of that, my state gives a tax credit for taxes paid in other states, but pro-rates it so that it's not a dollar for dollar credit. To sum it all up - I pay a higher rate in another state that I chose not to live in because I disagree with their tax and social policies, I pay an additional tax because I can't vote against it, then my own state screws me for having had the misfortune to have worked outside their boundaries.
What's not to love about a system like that? Andrew Sullivan has his head up his ass all the way to his toes, but I'm sure important people like him can't be bothered with trivial things like facts when they're making political points.
“Poor Andrew just doesn’t get it, does he?”
After looking at post #11, I would have to disagree with your statement.
I doubt that very seriously.
So you just think people should shut up and not protest the biggest expansion of government and government power in the history of our great Republic?
I don't think anyone considers Sullivan part of the conservative movement anymore. Well except maybe the MSM, when they need a token conservative to bash conservatives.
no
That is where you are wrong. Doing something ineffectual IS doing nothing.
I'm convinced that we have come full circle in our 230 year existence. We have “evolved” into a society in which an ever approaching majority of citizens will have “representation WITHOUT taxation.” The primary goal of this endeavor is to have enough slaves on the government plantation to ensure electoral victories. This will be the lasting legacy of the 0 man's presidency. A majority of Americans attached to the government tet. This kind of tyranny is insidious because it is in many respects being taken on freely and will be very hard to stop once implemented because you'll have to convince someone who's not paying taxes that it's in their best interest to do so.
As to Andrew Sullivan, he's nothing more than a pathetic, self-loathing homo catcher.
Is this a serious attempt to write an article? It doesn’t strike me as such. It simply denigrates the movement because the movement lacks a single theme.
That is where you are wrong. Doing something ineffectual IS doing nothing.
To quote Woody Allen:
"Eighty percent of success is showing up.".
Just showing up is already accomplishing something, even if that's ALL it accomplishes. Rubbing shoulders with neighbors and other fellow citizens that share your thoughts on the subject.
They need to see and feel the strength of their own numbers.
The fact that the liberals, daily kos, DU and the mainstream media are trying to ignore it or play it down is enough to convince me that it's the right thing to do.
I would like to hear your plan and what you are going to do about it, if anything but gripe about it.
I could share your optimism if it were not for one thing: abortion.
Constitutionalists have been falling for the rope-a-dope on that one for forty years. I see no reason to believe they've wised up any, now. We're further away now than when we started.
Constitutionally (IANAL) this is a tough one because of the SCOTUS acceptance of the whole "penumbra" argument. Once precedence is made it is very difficult to overturn it.
But this is another journey of a thousand miles, isn't it, and conservatives haven't given up. That, in itself, is encouraging.
No, I think they should quit useless foolishness and ignored communication.
Would you rather have news coverage of your tea party, or mandate the office of every elected representative maintain an internet forum with user evaluations of that offices responsiveness?
We will never fix our problems without solving this one.
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