Guardian Article on the Tea Party

[hutch--]

US economy: The Tea Party is a real threat to America

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/31/observer-editorial-us-economy

Strange how it takes a media unrestrained by US politics to see the problem as it is, the US being brought to its knees by a bunch of financial illiterates trying to regain "Paradise Lost" according to Michelle Bachmann and Co. Nero fiddled while Rome burned but the loonies in the Tea party fiddle while the US is heading for oblivion. Lets hope there are enough of the traditional Republicans who see that the survival of the US is more important than the fantasies of the Tea Party.

[Bill Cravener]

Steve, I have never seen a fringe movement take control of a party's soul and mind like this before in my lifetime. Their rulers are the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly. They despise the black man who would dare to be president. They have promoted ugly forms of nativism including punitive immigration laws, english only legislation and bans on the teaching of ethnic studies. It is the 1840s all over again but this time the targets are Muslims and Hispanics rather than Germans and Irish.

It's a religionist movement with the view that the Constitution was divinely inspired, that the US is their gods gift to mankind, that capitalism is mandated by holy scripture and that the notion of social justice is the work of the antichrist. It has spawned a form of christian imperialism that justifies the crusades in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They are committed to authoritarianism which is imposing humiliating burdens on womens constitutional rights. They demand reductions in taxes on big corparate business and insisting on cutting the funding of education and health care. The regulation of entire industries is being eliminated in some states and laws banning some dillusionary threat of sharia are pending in a dozen more.

The christian-right and their tea party fellowers in legislatures and on school boards are insisting that high school history books be rewritten to eliminate references to the deism endorsed by our founding fathers in favor of promoting the notion of America as exclusively a christian nation. The history of slavery and Civil War are being twisted to satisfy the desires of apologists for the confederacy and southern values. History and science cannot be rewritten but these confused people find it easy to deny.

Some years ago in a speech I listened to Robert Reich warn of the vitriol we see today coming from the Tea Party movement as well as towards its likely targets. "Make no mistake angry right-wing populism lurks just below the surface of the terrible American economy, ready to be launched not only at Obama but also at liberals, intellectuals, gays, blacks, Jews, the mainstream media, coastal elites, crypto socialists, and any other potential target of paranoid opportunity."

Something dreadful will come from this movement I can sense it. I would not be surprise to see an event such as that in Norway happening here. I hope not!

[anunitu]

Mainly the Tea Parties problem stem from their complete lack of understanding about how Government works,and any understanding about economics. Before you attempt to dismantle ANY system,you MUST have an alternative solution that WORKS!
Without some plan,it is just wishful thinking...But wishful thinking is what Tim McVay used in planing the Oklahoma bombings..it can be very destructive even if it has no truth in it.

Mcvay thought blowing up a federal building would somehow change everything....Only thing that it did was kill a lot of innocent people.

[Bill Cravener]

I went to a local gathering of tea baggers here in the small town where I live it was late spring. I was curious about these folks and wanted to know a bit more about what makes them tick. Some of the posters many carried were down right offensive. What surprised me the most was that many at least in my area of the country appeared to be of retirement age. One can tell since I'm near that age myself.

That got me to thinking, why do they want the US government destroyed when they themselves must certainly be drawing monthly social security checks and receiving medicare? Also, of the I'm guessing 200 or so people that where there, I did not see one single African American or Asian American or Muslim American even though this small town and surrounding communities have a good many folks of those races. The tea bagger gathering was pure white.

[hutch--]

Doesn't sound good Bill, perhaps the default is what they need to find out what an empty stomach is but from what I have seen they will just come out shooting instead. I get the swing of it being a reactionary movement and in part I know where it comes from, the feeling of being powerless and being pushed aside for minorities like Afro Americans, Hispanics and the rest but the problem is with any movement based on ignorance is that they have been fed bullsh*t for many years and prefer to believe it rather than bite the bullet and see what the economic problems in the US actually are.

We used to see something similar here with the British, the arse had fallen out of the Empire in the gap between ww1 and ww2 yet we used to hear assisted migrants from the UK waxing lyrical about the superiority of the British Empire and this was after ww2. The Tea Party are similar with their views of the US, they still think the world is like it was in 1960 and in doing so drag the US down to its knees.

[anunitu]

It used to be, someone of moderate intelligence could tweak a car engine, these days it takes a bit more tech knowledge than the average person has access to. The economy used to be pretty simple,but many wars and artificial constructs later, and the economy is like a VERY complex time piece..all parts dependent on all the others. Tweak one without knowledge, and you just might wreak it beyound repair.

[dedndave]

the problem with the tea party, as i see it is this...
it means a different thing to everyone who considers themselves a part of it - lol
it has no central leadership, really - at least nothing official
there is no clear doctrine of principals or direction
so - every town that has a group of tea "baggers" (as Bill likes to call them) has a completely different faction

they started off with some good ideas - nothing more than statements, really
for example - cut govt spending - i think we can all agree on that
pay down the national debt - another good idea - yah, we should do that

after you get past the basics, it all goes to shit - lol
they are all going in different directions

the term "tea party" has no clear definition
it will be different in every town, and for each individual
at the end of the day, it is meaningless
i don't understand what all the commotion is about
ignore them - maybe they'll go away   :bg

it's "mind over matter"
i don't mind because they don't matter - lol

as for actually fixing the problems....
our government has snowballed out of control
it is now, by it's very nature, a self-destructive mechanism
it isn't going to fix itself
we are pretty much powerless to fix it
it's only a matter of time before it colapses in on itself

[FORTRANS]

it's "mind over matter"
i don't mind because they don't matter - lol

Hi,

   Oh boy.  Let us hope so.  Given the damage they want to
provoke.

Regards,

Steve N.

[dedndave]

as i said before, the damage was already done
i doubt that any substantial changes they want to make will come to pass

the real damage they are doing is by distracting us from actually moving in the right direction
they are wasting time and resources

[Bill Cravener]

Tea- baggers! I'm really surprised so little is known by the average American of this fanatical movement. Sadly that's the trouble with Americans, they just don't give a damn even though it's so detrimental to the survival of this country if this movement continues to grow. With the Koch's brothers money and that of other big corp monies it could grow and destroy this nation completely. Americans best open their eyes and see, these fanatics who are bigots, homophobes and down right ignorant are trying to bring this country to its knees and with people who don't seem to give a damn, they and the tea baggers, just might succeed.

In 2010 tea bagger endorsed candidates upset established Republicans in various primaries such as Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Nevada, New York, South Carolina and Utah. This gave new momentum to the conservative cause in the 2010 elections. In the 2010 midterm elections The New York Times identified 138 candidates for Congress with significant tea bagger support who were running as Republicans (demons in disguise?).

The billionaire brothers David Koch, Charles Koch and Koch Industries are providing financial and organizational support to the tea bagger movement through Americans for Prosperity which David Kock founded. Former ambassador Christopher Meyer writes in the Daily Mail that the tea bagger movement is a mix of grassroots populism, professional conservative politics, and big money, the last supplied in part by Charles and David Koch. Jane Mayer says that the Koch brothers political involvement with the tea baggers has been so secretive that she labels it "covert". Its big monies feeding the ignorant!

Now it appears to me too many Americans have blinders on and don't take this movement seriously, but I do, I've seen and witnessed it! There are just too many of these bigoted ignorant fanatics around this country to be ignored.

[Bill Cravener]

Tea baggers, Hoobits and Maldor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt5OE3_3zvM

[hutch--]

Funny enough Bill, the Tea Party folks for however well meaning they have much more in common with Islamic Jihadists than conservative Americans of a Republican origin. Religious fanaticism, ignorance and a failure to grasp the consequences of their actions coupled with a child like simplistic view of the world which is both flat and 4000 years old.

I have no beef with people who hold religious belief but I do object to those who confuse religion and politics as it has a terrible history over time. As the Islamic Jihadists are a pain in the arse for the Islamic world, Tea Party loonies are a pain in the arse that almost brought the US to its knees.

[dedndave]

Bill,
news flash!!!!
the country is already in trouble

[Bill Cravener]

Steve, Though the president gave a speech last night that DC has come to a dept cutting agreement this mess isn't over yet, we have politicians such as warmonger Joseph Lieberman (I) of Connecticut concerned that the debt agreement will "disproportionately cut defense spending", Sen. Bernard Sanders (I) of Vermont calls plans that "balance the budget on the backs of struggling Americans" without raising taxes on the wealthiest "grotesquely immoral". Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D) of California is facing defections from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The tea backed congressmen are not happy with any of it. The tea baggers house freshmen are trying to burn down the house they were elected to serve in. Obama is an inept negotiator and I'm very disappointed in him as a Democrat. On the over hand the thoughts of another Republican president scares me to death!

What these debt cutting tea bagger Republicans insist on will mean is wide ranging cuts in federal aid to states affecting everything from the Head Start school readiness program, Meals on Wheels (for starving Seniors and children), worker training initiatives, funding for transit agencies and education grants that serve disabled children. It's always the poor who suffer the must from these inept politicians we have in DC. The old saying in the US "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" is very factual. Shame where this country is headed and the tea baggers are out to finish it with a bullet to the head.

[anunitu]

Even scarier Bill, I searched for third party (political) and was supprised at just how MANY fringe political partys there are.
Tea baggers are just one that got notice.

WIKI of a list of parties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States

Some of these have been around a while,and some are very new..

This one is a FUN party....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marijuana_Party