I hadn't been paying much attention to the left's characterization of the Tea Party movement until today. When I figured out that I wasn't going to be able to get to Indianapolis for today's event, I decided that I would follow the parties on the news and Twitter.
The left is in a tizzy. The malice and nastiness is amazing. They are either purposely misrepresenting the Tea Parties or have managed to maintain their ignorance about what they are about. They have made up conspiracy stories about the origin, even though many of us who are active online at TCOT and Smart Girl Politics and on Twitter watched the idea grow and spread organically.
They are not anti-Obama. There may be some people who are stridently anti-Obama in attendance, but that isn't the purpose. I would venture a guess that you would find as much disgust with Republican politicians and congressional Democrats among the protesters as with Obama. When I go to our local tea party on Saturday, one of our signs will be questioning our Republican congressman and his vote for the bailout.
They aren't simplistically anti-tax. The vast majority of the people attending the Tea Parties have been paying taxes for years and expect to need to pay taxes to fund the government. There is probably a wide variation among those in attendance over what they believe is legitimate government spending. They aren't about, as one pundit said, the taxes on the wealthy going up 3%.
What they are about is spending. They are about bailouts, whether for Wall Street, GM, or the neighbor down the street who refinanced, bought that big screen, and now can't afford his mortgage and owes more than his house is worth. They are about unbridled spending under the guise of rescuing the economy, and passing an ever-growing debt on to our children. They are about politicians passing spending bills when they don't know what's in them.
They are about concerns that our constitution is being shunted aside by a federal government that insists that states and companies take funds they don't want and that seems almost daily to stretch the limits of its power. They are about the printing of more money, more foreign ownership of our debt, and the devaluation of our currency and inflation that many economists believe is coming.
6 comments:
I couldn't have said it better myself. I am from the Detroit suburbs and it is extremely unpopular to be against the bailouts, especially for those for the Big 3. I have seen and directly felt the pain from the Big 3's demise... but I don't want or expect our government to help them. I am 27 years old, went to college, got a degree, and cannot find a job in my field(education). So I am a substitute teacher. When my husband and I bought our house 5years ago, we didn't buy a huge house or even as much as a house as we could afford at the time. We bought something that we knew we could be responsible for even if jobs disappeared... which they did. We didn't refi so we could add on to the house, or buy new clothes, or even to pay for my schooling... we were responsible and paid as we went. Now, while I am without a full time job, I work two part time jobs and my husband works 2 jobs as well. We save, carry no debt, and pay our taxes and expect our services to be there for what we paid for. I don't expect my taxes to go towards bailing out bad business decisions or irresponsible people. So God Bless to all who participated in their right of free speech and stood up for their beliefs. If everyone was responsible for themselves, then this country and world would be so much better for myself, my neighbors, and my future children.
(I hope I made sense... I am emotional right now and proud to be an American.)
Maybe you can make the tea party in town since you missed the one in Indy. It's on Saturday in front of the courthouse with Alan Keyes.
We're planning on it. My mom is going to come up and go with us. :)
The media seems to have it all wrong. It seems to be agenda-driven.
If I hadn't seen our local tea party with my own eyes, and then seen the interpretations from 'reporters', I'd be a little frightened of me. :-)
Thanks for writing this. I included your thoughts in my post.
Great synopsis!
I'm going to have to cross-link this.
I am not against taxation-- I like roads and police and firefighters and sewer and garbage pickup and clean, running water and and and... :)
But I don't like my taxes being spent to support greedy banks, overpaid factory workers, or for foolish people who bought a house they couldn't afford.
Yeah.
Post a Comment