some tea party thoughts

[veronica_rich]

Things that have occurred to me about the "tea party" protests going on across the U.S. today, random and possibly contradictory in nature:

1. A friend pointed out she didn't understand all the fun being made of the tea party protesters, since everyone has the right to an opinion. I don't understand it either. I mean, the GOP and Fox News (along with some mainstream media, at first) either made fun of, reviled, or refused to cover war protesters for several years. But that doesn't mean an answering wrong from the other side makes any of it right.

2. I DO, however, understand making fun of the self-labeled "teabagging" thing. Does nobody in the planning arm of the GOP have even a tenuous relationship with pop culture of the past two or three decades? Didn't somebody's kids hear the term and start sniggering? Do none of them watch "Sex and the City?"

3. I am puzzled by the tea party protesters who happened to be Bush supporters. So, they were OK with how their money has been spent on wars (vis-a-vis a great bulk going to contractors who have been shown to not have been doing a very good job, and very little going toward war gear the troops might actually need, i.e. body armor, tough boots, proper weapons, etc.) and giving the very rich tax breaks for taking their manufacturing and customer support overseas for the past eight years - but they're against putting money into our own economy in the form of less taxation on the lower and middle classes, and in venues where the money is supposed to be recycled back into spending in this country?

4. There's a deficit in the new proposed national budget. We've had one since after Clinton left office.

5. I'm not sure if the GOP-led protests are anti-Congress or anti-Obama, or a bit of both. I'm not even sure specifically what they're protesting. The original Boston Tea Party was done by people angry at "taxation without representation." They had no Congress, no president, and no Supreme Court. But we have all those things. And history books. And yet, we still managed to start two wars with money provided by a majority of taxpayers who were against spending to finance said wars. And Republicans have held majority power in Washington for more than 20 of the past 29 years. And the financial problems we have weren't created overnight. So again, I ask ... if these people were happily content with all this congealing at the same time over the past seven and a half years, why are they just now protesting?

6. The self-labeled "teabagging" label is hilarious. Trufax. ETA: For those of you not in the know but too embarrassed to ask, THIS is teabagging.

7. In completely unrelated pondering, is Norm Coleman going to become a "sore loser" like Al Gore and fight for an office he thinks was stolen from him all the way to the Supreme Court? Inquiring minds ...

Comments

[roguedemon.livejournal.com]

Go out and read about economics. Then you will understand why Obama's administration may have a point. I suggest you start with Keynesian economics, then move on to Paul Krugman, a liberal economist who has criticized the Obama administration for not having a more aggressive relief package, but likes the new budget proposal. After that I suggest reading some George Soros in order to gain some understanding of exactly how we got into this mess. Maybe you can go back and look around for articles on how Reganomics and the agressive anti-regulation policies of the Republican party (and often, moderate Democrats), led to this mess. Also, you might read about the measures FDR took to get us out the the Great Depression. He didn't exactly worry about balancing the budget right off the bat.

In short, read something (the above are just things that came to me off the top of my head, but really, all you need to do is get on the internet or go to a bookstore and/or library), and think about what you are reading. Educate yourself, because you don't sound like you know what you are talking about. There are no easy answers right now, and it's definitely not as easy as you are making it out to be. Furthermore, if you didn't vote, you lose any right whatsoever to complain about anything. Ever. Again. If you can't find any difference between the parties and candidates, then and now, you aren't paying attention.

[idle-curiosity.livejournal.com]

This is why I usually don't do this.

Because it's always nice to know that when I give an honest response, there is always someone who is willing to shed the light on how uneducated you are and how much you don't know.

Thanks.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Dudes, don't be unkind to each other. You still have the evil sparrabethers to bind you, remember that. ;-)

Seriously, for both of you: I think everybody could stand to be better self-educated. Including me. Including both of you, and everyone else here. Because really, the day anyone stops learning, they might as well settle into their grave and start the dirt nap. (My mother's 57 years old and voted Republican her entire life until 2004 - what turned her against the neocon contingent initially were all the soldiers who died in a war she came to see as unjustified and unwinnable. She listened to the news a little each day and read a few things here and there - mainly newspapers or magazines, I don't think any books, since she's not a big book person - and began questioning what was going on in other parts of the government. This is a woman I NEVER thought would change her mind about politics, for real.)

BUT - and there is always one - I don't want to see friends feeling personally jumped on in my journal, either, or jumping. I know neither of you thinks the other is stupid or mean. Hell, sometimes I forget not everybody is as armor-plated as I am (which comes chiefly from my job ... although I think working in public utilities would give one the chance to be bitched at a lot for things they have no control over, either *G*).

Play nice, guys. And don't take debating personally. As Jack pointed out in AWE at allies temporarily smashing bottles over each other's heads and shooting one another, "This is politics."

[idle-curiosity.livejournal.com]

I wanted to clear up a couple of things, I guess.

One would be that I actually did lie about not voting. Honestly, I really, really didn't want to vote, because what I said was true. I didn't like any of the candidates, for different reasons, none of which I want to go into.

I ended up holding my nose and voting for McCain. You might now see why I didn't want to state such. I just simply didn't want to be piled on.

What I wrote was never meant to be political. It was what I was thinking and feeling, that's all, and that's all it was meant to be.

I was quick to take offense, and I apologize for that.

[concertigrossi.livejournal.com]

(BTW, apropos of the voting thing, if you really hate all the candidates, writing in "None of the above" is a perfectly legal and valid option.) :)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

There's more than one person who reads this journal who voted McCain. I think there's a Nader in here, too (or at least Bill the cat). Who knows, you might be able to say "I told you so" when it's all said and done. Personally, I hope not, since I voted Obama. It all depends what happens in the next few years ...

I think anyone in this day and age is going to get more shit for not voting than for voting the way a majority doesn't like. At least a voter is engaged and has the right to yell when things don't work out, even if it's their candidate who screwed up.

[roguedemon.livejournal.com]

Okay. I will retract most of what I said, based on V's reminder. You hit a very sore spot with me -- the not voting thing. And that one I won't take back. If you don't see a difference between parties and candidates well, there *are* too many differences to be listed here. And if you don;t vote, you have no right to complain.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

*goes back to writing porn ... heh heh heh ...*

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Dudes, don't be unkind to each other. You still have the evil sparrabethers to bind you, remember that. ;-)

Seriously, for both of you: I think everybody could stand to be better self-educated. Including me. Including both of you, and everyone else here. Because really, the day anyone stops learning, they might as well settle into their grave and start the dirt nap. (My mother's 57 years old and voted Republican her entire life until 2004 - what turned her against the neocon contingent initially were all the soldiers who died in a war she came to see as unjustified and unwinnable. She listened to the news a little each day and read a few things here and there - mainly newspapers or magazines, I don't think any books, since she's not a big book person - and began questioning what was going on in other parts of the government. This is a woman I NEVER thought would change her mind about politics, for real.)

BUT - and there is always one - I don't want to see friends feeling personally jumped on in my journal, either, or jumping. I know neither of you thinks the other is stupid or mean. Hell, sometimes I forget not everybody is as armor-plated as I am (which comes chiefly from my job ... although I think working in public utilities would give one the chance to be bitched at a lot for things they have no control over, either *G*).

Play nice, guys. And don't take debating personally. As Jack pointed out in AWE at allies temporarily smashing bottles over each other's heads and shooting one another, "This is politics."

[roguedemon.livejournal.com]

Okay, fair enough. I was too extreme, sorry about that.