Tea Party

I think that it's easy for those who we can call the "liberal, Obama loving media" to pigeon hole the Tea Party Movement into simply just a bunch of "whiny, poor loser, right-wingers" who are upset at having to pay taxes. And as a whole, this is what the media has done to dismiss the protest. Which is fine, it really is as expected and is what they have been accused of since President Obama won the election. And to some extent this pigeon hole is correct, and one can even say fueled by the fact that Fox News was the only "news" outlet that continuously covered it.

When I first heard of the tea party movement I was amazed. I also wondered where and what they were going to dump. When I found out it was a mere gathering to protest taxes on tax day, I thought it was a good start, but it didn't go far enough. Now, I'm not promoting violence, the original tea party was a non-violent act against the English rule. There needed to be a walk out, or a march, not a series of protest where political figures are allowed to speak. There should be no political figures speaking. This should be a gathering of the people who cry out in one voice "We will not take it anymore".

Another great way the media has dismissed the Tea Party was to say it was just a bunch of people who don't want to pay taxes and don't understand that President Obama has ct taxes for 95% of America. Well I would have to disagree. I don't believe that this was a blatant "I don't want to pay taxes anymore" protest. And while yes, the president has cut taxes for 95% of Americans, his government has raised taxes on other goods such as but not limited to cigarettes and liquor. So, while he technically cut taxes, keeping his campaign promise, he found alternative revenues to get the people. And of course, I understand the argument "well you don't have to smoke or drink", it has been seen that liquor sales have gone up since the recession.

I want to make this perfectly clear, and for the record, I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Republican Party. I just believe that our system of what we want really badly want to call a democracy is broken and has been for a long time, maybe since the beginning. Our checks and balances alone kills a democracy. Any one branch can cancel out the other, and they, whenever they want, can cancel out the will of the people, is not a democracy but a republic. We have representatives who the majority of us vote in and they do what they believe the majority of their people want.

However, since the formation of the colonies, and the first elected presidency, there have only been 2 major parties. It started with the tories and the wigs and has evolved into the Republicans and the Democrats. Anyone else running under any other party, especially for the highest office in the land is viewed as "waisting their time" and their supporters are "waisting their vote", again, not a very democratic view. And, on top of this two party "conspiracy", you need to be a card carrying member of one of said parties to 1) vote for who should run on that parties ticket and 2) work the booths during Election Day.

These are the principles that should have been, and were the foundations for the Tea Party Movement. And while the Obama-loving media may want to pigeon hole it's attendees into some nice little niche that they can easily dismiss by saying where was all this protest during the Bush years, maybe they should take into consideration the fact that not only did Bush's approval rating drop to historic lows, NOT only did they want to impeach Bush BUT it was with their help and love for Senator Obama and dislike of Sarah Palin that aided in Obama's 8 million vote advantage. Of course, McCain didn't help his cause either, but that's beside the point.

My only real question is, for those of you who want to so easily dismiss the Tea Party activist, can you do it without using the term "teabaggers" or "teabagging"? I mean seriously, who really is the immature ones here?

Everyones New Favorite Extremist

Glenn Beck, since jumping ship from Headline News to Fox News has taken the nation by storm. With Katrina like devastation, Beck has found himself on the lips of all news media outlets from TIME to Keith Olbermann's "Worst People". And he has done so by truly putting Barnum and Bailey's circus tactics on air. The man at any one time can go from crying about his love of the country to Pentacostal scare tactics about the fire and brimstone that is President Obama's Socialist agenda to playing Jenga to making fun of himself. For all it's over the top antics, it's got to be an awful joke right. Right?

There's a movie out there called >"The Last Supper". The 1996 film staring Cameron Diaz, is about five liberal grad students who take it upon themselves to kill off anyone whose views may differ from their own, and are deemed dangerous. This includes anti-environmentalist Jason Alexander, a redneck war vet Bill Paxton, so forth and so on. The group then puts the bodies in the ground and plants tomatoes around the bodies.

Well one day, while taking a vacation from killing they come across a television rightwinger right out of Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs playbook. They invite this man, played by Ron Pearlman for anyone interested, over for dinner thinking they got their big catch. While having a discussion during dinner, per ritual, they come to find out his views are very simular to their own.

In a well put statement, Pearlman's character explains to the group that it is the middle that runs the country, its just the extremist on both the left and the right that talk the loudest. He also tells them that he doesn't do his show to gain fame for political gain, that his show gives him more power than the president. While the president has to answer to congress and to the people, his show, his "character" doesn't.

Well ladies and gentleman, that is where Glenn Beck finds himself. Maybe his views are like ours, and he's just playing a bit to get a rise out of people and it works. However, the danger with Mr. Beck lies in the times. We are at a dangerous crossroads in American history. There is an old saying, "those who don't learn from
the past are doomed to repeat it." After World War I, when the allies took everything from Germany as punishment, they were an angry bunch looking for someone to blame. Along came a failed painter whose charisma carried him to the heights of his socialist party all the way up to chancellor. He put together rallies. He told the down and out German's who was REALLY to blame. He even wrote a book about how they were going to change all their luck.

Now, I'm not necessarily saying that Glenn Beck is Hitler, instead he just wants to be famous. For 2 years in college I was a radio disc jockey. One of the first things the upperclassmen told me was you know you've made it when you recieve a letter or call from the prision. Well, in my 2 years, I recieved numerous calls and one letter from the prision, so I guess I made it. It's the same way for Beck. As reported on Olbermann's "Worst People" all Glenn Beck wants is for Saturday Night Live to parody him. Is that too much to ask for, I mean all the BTK killer wanted was a movie made about him and he got that, why not give Glenn Beck a parody on SNL?

More to the point, Glenn Beck now enjoys millions of viewers on the conservative flagship television station. What makes it dangerous is the fact that his base, the right wing conservatives are looking for someone to trust and listen to. The Republican party is on life support and is looking for anyone to take it back to the Grand Ol' Party days. Thanks to 8 great years under Bush, the party is lost and looking for someway to regain votes. And the way they are doing that is by fear mongering. If they tell you that Barack Obama and the Democrats are bringing about Socialistic changes and anyone who follows them is a commie-pinko, those who let the GOP doing their thinking for them will believe it. I mean it worked for Joe McCarthy.

Ultimately this ties into the point of "Political Liability" as a blog. We don't want you to follow either party blindly, that's not democracy, that's not even a republic. We are going to give you our opinions, think of them what you will, there is no right or wrong. Understand that there is always going to be a disenfranchised middle. During the Bush years, it was the intellectuals, the people who didn't want a government with a gestapo who had a list of enemies and interegated "the enemy" in the dark of night. Now, its the religious and the right. Those that were catered to for 8 years under the Bush administration.

Think of it this way,"we will not go quietly into the night, we will not give up without a fight" (courtesy of Independance Day).