Let's have a (TEA) Party

[marksoc]

I, for one, support the Americans choosing a Republican candidate. After all, I have already a buck full of popcorn and I sit far enough not to be reached by the disaster. And "The Daily Show" is funnier when people like GW are in power. Also, real estate in Argentina will be more valuable (more Americans going everywhere else but the US). If you rent now in BA, buy something, things will become interesting.

 

[sesamosinsal]

I, for one, support the Americans choosing a Republican candidate. After all, I have already a buck full of popcorn and I sit far enough not to be reached by the disaster. And "The Daily Show" is funnier when people like GW are in power. Also, real estate in Argentina will be more valuable (more Americans going everywhere else but the US). If you rent now in BA, buy something, things will become interesting.

Republicans in control, then the Democrats, then the Republicans, then the Democrats... and so the game goes. It's just a little game. Change? haha

Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, etc, reinforce the status-quo. Each is so polarized that it's nearly impossible to be media literate.

With that said, sometimes I do watch the mainstream media. Today I was watching some FOX News program, and they were talking about students majoring in worthless programs at university. Among the list was sociology, which made me laugh because FOX News as a whole does the least to question the society we live in and the status-quo -- fundamentally that's what sociology is about. Of course sociology would be useless to networks like FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, etc, which are networks that insist on 20-second soundbites to give us the illusion that we're informed. And then we vote...Republicans in control, then the Democrats, then the Republicans, then the Democrats...and so the game goes.

 

[dennisr]

Rick Perry to run for 2012 Republican presidential nomination

Please God, tell there is not another flag waving "Draft Dodger" from Texas born with a silver spoon up his ass in my future?*
Tell me it is not so?*

 

[Philsword]

Rick Perry to run for 2012 Republican presidential nomination

Please God, tell there is not another flag waving "Draft Dodger" from Texas born with a silver spoon up his ass in my future?*
Tell me it is not so?*

Actually if its any comfort polls today show he would be trounced by Obama in the general election. There have been good Republican candidates and presidents in the past but right now the party is so tainted with tea party influence I personally could not vote for any Republican.

 

[CedarPawn]

"Admittedly there have been some badly qualified candidates like Palin and O'Donnell" is a bit like saying you're "a little bit pregnant".

Haha, touche. Very well then, let's call them utterly incompetent laughingstocks.

As for the idea that the world is generally trending towards "conservative" rather than "liberal" ideologies, I must confess to a degree of skepticism; though I'm certainly not qualified to speak of Australia. In the States at least, the media and academia (and therefore, the culture) are utterly dominated by the left, and again the tea party movement is in part a reaction to this growing cultural hegemony.

 

[John.St]

As for the idea that the world is generally trending towards "conservative" rather than "liberal" ideologies, I must confess to a degree of skepticism; though I'm certainly not qualified to speak of Australia. In the States at least, the media and academia (and therefore, the culture) are utterly dominated by the left, and again the tea party movement is in part a reaction to this growing cultural hegemony.

Left or right depends on the point of observation.

E.g. Ronald reagan was in his time considered "right wing" and the myth still upholds this viewpoint. Today he would be a left wing liberal. An example of viewpoint moving to the right.

"... tax increases signed by Reagan ensured that tax revenues over his two terms were 18.2% of GDP as compared to 18.1% over the past 40 years."

"Despite the fact that TEFRA was the "largest peacetime tax increase in American history," Reagan is better known for his tax cuts and lower-taxes philosophy". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan#.22Reaganomics.22_and_the_economy

 

[CedarPawn]

Actually I'm one of those middle aged white men and actually voted for Regan back in the 80's. These people are not really conservatives, they are in many cases extremists with very warped thinking. I think Ronald Regan would be to far to the left for most of these people. I think the threat they pose to individual liberties and freedom have been underestimated. Look up the positions of some of the leaders of this movement and you will see how far out they really are.

One of the looniest in this movement is Judson Phillips, who is considered one of the founders and is head of the tea party nation.

tp://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/11/quote-of-day-judson-phillips.html, sounds a little inconsistent with democracy. Funny he's basically saying take peoples right to vote away doesn't say stop taxing them, i.e. would result in taxation without representation, gee I thought this is what the original tea party back in the 18th century was trying to end.

Another gem from the same guy is that the Methodist Church should be shut-down because it's a Marxist organization. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsme..._nation_founder_lets_get_rid_of_the_socia.php

I don't think people with thinking like this should be taken seriously, but the problem is they are by the GOP right now. I find this very alarming and I don't understand how any reasonable person could feel otherwise. I could add a lot more but this will suffice for now.

Ok, so first he notes that in the old days only property holders could vote, so as to ensure that only those with a vested interest in the community could make decisions. This was a common practice in our early years, one of many precautions against "mob rule" since as you surely know, America has never been a democracy but a republic. Ownership of land obviously no longer carries the significance it once did (back then for example the landowners were the ones who paid taxes), so perhaps a more appropriate modern implementation of that policy would be to limit voting to tax paying citizens only (as opposed to, for example, welfare recipients). The man has the right idea, but fails to adjust for century.

The whole Methodist thing is kooky, I'll grant. Maybe you're even right, and this guy's nuts, but it would be incorrect in any case to call him the leader of the tea party or somehow representing in every idiosyncrasy the tea party's aims (if you're interested what those actually are, here they are http://articles.cnn.com/2010-04-15/...rty-stimulus-bill-pork-spending?_s=PM:OPINION). He may have been involved with organization, but the tea party is very much a grass roots movement and though it may attract fringe elements who happen to agree with us on the real issues at hand, calling him a typical member (let alone the ideological leader) of the tea party would be like calling Louis Farrakhan a typical Obama supporter.

 

[CedarPawn]

I think the threat they pose to individual liberties and freedom have been underestimated. Look up the positions of some of the leaders of this movement and you will see how far out they really are.

If you would, please explain what you take issue with in the actual tea party agenda (not whatever weird projects individual members have embarked upon).

 

[salgueiro]

If you would, please explain what you take issue with in the actual tea party agenda (not whatever weird projects individual members have embarked upon).

At a time when corrupt foreign wars have nearly dismantled the US economy, the tea party opposes tax increases on the rich. The wealthy and large income earners in the US are not paying their fair share of the load. US tax rates are among the lowest in the industrialized world. To the extent the Tea Party has an articuable agenda other than just being obstructionist to anything the current administration seeks to accomplish it is this misguided resistance to fixing the fiscal ship of state.

 

[salgueiro]

If you would, please explain what you take issue with in the actual tea party agenda (not whatever weird projects individual members have embarked upon).

To the extent that the Tea Party has an articuable agenda (other than simply opposing everything and anything the current administratin wants to do) its position on taxation is an abomination. The US enjoys some of the lowest tax rates in the industrialized world. The wealthy are not pulling their fair share of the load. With the US economy teetering on the brink to be against raising revenue via tax increases on the rich is madness.