Let me make this clear at the outset: the Tea Party does not speak for me. I prefer to think for myself, speak for myself, and not be swayed by the worst excesses of a mob mentality.
Who do these people want to take the nation back from? Do they really think Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are socialists or are they just flat stupid, like their heroine, Sarah Palin? If Obama, Pelosi and Reid are socialists, I’m a fascist. The problem with Obama is not that he leans too far left but that he’s too wedded to the center. Putting Obama on a poster with Chairman Mao is like putting Adolf Hitler on the same poster with Saint Francis of Assisi – it just makes no sense.
Here’s another thing: I don’t mind paying my fair share of income taxes, as long as the money is used to enhance the common good. I like smooth roads and highways, safe airline travel, national parks, clean air, drinking water and oceans, and sensible regulation that prevents too much power from concentrating in too few hands.
What I don’t like is watching public dollars siphoned off for private gain or wasted on wars of choice or for maintaining a gargantuan military/security/intelligence apparatus. Although I’d like to keep more of the money I earn, I’m not in favor of abolishing the federal income tax, as the Tea Party faithful advocate at every turn. That’s a ludicrous idea in a complex, interconnected society, but then again, most of the ideas parroted by the Tea Party are ludicrous.
But, OK, it’s a kick to mass in the streets with like minded folks, carrying a picket sign, chanting slogans (even totally goofy slogans), and making your opinion known.
Where was the Tea Party when Bush and Cheney were raping the Constitution, fabricating a rational to invade Iraq, torturing detainees, and giving the richest Americans generous tax breaks?
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