Saturday, July 4 will be another day of Tea Parties held all across the United States. Many of us are still trying to figure out what the Tea Parties are all about. Originally, I thought that they were about taxes. TEA did stand for ‘Taxed Enough Already.” That seems reasonable. Bi-partisan folks coming together to just say NO to new taxes and new debt. I think I am wrong though. Just looking at the agenda for the local tea party, it is unclear what the real theme is.
A Republican friend of mine suggested that it was just a lot of hot air. Now it seems to me that the Tea Parties are anti-Obama rallies. Can we now say the Tea Parties aren’t bi-partisan and that they are Obama-bashing? The local tea party has the much discussed FAIR guy in attendance. So are the Tea Parties now protests about illegal immigration?
According to the PW Tea Party Website:
WHY WE ARE DOING THIS
We are committed to improving the lives of every citizen of this country. We hold these tea parties with the hope that our elected officials will understand that we cannot leave a legacy of debilitating debt to future generations. We must not permit our leaders to embrace socialist policies that could change the face of America forever.
The list of speakers reads like a far right wing convention:
PROGRAM & SPEAKERS
The Honorable Jay O’Brien, Master of Ceremonies
Nicholas Gossin, Reading of the Declaration of Independence
Matt Hawes, Vice President, Campaign for Liberty
The Honorable Bob Marshall, Virginia State Delegate
John Snyder, Public Affairs Director, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
John Hanson, Founder, Repeal Income Tax- July 12 Movement, Fair Tax Advocate
Ben Marchi, State Director, Americans for Prosperity
Jack Martin, Special Projects Director, Federation for American Immigration Reform
Gerald Adams, Healthcare Policy Director, Americans for Limited Government
Bi-partisan? I think not. As we have seen on this blog, there is a lot of anger out there by those who lost the election. Call it TEA party all they want. I think it is a little closer to the original kool aid so many have drunk.
You can view their issues on their website. I don’t think you will find these issues very bi-partisan.
Rather than going out and waving flags and acting like they own the 4th of July, how about finding some decent candidates? What I see are the same old special interest people out there– Anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-immigration, no tax representatives still stumping. Republicans lost because that was the best they could trot out. They should not hope to change things without breathing some new life into their tired, old causes.
Insignificant and irrelevant.
Well, if you can’t understand them, then you don’t belong there! You can make little jokes and comments like Rick Maddow and Keith Overbite. I see you still don’t understand that Republicans lost because they keep trying to out-Democrat the Democrats. Don’t worry too much about the Tea Parties, soon enough you’ll be able to pay more for practically everything that requires any sort of energy to produce, you’ll have a new 20 million plus permanent underclass on the welfare rolls, you’ll get to enjoy rationed health care, you’ll get to see what’s left of the nation’s manufacturing base move to other nations. You’ll get what you desire to be sure, especially now that Al “Professional Clown” Franken has been seated. “Busy Governing”…..I’m still laughing!
Slow, if it really were about over taxing, you all might have my ear as well as the ears of others. But, when I look at the issues they list and when I look at the list of speakers, I see politics as usual. I just see the Obama hate-fest.
I am trying to understand it.
So the flat-tax dude…..is he there to talk about illegal immigration? What do you suppose he’s there to talk about? Hmmmm.
Which one is the flat tax dude? I am not sure a flat tax would help me. Why do you think flat tax would be a good idea?
I see a 2nd amendment person, an anti abortion/anti contraception person, and an anti-immigration person.
Slow, that’s my point. If it really were about taxes I think a lot more people would participate. It seems like all these other traditional Republican ideas are being interjected.
Those 3 people would keep me home. I have nothing against guns. I own several. But I am not political about them.
Is that guy from the “Repeal Income Tax” thing the “flat tax dude”. I don’t know about a flat tax either – would depend on the tax rate obviously. I thought maybe he just wanted to repeal income tax and not replace it with anything! But that wouldn’t be too realistic, obviously. Flat tax proposals have been around for years but no one has ever really pursued it seriously, I don’t think. I just wonder what the tax rate would have to be to make it equal the amount of taxes collected under the current system, as after all, it can’t reduce that amount or our national debt will increase even more than it is already being increased.
I wouldn’t attend the Tea Party as I hate listening to politicians of any party. To me it is just a bunch of hot air half the time. I have better things to do with my time on the 4th of July! If I could read a one paragraph summary of what each person said, that would be more to my liking.
GR, some people like being worked into a frenzy. Bob Marshall could work me into a frenzy but it would not be a good frenzy. Too bad Chris isn’t here to post the love canal video.
I
Well, it’s not just about taxes, it’s about individual freedoms, it’s about not letting the contributors be ruled by non-contributors (people who have no tax liability will always vote themselves more benefits on the backs of taxpayers). It’s not about hating Obama, but resisting liberal policies, to include the recent spending binge. It’s about taxpayers fed up with politicians who vote on bills without reading them or even knowing 20% of what’s in them. It’s about Obama’s broken promises (no lobbyists in his administration, bills posted for public review for 3 days before votes, etc, etc.). It’s about Congress forgetting that they work for us, not the other way around. It’s about the fact that any baboon could get the US out of this recession in five minutes, but instead pander to special interest groups to keep us in this recession. It’s about those scariest words any American can hear, “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help”. That’s some of it, but certainly not all of it. I don’t go to Tea Parties, I like to remind politicians that what they see at the tea parties isn’t the some total of those fed up with them.
I think this is just a big marketing campaign for right wing extremism. They are trying to recruit more people. I don’t know if it is working. But even if they do grow their numbers, the exposure is turning mainstream America off big time. Adding anti-immigrant hate groups to the mix is certainly not helping.
some=sum, doing too many things at once.
@ShellyB
Yeah….that’s it…..your fiery intellect once more astounds.
I thought the 4th was supposed to be a day of thankfulness and joy. Don’t we celebrate the 4th because we attained freedom and no longer HAD to rebel? Why not celebrate what we HAVE in this country on the 4th of July instead of trying to raise another rebellion?
We can dump tea and raise hell another day. Why do it on the 4th? I think it’s rather disrespectful.
Moon-howler — I don’t think the objective is bipartisanship. What passes for bipartisanship results in increased taxes and spending.
I think bipartisanship is your objective for the Tea Parties. I don’t know why, but I have trouble understanding you too.
In any event, I do understand your accusation that the Tea Parties are being organized by far right. Relative to where you stand, that is where most people are.
Ticked me off today when callers on the Glenn Beck show were asking the guest host if they should still celebrate Independence Day even though Barack Obama is our President.
You know, I really think this Tea Bag campaign is not working. The number of people who just mindlessly accept falsehoods based on ignorance and racism may seem like it is growing. But really all that means is the “Slow” people are extra angry that we are turning the page on their style of politics, and making more noise as a result. This in turn SHRINKS their the right wing extremist numbers. Because they look so ridiculous and so out of touch.
Slowpoke, thanks for articulating what you think the Tea Parties are about. While I might not agree with all you say, that is a starting point. I remember the organizers of the first ones were at least verbalizing a more bi-partisan stance. It was more about taxes and less about all the other things. I think that probably didn’t work out.
Citizen Tom, I don’t think you know me well enough to say that from where I stand, most people are on the far right. In fact, I would guess that most people here would probably disagree with that.
Actually, I have no objectives for the tea parties. I saw who all is going to be a keynote speaker at the local one and got out the old ten foot pole.
My objective as far as the Tea Parties go is to have everyone just be truthful, like Slowpoke has been.
That’s the best you can do? Recycling MSNBC potty-humor and the Kindergarten play on my name? Grade: F.
“That’s where most people are?” Huh? Well, then wouldn’t have Obama won if the majority are part of the extremist far right? Wouldn’t A LOT of other people won elections? Over on BVBL, where the good and moral folks are – they are strapping on their guns to get ready for the big TEA party. I may agree with a lot of what they have to say, but I refuse to forgo my dignity to behave they way they do which is a pre-requisite for club membership (or for not being censored).
I must be missing something – I don’t get what the big panic over guns is now that Obama’s in office. Maybe not being a gun owner, I’m missing something there.
Juturna, I can’t wait to see who strapped one on. I am sure there will be film footage. I might find some common ground with them over government spending. I took one look at the list of ‘dignitaries’ and decided I wouldn’t be caught dead in that crowd.
Gainesville, I am a gun owner and come from a long line of gun owners and I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Of course, my people didn’t have an arsenol of AK-47s and other assault weapons to kill deer and partridge either.
It’s a little odd to me too, the whole gun/ammo thing. You literally can’t buy ammunition anymore, and guns are scare as can be. I haven’t heard Obama say anything extremely anti-gun, and I’ve read quite a bit that says any anti-gun legislation would be dead on arrival in Congress. I think that folks are worried about the widespread notion that the far left in Congress pretty much runs roughshod over Obama, and they would love nothing more than to take guns out of citizens hands. I’m not saying I believe that, but I’ve read it. For whatever reason though, (and heck, maybe it’s a marketing campaign by some gun company…if it is, it’s working like gangbusters), people have been buying guns and ammo like crazy since Obama won and a little before that. I’m not sure what people are expecting on this one!
I had heard that ammo was hard to find and it was expensive. I have not heard one thing Obama has said about guns or gun control. Slow, you might be on to something with the gun companies. There is manipulation by someone going on methinks.
[…] ANTI-BVBL calls the Prince William County VA Tea Party a Tempest in a Teapot (here). […]
That’s interesting Slowpoke – I hadn’t heard that – I know two people I work with who have concealed carry gun permits. I’ll have to ask them if they also are finding ammo hard to buy. I seem to remember recently one of them voicing big fears about what Obama was going to do in regards to guns, and at the time it didn’t make sense to me so sort of went in one ear and out the other. Will have to check with them when I get back to the office, I’m on a business trip this week to lovely Robbins AFB, GA where I assume it will be super hot and humid. I can hardly wait…
By the way these two guys are kind of right wing folks, and both seem to be in a real panic over Obama and gun control. I’m sure they are stocking up their arsenal – they seemed to be talking about that right after he got elected. As I said, it made no sense to me – Obama might be doing a lot of things but personally I don’t see him making it super difficult to procure guns and ammo. The gun owners seem to be doing this all by themselves, kind of like a “run on the bank”. I’ll have to ask them in a week or two when I get back to work if they are finding it hard to procure ammo – and if it has caused a price increase or something on it. Supply and demand would say that maybe it has. I guess if I was smart I should have stocked up on ammo and offered it up for sale at some expensive price and turned a small profit on it. Oh well, a missed opportunity!
Gainesville, that started right after Obama won…this hysteria over guns and ammo. I have yet to hear anything about it out in official circles. All I have heard is the usual right wing melodrama.
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Speaking of …..
From InsideNOva.com:
That sure doesn’t sound like the thousands I have read about who were going to attend.
@Moon-howler
That’s like twice what showed up to watch Joe Biden give a speech recently.
It’s interesting to me, even the tax cuts that Bush junior put into effect are still spending increases! If you cut taxes, you have to come up with the revenue lost from somewhere. Trickle down theory has yet to work.
Hi GR,
The gun hysteria is due to the need to raise funds for the NRA. I am big supporter of the second amendment, but the idea that people have the right to bear ANY kind of weapon is simply ridiculous. The average man does NOT have the fire power to stand up to our well armed military. Whether you have an AR-15 or an AK-47, our armed forces can squelch a civilian uprising in a milisecond. So this chant of right to bear arms against a tyranical government is not credible in this day and age. There is NO reason why any person should be able to go out and simply buy a gun with no background check and no checks and balances in place. I find the hyprocrisy interesting, many right wing conservatives don’t want ANY interference whatsoever in their ability to buy a fire arm, but for women seeking domain over their own bodies, we should be forced to undergoe counseling, 24 hour waiting periods, sonograms, etc etc etc. Like we are too stupid to understand the depth of what it means to terminate a pregnancy, but buying a weapon that has the potential to kill should have little to no restrictions?!
Weapons are not animate objects. This is a very difficult lesson for some people to grasp. Let me try to put it in simpler terms. Handy Manny’s tools….that really doesn’t happen in real life. Tools don’t talk. The hammer doesn’t really want to help out Mr. Lopart. The hammer doesn’t feel or do anything. It’s Handy Manny that actually swings the hammer. Likewise, in the real world, weapons just sit there and do nothing. Weapons don’t walk around stalking the streets at night killing people and teaching kids a new Spanish word every day. It takes a poorly educated, negligent, or malicious PERSON to use that weapon to kill someone. So the problem with weapons isn’t the inanimate weapon, it’s the bad person that uses the weapon.
One might say the same thing about cars.
Absolutely Correct!
@Elena
Whether you have an AR-15 or an AK-47, our armed forces can squelch a civilian uprising in a milisecond.
Not legally according to federal law. The Posse Comitatus Act prevents the military from acting in a law enforcement capacity WITHIN the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
I am big supporter of the second amendment, but the idea that people have the right to bear ANY kind of weapon is simply ridiculous.
You support something you don’t understand? Gravy!
Wow – they got a whopping 150 people there? What a huge turnout…
Thanks Elena for the explanation of why all the recent hysteria about guns and ammos. That kind of makes sense. I forgot about the NRA actually. When I was young my father, uncle, and I used to go target shooting and if I remember correctly I was what they call a “junior member” of the NRA. But that was a long long time ago, and I haven’t been an NRA member for years, nor have I owned or fired a gun since when I was very young. I think a background check for gun ownership is a good idea. It isn’t going to stop very bad guy from owning one, but might stop a few. Catching a few potential people who have no business owning a gun is better than catching none, if you ask me. Just my own opinion on it, but I’m not a gun owner so from that point of view don’t have much of a stake in the whole gun ownership debate. I used to have fun target shooting at a rifle range however, but that’s the extent of my gun experience.
I agree Slowpoke, weapons aren’t bad, it is indeed the bad people who use them and do harm with them. That’s the real problem, keeping the weapons out of the hands of those kinds of people. Not an easy problem to solve however. I definitely don’t agree with banning all kinds of weapon ownership. As I said above, I think a background check is fine, and if you have to wait 24 hours, that would be fine also. But, as i don’t own a gun or have any plans to buy one, I don’t have a big stake in that sort of law like gun owners would have.
I don’t think people have an unlimited right to all guns.
Here is the flaw: no one thinks they are malicious or a nut case and shouldn’t have one.
@Gainesville Resident
I was there. It was easily 4X that amount.
I heard some bad things about the local tea party. I also heard there were some ridiculous open mike speakers. My next door neighbor likes to creep around those kinds of events.
I heard there was less than 100 people there. Apparently, there were ill-attended rallies all over the country. I don’t know if the other rallies combined the anti-immigrant movement as well to pad their numbers. You’d think that such a ploy would have worked in PWC. But even if you add all 8 members of HSM to the 100 people that were there, it’s still only 108 people.
Ringdang,
Do you believe you have the right to own a tank, fully armed? Do you believe you have the right to own a rocket launcher or any other myriad of high power fire weapons that our military has in its arsenal?
I’m not sure what your ultimate point is actually. Who do citizens need to bear arms against that they would need AR-15’s or AK-47’s ?
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
How do you see the intent of the second amendment?
I can picture it……does this neighbor wear clothes during these “creeping sessions?”
Well, the folks at St. Elizabeth’s don’t think they’re dangerous, either…but they’re there!
Elena, which model tank are we talking, here?
There were no “anti-immigrant” movements represented anywhere at any tea-party. Reference earlier comment about people who don’t “think” they’re dangerous.
Slowpoke, you are in a teasing mood today 😉
I for one am thankful that Tea Party attendance numbers topped out at 100, and, that they were largely ignored by legitimate media sources.
Although they mean well, if they get any traction at all, these Tea Party organizers … and their severe detachment from real and actual events and circumstances in today’s America … will be a serious threat to the Republican party. I sincerely hope that these Tea Party organizers will soon declare themselves a third party. If they will not stop inviting Republicans to join their frenzied orgies of false rhetoric and false allegations, I sincerely hope that invited Republicans will decline. To win back its credibility as a national party, the GOP will need to lead instead of follow when it comes to Tea Party fanatics. If we are painted as hateful extremists … or as being at the beck and call of hateful extremists … we will have no chance of regaining our standing as a national party.
@Posting As Pinko
We should be celebrating on the 4th of July,but as this President and Congress want to take away our freedom little by little, then what is there to be celebrating?
The police estimated over 500 were there, where do you get your facts WHWN?