I do kinda like the thinking behind the Tea Party...
The problem is that the Tea Party is actually one name, given to two distinct groups.
The original group and perhaps the smaller, less obnoxious of the two groups consists of people who genuinely believe in freedom, libertarianism, and a form of capitalism which attempts to remove corruption from the system we now have.
In many ways I agree with these folks, and where I don't agree, I can definitely understand their rationale.
The second group are the loud obnoxious freaks who worship Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. These people are not Libertarians, and the only parts of the Constitution they care about are the parts that help them suppress the rights and beliefs of others.
The tricky part is trying to determine which group you're talking to, because both claim to support the Constitution and both claim to be patriots.
FOLKS! I have the million dollar question which will help you determine which is which...
"So, how do you feel about the Cordoba Mosque going up in New York?"
If they freak out about it and start whining about sensitivity and Islamofascism, you can be 100% certain your speaking to a hypocritical sheep from group number 2.
Why you may ask....
I'll let Mr. Ron Paul explain here. I still maintain a Presidency consisting of Mr. Paul and President Obama could bring to pass some excellent change in America. The may seem to be polar opposites, but they're both reasonable men, with a sound understanding of their positions, and both are very articulate. I think some great compromises could be worked out.
In other news... Has Glenn Beck been called as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
I'll elaborate more in a day or two, but wouldn't it be an absolute riot to watch the faces of all of his fundamentalist Christian fans, if he were to give them the first Mormon Missionary discussion on his TV show, and then they were to find out about it after the fact?!?
Tea Partiers are mostly just very conservative Republicans. But that's much less interesting than trying to spin themselves as something new.
ReplyDeleteOn Beck, are you talking about his sudden interest in pseudo-scientific archeology (complete with conspiracy theories), by any chance?
Stephen Colbert had a gentleman on his show some months ago, who claimed to be one of the original folks behind the tea party. He was actually somewhat liberal and organized it in response to the Bush Bail-outs, something which most of the current teabaggers seem to have conveniently forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI should research that whole line of thinking a little more though...
On Beck... Yep!
I saw a clip earlier this week, and only watched about 5 minutes before I couldn't take his anti-Islamist hate speech any more. This morning though, I forced myself through that part and actually kind of enjoyed the rest of that segment.
This makes me want to poke my eyes and ears out, but part of what he was talking about, specifically the idea of US Imperialism under a mandate from God actually rang true. Or at least it would, if he wasn't championing the cause of recent US aggression with his anti-Muslim sentiments. I also liked how he talked about truth and the search for it - That was until he started talking about how people were following him, as he led them too truth... The dudes got a serious ego on him!!
Unfortunately after his anti-Islamist rant, his talking about how the government is trying to divide everyone against everyone else seemed a little laughable, as well as his assertion that if Obama fixes the economy, he would actually make more money.
I question that last thing, because I think he's riding high on anti-Obama rhetoric, evidenced by looking above the video on YouTube and seeing that it was posted by a user who goes by the handle PhukObama
I would just love to see the faces of fundamentalist Christians who hate Mormons about as much as they hate Obama, who learn that the DVD he's been promoting and gleaning ideas from was produced by a pro-Mormon group, and that many of those involved are eagerly listening to Glenn, talking about how the Gentiles are going to prove the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon themselves!!
I've been following Beck's "archeology" on another blog. I've been waiting for the guy's the third and final post on the subject before I write something, but here's the blog since you're interested.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDelete