A college buddy of mine -- let's call him KS -- told me he was coming to D.C. this weekend, and asked if he could stay with my wife and me, to which I said of course.
He didn't tell me he was coming to D.C. for the 9/12 Teabaggers protest.
Despite my urge to refuse the hospitality, I decided instead to make it conditional.
You can stay with us, I told KS, if:
- when he drives on the Interstate to get here, every 10th mile he says "big government built this highway for me with my tax dollars - and I like it."
- when he takes the DC Metro to the protest, he says "big government built this subway for me with my tax dollars - and I like it."
KS, more from the sane-David-Brooks mold than the insane Beck-Palin-Taitz-Kostric mold, agreed with a laugh.
The exchange made me realize the 9/12 protest might be fun after all!
I had to go to the office today in downtown DC, (ugh!) where there are pockets of teabaggers gathering hither and yon (double ugh!).
So everytime I see a Teabagger on the sidewalk with a "No Big Government" sign (and they tend to go hand in hand), I've been walking up to them and saying:
"Get off the sidewalk -- it was paid for big government and taxpayer money!"
The protesters seem as startled by my sidewalk civic lesson as Speaker Pelosi rightly was by Joe Wilson's infamous You Lie moment. Except they seem more speechless in reply.
Guess they realize when they've seen schooled by a sidewalk.
So if you see a Teabagger today -- tell them to thank all the big government programs and taxpayer spending that made their protests possible - mass transit, interstate highways, the National Park Service, FCC & national broadcasting, etc.