On Teabags and Douchebags
The Teabagging movement appears to be a dart board of broad complaints about American government today, insidiously co-opted by the Republican party, FOX News and corporate lobbyists.
It's like the venerable blog, Hot Chicks with Douchebags, devoted to otherwise attractive females attaching themselves to appalling macho cheese. The mantra of the site is, "What is she doing with him?"
Somewhere in the Tea Party outrage are some desperate people asking worthwhile questions you can relate to, such as "Where the fuck is all this government bailout money going to?" and "How come I am so broke?" But before you can answer, you see they are standing next to other people who advocate burning books about evolution.
I believe this Astroturf agitprop will soon spin out, as its poorly disguised populist pitch has been revealed to be another partisan stunt with no actual criticism or legs. Just as the real Boston Tea Party involved colonists dressed as Indians to avoid retribution, this Tea Party appears to be right-wing hit men posing as concerned citizens to stage outrage.
But is it really composed of aimless, bitter conservatives chomping to criticize anything and everything that happens as long as Obama is in the White House? There is a real surge in public mistrust of the government, though I suspect much of it is based on self-propagating misinformation. Like commenters on conservative sites such as the aptly named Hot Air, one of whom said, "Obama wants to take away our rights." (Where were they for the last eight years when their rights were already taken away?)
Gone are the simplistic Good vs. Evil dogmas of the Cold War, the War on Terror, the War on Iraq, the last presidential campaign, the Wild West, you name it. Without the certainty of fighting something so easily dubbed evil, too many people fall adrift of their sense of self -- what makes them good? When there is no imminent evil threat, the same paranoia finds new outlets. And so they unearth some other arcane fear-fed meme, as relevant as the Red Scare, and peddle facile orthodox with a new spectrum of threats.
And now, as an incipient extension of all these misapplied ideas of individual manifest destiny, there is the Tea Party Movement.
Like lofty literature, tying yourself to something great does not equate you as great, or even accurate. Further, simply using the term "taxation" does not imply moral superiority just because it was a word used by the founding fathers.
What is mystifying is the lack of either real policy criticism or advancement of any ideas. Watch this clip from FOX News. What is the purpose of this organized effort? "We're hopefully going to have more tea parties...let other people know we can't believe what's going on...We're going to stand up...show the politicians...tell them how you feel...what can we do?"
It is amazing to see a movement take off without either a specific cause or a specific goal. The Tea Party movement makes a mockery of the true struggle our founding fathers fought. What they did was seriously dangerous and rebellious, an act of war with fear of death.
Today, when outrage does not take hold of the country the way some conservatives and business interests would like, the rallying cry is broadened from "cap and trade agreements restrict coal plants unfairly" to "they will take away your freedoms, guns, and children!"
Why would people think this could even be possible? Might it be because of the constant threat of socialism after every commercial break?
The outcry against socialism is in response to some imagined threat of totalitarianism that has not been raised by anyone except these outraged individuals. Naturally, that fear spreads quickly by rhetorical repetition. Those repeating these threats are the ones that have to gain by public fear.
But there is a much larger issue at stake. We need to reclaim the meaning of our founding fathers.
It is bad enough that people who haven't seen Sex and the City insist on waving their tea bags in people's faces. But this misappropriated sense of superiority in imitating the founding fathers leads to all kinds of wrong, like the inane videos put out by a guy in a wig on a green screen dressed like a tour guide from Colonial Village calling himself Thomas Paine.
That he is talking about something completely different than Thomas Paine writing about separating from England is apparently irrelevant. All he needs to do is start off rhetorical questions with "Is it common sense to...?" And from there, the escalation into outright xenophobia is swift. He ends with "Buy a gun, you'll need it."
You might prefer to write off such nuts, but Bob Basso's rants have received millions of views on YouTube. Maybe some of these people really do want to go back to what our country was founded on: slavery. (If Barack Obama could still count as three-fifths of a person, would we have to listen to him?)
While there is much prefabricated fanfare for these Tea Parties, I would caution that they are catching on with something in people right now. But here's the rub: we're stuck with them. Like the founding fathers said, all Americans have their right to free speech. And these are still Americans, who still have to be won over as much as possible. Like hot chicks with douchebags, we embrace these embarrassments, even if while cringing. That's what this country was supposed to be about: tolerance.
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I think all the teabaggers should head to our southern borders and start tea bagging the border.
So what should concerned citizens do about the Patriot Act and illegal wire-tapping? Should we just be happy that a democrat is doing the law-breaking this time? I really want to know.
What laws are being broken??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Illeagal searches, first starters.
Congress has to overturn the stupid Patriot Act and illegal wire tapping and already NSA is pulling back there wire tapping- and Obama is pushing for legislation to undue that mess of GWB...give the man TIME- he can only sift through one pile of CRAP at a time!!
The Tories are back! Yep the very folks who lost the Revolution and went running up into the hills of New England and Appallacia (sp), but no pun intended, who are now using a form of Revolution that sent them to the Kings side back then are back now.
Taxes are a Right to pay, especially in this country, for the right to live here. You think living is free? Since when? You think roads are free? How aout bridges? Ask the folks up north a couple of years ago. How about the rural bridges? How about I build one and charge you a fee over and above what you pay in tax to keep the bridge 'free'.
Hey how 'bout them Forest Fires? Your taxes help pay to put them out. You wouldn't bitch if it was your house being threatened.
How 'bout the cops, spread thin like they are, how would you like a few less to come to your rescue? Think you could 'take care of business NRA style? Doubt it very much I do.
How about medical care? Like what you got? Know who gave it to you? Richard Nixon in 1971. Thanks, another Dick!
Think your really safe from attack? Like your religion free? Wanna put it into the government? Make it mandatory? Look around, we got it good.
Thought provoking! Enjoyed reading!
I can only assume that nobody has been paying attention to the anti-tax day protests that have been going on ANNUALLY since the beginning of our republic. The most recent ones involved members of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, which featured in 2006 a keynote speech from a prominent anti-war mother (who then tried to run against our intrepid Speaker in the San Francisco primary and lost. Too bad, really).
Although, to be fair to those who don't remember, W's Department of Homeland Security had probably just released a report on the rise of "Left-Wing Extremism" in this country days before the protests.
Ah well, the wonders of unreason followed by a shot of soma.
The conservative strategists are shamelessly using these poor people to further their own ends. When President Obama keeps his campaign promise and lowers taxes, the Republicans will claim that their tea bag protests were effective and call for more. If the tax cuts aren't large enough, the republicans will claim that the reason they didn't work was they were too small and that more teabags are needed. If the economy gets better it will be credited to the teabag protest. If the economy gets worse The teabaggers will be brewing anew. These hapless tools will be given the illusion of contributing to something important and then will be discarded as soon as they outlive their usefulness.
He has already lowered taxes . . .
True, but their beliefs aren't fact-based. They are visceral.
NEWS FLASH: NEITHER THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, FOX NEWS OR CORPORATE LOBBYISTS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TEA PARTIES. THERE ARE DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, LIBERTARIANS AND OTHER PATRIOTS COMPRISING THESE TEA PARTIES THAT OPPOSE BIG GOVERNMENT, TAXES AND COLLECTIVISM BY THIS ADMINISTRATION AND THE ADMINISTRATIONS THAT PRECEDED IT.
WAKE UP OBAMA DRONES, BE AMERICANS, NOT ZOMBIES!
Now would be a great time for the Obama administration to enact/further develop a civil service policy.
Politicians across the spectrum recognize that this country suffers from a lack of civic service and would be wise to respond to this travesty in a constructive fashion - regardless of the brevity of this movement.
The freedom every person enjoys in this country comes at some cost. As Kennedy said once famously, "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
Civil service would be made easier for a greater number of people in this country if we had term limits.
John, this was simply an exercise for the GOP to try to stimulate some level of interest in the party...despite the lack of any platform. Those that remain loyal were thrilled to be in the rarefied air of companionship...their numbers are dwindling, after all.
The bad news - for them - is that DHO dispersed over 300 agents across the country and they were able to get photos of, literally, every attendee who wasn't hiding under a hoodie. Boy oh boy, Treasury and the IRS can't wait to get their hands on the names of ID'd participants. Should be good for the country's coffers, huh?
Lack of ideas?
How about these:
Implement the Fair Tax and Eliminate the IRS (this truly treats people equally, brings more jobs to America and has more revenue generating capability for the government than income taxes)
Don't spend money you don't have
One law per bill (so we can see how the weasels really vote)
Term limits for congress (so we're not saddled with professional politicians and get some common sense in there)
Reduce fraud in medicare
There are many more to help our nation much more dramatically than what's been done the last year.
Eliminate bogus off-shore tax shelters
Reduce the amount of money needed to run a political campaign to reduce the barrier of entry
Reduce waste in defense spending
Strict accounting and regulation of the financial and securities industry
Breakup of institutions that are "too big to fail"
Budget and tax like Clinton - the last time there was a surplus
Legalize drugs so no more spending on the "drug war."
Allow more pharmaceuticsls to be sold over the counter like in Canada and Europe
No more tax breaks for corporations that take jobs overseas
Arrest and jail executives of companies that hire illegal workers
John says, "But there is a much larger issue at stake. We need to reclaim the meaning of our founding fathers."
I'll assume you mean these words, but I got to tell you most of your article is not consistent with them.
The founding fathers knew that government had to remain small and leave the people alone in order for happiness and prosperity to bloom. They also believed in these rights
The right to assemble
The right to enjoy the fruits of ones labor
The right to improve one's position through barter and sale
The right to choose a profession
The right to make personal choices
The right of free association
There are also some keys to economic freedom which is the root of prosperity
The freedom to try
The freedom to buy
The freedom to sell
The freedom to fail
There were also some duties:
The duty to be duty to become economically self sufficient
The duty to be honest in all transactions
The duty to honor contracts
The duty to be temperate
The duty to support the law
The duty to follow rules of moral rectitude (I see your not a fan of this one)
There's lots more. Read the 5000 Year Leap for a true appreciation.
So here's the point of the parties. Stop abusing the constitution and spending money you don't have!
It's too bad we don't have time machines so you and your friends can go back to a place that never existed.
Such a waste of perfectly good tea.
All I can say about these people is, "I'm not impressed. You're given constitutionally-protected freedom of speech, and this is all that you can think of to do with it?"
Every single thing that this Government does is ultimately done by ... Congress. And every one of you (umm, unless you live in Minnesota) has an equal voice there. Obama has almost no authority on his own; no President ever does. So don't "petition the government for the redress of grievances" in HIS face. Camp on your Senator's doorstep; your Representative. (Umm, have you actually taken the time to learn their names? Didn't think so.)
Heartfelt. Amusing, even. But... not effective.
Suuuuuuuuure. Blame the guy who's been in office for THREE FREAKIN' MONTHS!
and passed a huge middle class TAX BREAK in that time!
Huge? Are you kidding? Do you not understand the tax trillions give away will be paid by us? Why do you all insist Obama has lowered taxes. It's a scam. Lower taxes slightly over here and tax the crap out of everyone over there. They'll never notice! Stop being such suckers for his tricks. You will all be paying 2,3,4, maybe 5 times the taxes you are paying now very shortly. Obama saves you a couple hundred and then you pay thousands. Wake up! You Obama worshipers make me ill. Think for yourselves. Stop believing all the crap you're getting from the wealthy politicians that do not care about you. BTW his so called "tax break" is nothing compared to the thousands the government is stealing from you.
They are the ones they've been waiting for.......the ones with the vision....the vision of not having a plan,but to stage a retarded event that makes no sense except to the "Rush to Ignorance"..ditto heads.
I heard teabags contain brainwashing chemicals that make you want to wear cardigan sweaters and read books.
Love the title.
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