Disclaimer* - We are an a-political organization!!! The following is meant for information only. Please don't take offense, and if you are join the discussion and have your say :)
I ran across two interesting pieces regarding the tea-party. The first from the wall street journal basically stating that the tea-party movement is fundamentally American the other from a small newspaper in Louisiana basically stating that the tea-party movement is racist.
From the Wall Street Journal, 'Why Liberals Don't Get the Tea Party Movement - Our universities haven't taught much political history for decades. No wonder so many progressives have disdain for the principles that animated the Federalist debates... the tea party movement is inspired above all by a commitment to limited government. And that does distinguish it from the competition... Those who doubt that the failings of higher education in America have political consequences need only reflect on the quality of progressive commentary on the tea party movement. Our universities have produced two generations of highly educated people who seem unable to recognize the spirited defense of fundamental American principles, even when it takes place for more than a year and a half right in front of their noses."
From the Louisiana Weekly, "The TeaParty.org faction is led by the executive director of the Minuteman Project, a nativist organization that has in the past been associated with the murder of migrant Mexican workers as part of its vigilante "border operations." Roan Garcia-Quintana, "advisor and media spokesman" for the 2010 Tax Day Tea Party and member of ResistNet, also serves on the National Board of Directors of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), the lineal descendent of the Council of White Citizens. In Texas, Wood County Tea Party leader Karen Pack was once listed as an "official supporter" of Thom Robb's Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a modern-day white supremacist organization."
I guess Peter Berkowitz (author of the WSJ article) is unfortunately right. The desire to limit government has always been there from the beginning. American's wanted to limit the power of a foreign government to subjugate its citizens. Then they wanted to limit the vote to only white men with land, then black men were allowed but they were only worth 3/5 of what white men were worth. And of course they wanted/want to limit women for being the weaker sex.
I can't get behind a party that doesn't believe that all people are born equal and that the government should protect these freedoms. Racism is not something I support. Maybe not each person in the tea-party is a racist, but they are complicit in their parties support of racism.
I think the only reason to have big government is to protect our human rights: the right to a good education, good health care, good food, and good shelter. I also believe that we all have to work hard to secure these rights. Sometimes we have to work hard to secure these rights for others, but at the end of the day, do unto others. Thank you Berkowitz, I get the Tea Party, I even share some views, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter if I understand them, what matters is if I, and others join them. I may get it, but I won't buy it.
www.teapartytracker.org
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=3451
http://theweek.com/article/index/208573/why-liberals-dont-get-the-tea-party-movement
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531913602803980.html
Finally, I think the US government could use a little shake up. Maybe increase the senate to 400 and the house to 1000? With a larger congress more voices would be heard which might or might not be better.
No comments:
Post a Comment