November 04, 2010

The real danger of the Tea Party movement


I was listening to a speaker at a dinner given by the communist party when he began to talk about the Tea Party.

"The problem we have with this group of people is that they are in a position to sway the conscience thought of voters in this country. They hold no fear to speak about the things they believe in. They stand for capitalism and high import taxes, for building the labor force in this nation based on individual measure of the worker and not the collective bargaining power that labor has, they believe in the rights of the individual over the needs of the society. We see that they have gained momentum, because of this there is only one conclusion we can arrive at... we must dismantle this movement before it takes root."

I have never witnessed any group of people attacked at the rate the Tea Party has been over the last several months. Whether it's jon stewart, bill maher, or just the media in general, these people have been raked over the coals at an unprecedented rate. Having been interested in the libertarian party for some time I recognized the quiet ways they were being belittled immediately. Whenever you would see anything about the libertarians on television, the cameras always seemed to focus on the one burnt out ex-hippie with the multicolored top hat featuring the "legalize weed" buttons all over his clothes... He would be the only one in the crowd wearing this, but he would get seventy percent of the camera shots....

The Tea Party is suffering the same abuse. There is actually a website that features the following manifesto:

"WHO WE ARE: A nationwide network of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who are all sick and tired of that loose affiliation of racists, homophobes, and morons; who constitute the fake grass-roots movement which calls itself “The Tea Party.”

WHAT WE WANT: To dismantle and demolish the Tea Party by any non-violent means necessary.


HOW WE WILL SUCCEED: By infiltrating the Tea party itself! In an effort to propagate their pre-existing propensity for paranoia and suspicion. … We have already sat quietly in their meetings and observed their rallies.
Whenever possible, we will act on behalf of the Tea Party in ways which exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV interviews, etc.) to further distance them from mainstream America and damage the public’s opinion of them. We will also use the inside information that we have gained in order to disrupt and derail their plans

Sound like fun? … It is!!"

NPR featured a video on it's site making fun of the Tea Party.





I have sat down with these people, listened to them, worked with them, and talked with them about political policies. The picture being painted of them in the media is one of inbred, slack jawed, violent racists. There is a reason for this. They are uncompromising. They do not advocate moral issues at all, they do not speak of abortion, gay marriage, etc etc.. They talk only about fiscal issues, and they stay on message. Therein lies their danger.

I went back over all available interviews with candidates and supporters. Coupled with my personal experience of interacting with party members, this has shown me the biased nature of the media reports about the Tea Party. This, in truth, is a grassroots movement of people who are shockingly normal. I have encountered christians, atheists, conservatives, liberals, people who believe in the death penalty for drug users, and people who think drugs should be legalized within the Tea Party...

Evangelical movement supporters do not like them because they won't embrace religion in their doctrine. Liberals won't embrace them because, well ignorance is bliss... liberals tend to look at pictures, listen to stewart and maher, then parrot what they hear without the benefit of actually taking time to research what they are attacking, if the tv and the internet says it, its true. The extreme right doesn't like them because they are outspoken in holding politicians to their own words.

There are idiots in every movement, so when a woman affronts a candidate and she is thrown to the ground and stomped on by a Tea Party member it is disgusting, and said members should, and will, be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This was assault and he should be charged with such, just as the union members who beat Kenneth Gladney, a black Tea Party member, were.




Or the guy that bit off Bill Rice's finger.




Goodness knows the left in this country never say or do anything that advocates violence...





While it's in fashion to make fun of these people, perhaps the fear of what they stand for is what's driving the corporate media to attack them so vehemently. Zealots are on all sides, just as pure stupidity is... (see christine odonnell) but the real danger of this movement is that fad and fashion of what's cool may one day give way in the media and blogosphere to someone actually looking into what this movement is doing and what they stand for.

Less government intervention in our lives, term limits, the fair tax. In other words, freedom and personal responsibility coupled with accountable government.

Remember, you can usually measure the effectiveness of a movement by how many enemies it garners, and right now the list of people who wish to destroy the Tea Party is long and distinguished...



5 comments:

Dana said...

GREAT post Clay. I've actually been toying with a "Why the Tea Party is a good thing" post myself.

I am hoping that - over time - this will become a viable third party - one that will scare the shit out of the Democrats and the Republicans!

Clay Perry said...

thanks dana. ive only gotten threatened three times because of it. i need to step up my game...

David Fields said...

bravo! That's what I've been waiting for.

David Fields said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Just me... said...

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" - Gandhi

Guess it's now somewhere between laugh and fight...