The Great Republican Tea Party Experiment

[Proud Liberal Dem]

I apologize in advance for the length of this rant but I feel like I have to get this all out.

I'm becoming increasingly concerned that the American public, or at least a sizable number of those going to the polls this November, are going to be led by the corporate media and Fox News into "experimenting" with having the Republican Tea Party control Congress for at least the next two years and if what we've seen and heard from them during these past 1-2 years is any indication, the results will almost surely be disastrous for our country. It's entirely possible that the voting public in our country, or at least a significant segment of it, seems to have seriously selective and/or short-term memory problems. Either that or they apparently didn't get out whatever they needed to get out of their system back in 1994, 2002, or 2004 and simply need to be reminded, possibly several more times, how much worse life is under Republican-controlled government before finally realizing that they've had enough abuse and begin to demand a higher degree of sanity in our political process. For all of the anger and frustration at the circumstances that we as a country find ourselves in at this time, if the Republican Tea Party winds up in control of Congress next year, it may very well make the past 1-2 years look "dreamy" by comparison. Joni Mitchell had it right when she once sung that we "you don't know what you got til it's gone."

If the worst case scenario happens and the Republican Tea Party gets put in control of Congress next year, they will hopefully quickly overreach and get themselves voted out in 2012 but there is still a lot of damage that they can do to our country during the next two years and they may be able to hang in there longer no matter how crazy they look and sound to most of us. After all, Newt and his "GOPAC Zombies" took control of Congress in 1995 and, despite Clinton's re-election to a second term in 1996, it still took twelve long years for the Democrats to win back Congress, during which time the Republicans did pretty much nothing but enrich themselves and their wealthy K-Street cronies, dog President Clinton for the rest of his Presidency, and "rubber stamp" nearly all of (P)resident W. Bush's agenda and policies. Although a lot of the problems that are currently facing the country have been building up for the past 30 years, the past eight years under George W. Bush really drove our country into a ditch and the Republican Tea Party was there with Bush every step of the way.

However, a large segment of the voting public seems to have a bad habit of making political choices that sound "nice" on the surface but really aren't all that good for them or the rest of us when faced with difficult circumstances. I really feel like a lot of problems with our society are the result of too many people either simply being aloof and disengaged from the political process or being easily manipulated by demagogues like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, both of whom currently make their fortunes peddling "easy" or convenient solutions to complex problems and stirring up fear and hate of the "other". These demagogues, along with the corporate media and its "flagship," Fox News, are now standing shoulder to shoulder with this new phenomenon known as the "Tea Party" and have been pushing its agenda, which in most key aspects is a far right Republican agenda, in our faces ever since Obama was elected POTUS.

They've done this in part to weaken President Obama and the Democratic Party in general but more importantly, in their own words, to "take back their country", whatever that means. I didn't know the country belonged to the Tea Party in the first place but they somehow seem to want to claim that they have some kind of exclusive rights to it. They now seem determined, by hook or by crook, to get the Republican Tea Party into elected office and too many angry, tired, and frustrated people may very well end up giving in and giving them the reigns of Congress. The prospect of the Republican Tea Party controlling any lever of power in Washington should be scary if not downright horrifying to the rest of us and will hopefully motivate enough Democrats to get out to the polls in November to prevent it from happening.

:rant:

[RKP5637]

1. Excellent post! What I see in America is a tremendously gullible, delusional,

apathetic and naive segment of our society. They are easily taken advantage of... not all of these are bad people, they just fall hook, line and sinker for propaganda. I know some of them, they just think the place runs itself and they don't have to do anything, like even vote.

This country has not suffered under severe servitude, many people just don't have generational awareness. Hence, they are easy prey for Fox, religion, power grabbing politicians, capitalistic extortionists and the like. They fall for motherhood, apple pie, the "real" Americans and all of the rhetoric that goes with it...

What they don't seem to get is the agenda by many of these groups/individuals is to destroy the American they take for granted. And they think teabaggers and like operatives are preserving it for them.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. I'm pretty well convinced

that the corporate media is trying to cram the Republican Tea Partiers down our throats and that they're not going to stop until somehow or another we're living under them or they find the next big *story* to cover. I actually thought that the passage of HCR would've shut them down but apparently not. Just check out the latest issue of Time:

http://www.time.com/time/covers/asia/0,16641,20100927,00.html

:eyes:

I STILL have yet to fully understand what they really want since what they SAY they want is often confusing and/or contradictory. Also, I want to know why they weren't manning the barricades during the eight years that W. Bush and his allies in Congress were pushing unaffordable tax cuts on us and (really) abridging our civil liberties under the guise of "national security." The fact that the so-called "Tea Party" wasn't anywhere to be seen during the eight years of W. Bush's (P)residency calls their sincerity and principles into question. Why is that Democrats in the WH ALWAYS seems to bring out these people??? :shrug:

[RKP5637]

4. I've often asked the same. IMO the democrats / democratic WH embody the

principles which supposedly this country stands for, but yet the crazies come out of the woodwork during a democratic WH, as you say, yet those really destroying the country get a free pass by these same people. What I've concluded is it's the invisible operatives behind them funding and pulling the strings very effectively to create a collapse of the US so as to enable a complete corporate highly monied control of the US to the nth detail. It embodies the highest form of pure greed and a dumbed down population.

All one needs to do is thump the bible, wave the flag, talk about the evil socialists and a lot of people will follow. The democrats still have not mastered this art and I suspect it's because the inner qualities of many democrats consist of integrity and fairness, whereas for many republicans it's greed and deceit.

I never cease to be appalled by how really ignorant many Americans are, and they are proud of their ignorance, like some type of badge of honor.

[Kablooie]

3. 'Take Back America'

I'm trying to define this phrase.

On the surface it means that they want Christian white heterosexual men to hold all the power in Washington like they did before the 60's. (Not to imply that all politicians were hetero before the 60's but it seems to be the tea party's impression.)

Policies should be biased towards Christian white people above everyone else.

In reality it means that corporate America should have unfettered control of the government without regulation.
I don't think many in the Tea Party realize this.

[emulatorloo]

5. No abortion for rape and incest victims, no regulation of corporations, dismantle Medicare and

Social Security, outlaw Gay Marriage, end unemployment benefits, the list goes on and on.