(Names have been removed. If you know who is involved, good for you, go get a cookie)
>Them< You say "they got the Tea Party" like it is a bad thing?!? What do you actually know about the Tea Party that you haven't been told by a liberal??
>Me< When it comes to the Tea Party, I haven't been told much. I'm going off of what I have seen and read myself. I know we've never met, and I'm willing to bet, we never will. However, I have the feeling that neither of us will lose any sleep over it. But, since the subject has been brought up, I might as well point out that, yes, I do consider myself a liberal. We could go into the nuances of that, but we would be wandering waaaaaaaay off the topic we're discussing here.
>Them< Honestly, most people that are against the Tea Party, and what we are accomplishing have little real knowledge about what it stands for, and have usually formed their opinions on based on the lies of a biased media. What specifically, do you think the Tea Party stands for and why do you oppose it???
>me< I have to admit that I had to research what the basic fundamentals of the Tea Party were, since it has been overshadowed by the lunatic fringe. What I found was an article written by Deborah K. Mulholand on the Daytona Daily News website. She stated that
"Tea Party patriots are normal, everyday, working people who are fed up with having to balance their family budgets while Congress and the lawyers in Washington, D.C., cook up ways to “tax the living daylights out of us” and then hire thousands of IRS hooligans to come to our homes and hit us over the head with their tax-and-spend billy clubs.
We also believe in American sovereignty — not being ruled by the United Nations. We’re not convinced that globalism is great; we want our military airplanes made here in the USA.
Lastly, we believe the Constitution is a finite document created by our Founding Fathers to limit the scope, control and power of government, not give it a blank check to drain the lifeblood out of the heartland of our great nation."[1]
Indeed it is a noble and honorable thing to challenge what you feel is not right. There are instances of it happening all through out history from both liberal and conservative sides. What I do take exception to is the statement
based on the lies of a biased media.Of course media is going to be biased... this is the Information Age! Compound that with the fact that we are a capitalist society (which is neither good nor bad for the sake of this argument), those that report the news are fighting for market share. Truths are going to be stretched, lies are going to be told, people are going to be smeared - the ultimate purpose is not to tell it like it is, the purpose is to get eyes on what you are saying. The more sensational the story, the more people are going to read it, the more money that is generated for the company. However, "Biased Media" is generally seen as a liberal skewing - it happens in all quarters, not just from the liberal side.
*edit* I failed to properly redress why I am against the Tea Party. My personal feelings are the the Constitution is a living document, requiring interpretation through current social issues. Ultimately, what I feel is being presented as the Tea Party is addressed below.
I apologize for the oversight.
>Them< The Tea Party is defiantly not what I would consider an asset to the old school GOP. They are more akin to a conscience on a corporate CEO.. The Tea Party keeps the GOP honest, it makes them vote on conservative principals, not politics. Will it cost them elections?? Hell yes!! It has already for sure!! Look @ NV Reed vs. Angle for proof of that!!
Sometimes, it has to be about more than just winning, it has to be about what is right for this country, and what is wrong for this country. That is something the DNC and Obama seem to have forgotten....
>Me< Ahhhh.... now we get to the crux of the problem. However, before we delve into that, I want to say that I agree completely with the statement about what the Tea Party is supposed to do; namely, keep the Principles of the GOP in line, making sure that it does what it feels is best for America, not for personal gain. And again, I tend to agree that I feel the President and the DNC have lost sight of what their mission was.
However, getting back to that pesky crux issue - which was
"Sometimes, it has to be about more than just winning, it has to be about what is right for this country, and what is wrong for this country."Who is the final arbiter of what is right, and what is wrong for this country? We all are. We try to operate off of the concept of 'simple majority'. Namely, if a decision has to be made, we vote on it, the side that gets 51% or more causes their decision to be acted upon. At least, that's my understanding of it. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
The problem with politics these days is that people are taking it personally. I cannot count how many times I've had regular discussions breakdown into name calling, mud-slinging, or physical altercations, simply due to the way I vote. I'm not going to say that I am completely innocent in any of this, as I've given probably as much as I have taken. It's a weakness of character, so I ignore it as much as possible.
But, getting back to the whole "Tea Party is a Bad Thing" bit; it's not. Hate to be a buzz kill, but I think the Tea Party is a needed part of the GOP. I hope that the DNC will eventually get their own version to help slap those chuckle heads back into shape. The only way the Tea Party is going to fix their image is to get rid of the wing-nuts who claim they speak for the Party as a whole. They overshadow what good is coming out of the Tea Party Movement, cheapening the experience. It is because of these talking heads that I take a long, saddened look at the Tea Party, shake my head, and say "It could have been magnificent. It could have redirected the entire nation. It could have fixed a broken bi-partisan system. It could have brought respect back to politics, but instead, it's allowing itself to fall down the exact same rabbit hole it tried to steer us away from."
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