I'll support any political movement who's sole party plank is to resurrect Andrew Jackson's head (which of course will be grafted to a massive cybernetic killbot body) and sic it on the banking plutocracy which actually runs this country. Anything short of charred, smoking Armageddon is a completely pointless half-step in the right direction.
The problem I have with the "Tea Party" movement is that that they really *have* no consistent or sensible agenda. There are certainly elements within it that have "good ideas", but the sum total comes across like a random collection of "damn teh gubberment for takin' my money and spending it on things" gripes. I mean, the classic example of cognitive dissidence you see at these rallies is the tough old broad holding up the sign that reads "Keep your government hands off my Medicare". Uhm... you do *understand* how stupid that is lady, right? Right?
The state of California is falling apart partially because of a successful Tea-Party-esque "Taxpayer Revolt" back in 1978 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_%281978%29). People were fed up with paying property taxes (which were rising rapidly not because the government was actually raising tax rates, but because Californians are idiots and practically invented the modern "housing bubble") and happily voted for something (filled with horrible self-serving loopholes for commercial property owners) which they thought would protect their own personal pocketbooks. Having done that they figured they'd "fixed" the problem and went on continually re-electing the same spending-happy representatives and voting for unfunded feel-good statewide initiatives. They didn't actually believe they were better off without government services, they just didn't want to pay for them personally on the local level. Thus it was all cost-shifted over to the state government, which was forced to raise money by making it nearly impossible to run a profitable manufacturing business in this state. Now the budget is a smoking ruin, the roads and infrastructure are falling apart, and the schools are *disastrously* bad. Honestly our federal government is in a similar state right now, but unlike California it can print money and sell treasury bonds to China, thus kicking the can of financial ruin much further down the road than a state can.
Anyway. I simply don't believe the "tea party-ers" actually know what they want nor understand the repercussions of what they're asking for. I do believe that in most individual cases when a service needs to be provided the government is the least efficient way of providing that service, but the issue is that Americans have become completely and utterly dependent on budget-busting and untouchable entitlements which your average Tea Party-er *supports*. The only thing that can really save this country is reverting back to being the industrial and manufacturing powerhouse it once was, so we can actually *raise* the money to buy the things we're all addicted to instead of borrowing it. For the last 20 years the US has been paying China to put it out of business, and that just simply has to stop. Betting money on the international finance casino and building giant houses out of imported drywall and granite just isn't going to do it anymore. Worrying about little things like "health care" is a stupid distraction. It's rearranging the furniture while your house burns down.
Feh. I really do wish Obama would figure some of these things out. :^b
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-03-13 06:05 pm (UTC)The problem I have with the "Tea Party" movement is that that they really *have* no consistent or sensible agenda. There are certainly elements within it that have "good ideas", but the sum total comes across like a random collection of "damn teh gubberment for takin' my money and spending it on things" gripes. I mean, the classic example of cognitive dissidence you see at these rallies is the tough old broad holding up the sign that reads "Keep your government hands off my Medicare". Uhm... you do *understand* how stupid that is lady, right? Right?
The state of California is falling apart partially because of a successful Tea-Party-esque "Taxpayer Revolt" back in 1978 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_%281978%29). People were fed up with paying property taxes (which were rising rapidly not because the government was actually raising tax rates, but because Californians are idiots and practically invented the modern "housing bubble") and happily voted for something (filled with horrible self-serving loopholes for commercial property owners) which they thought would protect their own personal pocketbooks. Having done that they figured they'd "fixed" the problem and went on continually re-electing the same spending-happy representatives and voting for unfunded feel-good statewide initiatives. They didn't actually believe they were better off without government services, they just didn't want to pay for them personally on the local level. Thus it was all cost-shifted over to the state government, which was forced to raise money by making it nearly impossible to run a profitable manufacturing business in this state. Now the budget is a smoking ruin, the roads and infrastructure are falling apart, and the schools are *disastrously* bad. Honestly our federal government is in a similar state right now, but unlike California it can print money and sell treasury bonds to China, thus kicking the can of financial ruin much further down the road than a state can.
Anyway. I simply don't believe the "tea party-ers" actually know what they want nor understand the repercussions of what they're asking for. I do believe that in most individual cases when a service needs to be provided the government is the least efficient way of providing that service, but the issue is that Americans have become completely and utterly dependent on budget-busting and untouchable entitlements which your average Tea Party-er *supports*. The only thing that can really save this country is reverting back to being the industrial and manufacturing powerhouse it once was, so we can actually *raise* the money to buy the things we're all addicted to instead of borrowing it. For the last 20 years the US has been paying China to put it out of business, and that just simply has to stop. Betting money on the international finance casino and building giant houses out of imported drywall and granite just isn't going to do it anymore. Worrying about little things like "health care" is a stupid distraction. It's rearranging the furniture while your house burns down.
Feh. I really do wish Obama would figure some of these things out. :^b
[/end rant]