The Tea Party

[Aileron]

Hey, now that it has come out that Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell used to dabble in witchcraft, are any of the far-left satanists who linger on this forum interested in voting Republican?

 

 

I seriously do not like how the Tea Party is portrayed as right-winged radicals. When you take away all the hype, they are actually a very necessary movement. The Tea Party simply stands for cutting non-essential government services and thus cutting costs. Removing laws already on the books may technically be the definition of fundamentalism, but the idea is actually a necessary part of progressivism and even liberalism.

 

Part of the evolutionary process is that as new features are added, old features which are unnecessary, useless, and inefficient are removed. Now, keep in mind that the US government and most other governments have done nothing but expand since WW II. There never has been a *large* effort to 'trim the fat'. We have reached the point where if any new government features are to be added, some of the older more useless features need to be removed. So, in my opinion, this movement is actually long overdue.

[»Xog]

sorry, wait..

 

"are any of the far-left satanists who linger on this forum "

 

are you insinuating that there is even one single person on this forum who just so happens to fit this rare category? lol

[Bak]

I like the idea of trimming government, it's just that republicans haven't done that ever in my lifetime. If the tea-party can follow through with this then I might consider voting for them, but until then, in my mind, they're just the extreme-right of the republican party, and will fail to do what they promote like always.

 

Also: it doesn't help that they're socially conservative like far-right republicans. If they were more diverse in this aspect, it would seem much more like an overdue movement and not a breakaway branch of the GOP.

[Yupa]

I seriously do not like how the Tea Party is portrayed as right-winged radicals.

Portrayed? The word you're looking for is 'manifested'. You could also just s/portrayed as //, or s/Party.*/Party\ exists\./.

[Dr Brain]

There's nothing radical about a document that's been the law of the land for more than two hundred years.

[Yupa]

Nobody's talking about a document.

[Dr Brain]

Sorry, I thought this discussion was about the tea party movement. My bad.

[Static Burn]

We have reached the point where if any new government features are to be added, some of the older more useless features need to be removed.

 

Like what? That's the problem with the tea party, only generalizations and no specific details of what they want to cut.

[Dr Brain]

Now who's generalizing? The tea party isn't a centralized movement. Therefore there's no central list of "demands". The whole idea behind a constitutional republic (e.g. the US) is that you elect people that hold your views and they make decisions on issues as they come up. Therefore it's just as important for candidates to get the big picture as to get the little picture.

 

I had started to compile a list of things, then realized the discussion would just devolve into "OMG YOU CAN'T CUT ". If you want to know some of the things the GOP (not the tea party, as already mentioned) has aimed for, look up "Pledge to America". Please note that it's missing a bunch of really critical things, though.

[Kilo]

All I have to say about the tea-partiers, and by extension the people they have elected in the primaries, is of those I have sampled, most are largely inconsistent about specific issues and very selective about how they apply certain dogma. In any case both major parties are shams and their platforms are largely shams as well, and the parts that are not are the parts dictated by the most partisan and extreme parts of the party. The "tea party" is no different, since they have no substantial and consistent plan other than to generate hype off of how horrible incumbency and "big government" is (don't get me wrong, there are a ton of things wrong with the government and the people who are in it--but there is really no rational defense for half of the things that have been said.) Of course this is all speculation--let's see what any one does once elected.

 

Ultimately I'd just wish everyone took more time to participate in the system beyond just voting. Politics is pretty depressing because of how many ill-informed and uninformed people vote (doesn't matter the party. pay attention I am not trolling your political party ITP.) I would just like to see more rational discourse, which can only happen if more people take the time to treat the whole matter seriously and importantly instead of as a giant game of us versus them and belonging to a group.

[»Ducky]

sorry, wait..

 

"are any of the far-left satanists who linger on this forum "

 

are you insinuating that there is even one single person on this forum who just so happens to fit this rare category? lol

 

Hello, my name is Ducky and I've been away from the boards for a very long time. It's nice to meet you.

[»SD>Big]

respect your elders, xog http://forums.ssgn.net/public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif

[PoLiX]

I hate Sarah Palin, but I like the idea behind the Tea Party.

 

Being an independent I've always kind of seen the best and worst of both sides, but right now the republican party is a far cry from the values it preeches (sp?). In only 2yrs have we already forgotten who dug us into this mess?

 

I read an interesting article the other day by a guy that normally drives me nuts with his talking bad of the democrats and independents, and blah blah blah. But he actually said for once he felt he was no longer behind the values the Republican Party now protrayed, and hit a lot of it head on. Mostly being he is still a republican by heart, but I feel he pointed out the flaws that the party who has dwelled more on big business has created in itself. I mean, it forced a new part of its own party to be created that wants to fix the problems it began. They are suppose to be for the little guy, but they support breaks for the top 1% of this country, and for the larger corporations which hurts the small businesses they so "support".

 

Not saying all the democrats are anything better though, really I think most politicians are corrupt. It is just finding the least corrupt and most down to earth ones.

[»Ducky]

I don't believe many officials are corrupt. I would go as far as to say that the percentage of corrupt officials mimic closely to that of the percentage of regular citizens who commit major felonies.

The problem lies in our republic government and their naturally divided electors. Politicians are elected into the office to closely serve the people in whom elected them, but due to the numerous divisions in our society; constituents are unable to please anyone and everyone.

Very few people are in any office for the sole purpose of gaining wealth through back door deals and fucking over the average american. Most of our problems are money related and the lack there-of.

 

Aileron runs for mayor with the promise that traffic violations are a thing of the past! Our streets will be safe and no longer will any child ever die again. He also says that my pension will not be touched in the way that the incumbant promises to do. This is awesome, I didn't want to vote Dr Brain again because of the pension ordeal, the street safety is just icing on the cake.

 

Polix wants a stop sign placed at the intersection by his house. He goes to the mayors office and lo' and behold, theres actually very little money to do so. The administration locked up some funds before Aileron was elected and the emergency pot holes had to be fixed first and foremost. Aileron won't give up that easily, his promise is his word and something so simple won't ruin his image.

Aileron contacts his congressman Yupa and asks for some funds to help out with this situation. Yupa got elected into office on his own campaign of pension reform. He tells Aileron that as long as he votes in pension reform favor, he can have that money for the stop sign. Aileron is in a tight spot now, he's going to piss somebody off with his decision. Either party is going to pin him as an idiot or liar.

 

This is what we're looking at. People in office who are incapable of delivering services to Americans because other people in office promised different and equally valuable Americans the exact opposites. Because of the lack of appropriate funding for the things everyone wants, back-door deals are made in the interest of the people but are seen as malicious endeavors.

[XO-MANOWAR]

F.Y.I. just so ya know the "TEA" in Tea party stands for "Taxed Enough Already".On a side note,why do people run for public office? Most positions don't pay all that well,so what is the motive?Someone's idea or view of how they think things should be done might be the initial cause,but what happens over a period of time?To me its mostly P.R. work of someones intentions,not of actual deeds.

[Aileron]

Wow, my pithy comments have summoned Ducky from his exile in the deepest darkest depths of Hell! Did Satan give you a furlough, I did I accidentally recite a secret Wiccan summoning spell?

 

I think what has happened is that over the course of prosperity, a ruling class has sort of developed over the western world. It includes both domestic and foreign governments, and Ivy League academics. Generally, these people get sponsored early in life to go to Ivy League schools and get easy campaign funds when they run for office, but the real gift they get is mentorship in the art of looking trim and polished in front of the cameras.

 

Clearly, the reason that President Obama got elected is because of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-(almost) Clinton cycle. The was because people are beginning to see the elitism and are voting against it. Irony is that Obama was groomed from childhood to be a lesser politician, a House Congressman, maybe a Senator later in his career. His relatively low pecking order on the elitist scale is what allowed him to beat Clinton. (McCain actually is not elite and got where he was based on making crazy sacrifices for our country, namely a stay at the Hanoi Hilton, but he was a Republican at the wrong time to be a Republican.) While he is a member of the elite Ivy League-educated class, he was closer to average folks than the Clintons and Bushes.

 

I actually have hope for the Tea Party movement because it is the conservative side of trying to expel the elites from their perches. I suspect come 2012 a similar liberal movement will develop to oust the elites on their side of the aisle. I actually have hope for Sarah Palin's movement because I know some people who knew her son as he was serving as a Private in the US Army. Most Governor/Senator's sons would serve as Lieutenants. To me, the publicized faults of the Tea Party candidates are self evident proof that they weren't groomed from infancy to run for office, and that nobody is covering their gaffs now.

 

Still, put your faith in people and you will always be disappointed. On the other hand, the Tea Party claims to want to uphold the Constitution, which above all else is a system, which you can put faith in.

 

So I guess the real question is if you're willing to have a little optimism, and I guess in my case, yes I do.

[PoLiX]

I think that has become our biggest problem though.

 

The Red State, Blue State, Democrats are all Liberals, Republicans are all Conservatives, bs has really split everything and caused a mess of politics.

 

The bible belt has ALWAYS been more conservative, but until northern businessmen came to Texas, it was a conservative democrat state, as was a lot of the south. Granted that had a lot to do with the Civil War and the north being under a Republican President, but that is another long mess. There was a lot of conservative democrats in the south. And in the north, you had liberal republicans who believed in civil rights, and that government should stay small and leave them be.

 

I guess that is why I have always been stuck in the middle when it comes to Politics. Cause since I was the age to begin understanding everything, the seperation of the parties went from the basic Democratic and Republican idealogy, to everyone in 1 party or the other had to have 1 thought process.

 

Who knows how crazy our politics will get in the future, as so much more information and scrutiny is right at our fingertips.

[mineRBot89]

I thought O'Donnell was republican.... just saw her on CNN questioning what separation of church and state meant, and it said (R-DE)

 

oh and listen to her say stupid stuff.... its fucking hilarious.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2010/10/20/ac.odonnell.constitution.gaffe.cnn?hpt=C2

 

i mean stupider and stupider people are trying to get elected...... wtf is going on?!

[Samapico]

Evolution is a myth!