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This is my first thread on the Politics Board so excuse me if I don't follow proper decorum.

Why is it when the People ie Tea Party push for lower taxes/smaller government they are dismissed as extremists and called names, Teabaggers? While I don't agree with a lot that either actual political party does I see no good coming from name calling. Since when is it wrong for any group of citizens to voice their thoughts, wishes or desires as to how government is run?

The Tea Party is not an actual political party per se but more a Political Action Group. They do have their share of people that are more extreme/hardcore in their belief than many are comfortable with. Should we paint all of them with the same wide brush? Its my opinion that many are just concerned citizens who are grouping together with hope of effecting change. They do it in a legal manner and without any government/party involvement financially.

If there were an equivalent group espousing the "liberal" line and comported themselves in a similar manner would they also be extremists and called names? To some yes but are they really? I find it tiresome that there are those that are so closed minded on either side that any idea or movement that differs from theirs is met with ridicule and downright meanness.


Before anyone takes exception to my term the People I am basing that on We The People, who have every right and most definitely the duty to ensure government works for us. Granted that may not be how it is at this time but We The People need to see it does.

I am not a member of the Tea Party or any Political Action Group, just an elected official in Smalltown USA.


My name is hank56 and I approved this message...

And what do you mean by 'You People'..??

Hank, I'd like to congratulate you on your first political post. I'm also proud as hell to say that I did join a couple million of my countryman in Washington DC. for the national Tea Party event, ans was Extremely proud of the behavior and comraderie of those who took the time and shouldered the expense to be there. All with one very basic message: We the people are demanding some accountability from our Federal Government. There was no name calling, there was no one asking one another their party affiliation just a HUGE group of like minded folks trying to send a message. Unfortunately jobs like those are almost always left to the few, everyone else is simply too busy to be bothered with such trivial matters!!

It's not the lower taxes/smaller government that makes them extreme.

Also, namecalling is not exclusive to the Tea Party. Pretty much every party has names for others.

"Democraps"
"Dumbocrats"
"Republitards"

etc etc

We live in a two party political system. Upstarts will be absorbed or destroyed.

i see what OP is talking about. Every news article and person i know virtually smashes tea partiers as racists, crazy gun people, whites, etc. All they want is less spending, smaller gov, and less gov involvment in our daily lives. Yet they are called all kinds of crazy names. why i dont understand either.

yes, they will be absorbed and are for that matter but their views will carry more weight depending on their strenght in the repub party.

Ding ding ding ding........only difference is the republicans were the first to see this threat and decided it was better to align themselves with the Tea Party. Thus pissing off a lot of folks who then simply referred to the Tea Party movement as a Republican thing........

Wrong.... That's all the Libs do is organize... There are a few leaders, and the rest fall into line like the sheep they are....

The way Libs work Hank, is when there is a threat or they are proved wrong they resort to name calling and mud throwing... EVERY time...

That is not to say that some of the Reps don't do the same thing... Bad form either way...

Heh. The liberals really don't organize that well. I know some Democratic groups may, maybe a union or two. But overall we are in no way as organized as conservative groups. They may try, liberals just don't listen all that well.

ill disagree with you there. Race being an issue for blacks, hispanics etc is a thing of the past IMO (its not an issue for people like me but it is an issue for blacks). it is reverse racial issues that are growing i believe. for instance when customers come into my office, lets say i have a white guy in a suit paying on an AMX black card, i dont check his insurance, not because he is white but rather i can see that he is driving a new car which usually has insurance since it is financed/worth more, plus his credit line is 3x my annual salary probably. then i have a black customer come in, they drive up in a hoopty, they are paying with cash (money order cause we dont take cash) and my black assistant checks her insurance (low and behold she doesnt have any) she immediately claims racial discrimination!?!?!?!? race was the farthest thing from ANYONES mine except hers.

i have seen whites or men not get promotions even though they were the higher ranking candidate because just 5 minutes before their interview, we received an anyonomous racial ethics point complaint that we dont promote blacks. now who do you think called in that complaint? my boss could give two shlts less about race, he wants the best candidate like anyone else.

as a white male, am getting effing tired of being called a racist everytime i deal with someone who doesnt qualify to get a rental car or wants a free upgrade. its exhausting, we make business decisions not racial decisions. Green is green and thats how i pay my bills.

on the poll issue, its a tough call either way. the wording on them is so slanted its unreal. MSNBC did a poll that asked :

are you against STRIPPING public unions of their hard earned collective bargaining rights?

come on, thats a tad bit weighted

Gotta add that there are waaaay more fiscally conservative people in the Republican party than the Democrat. That's the main reason I see for the media's wide brush strokes.

The same for all those made up racist attempts.

It's not there. If anything it's the other way around.

SEIU thugs attacking a black man for selling Tea Party trinkets? Hello?

More of that nose ring pulling the "Leaders" do and the blind snap in line. Drink the kool-aid.

Remember when Fuzz said he was never going to post in the Politcal threads? A real man of his word.

I know a lot of people, especially white people, like to think racism is a thing of the past, it isn't. Sure there really aren't anymore lynchings, but it's still there. Reverse racism is what? When a minority hates a white person? I'm sure there is some of that, can't stop it either direction.

Racism is when systems have the ability to control laws and situation that effect peoples lives. There really aren't any minority controlled institutions that hold the white man down.

The way you are describing that work situation is strange, especially when you say race is the furthest thing from your mind when your made up example belies your conclusion considering the language and stereotypes you used.

I'm sorry you think that the black man is keeping you down in the rental car clerk business, really. That's a fast pace, high earning, cut throat, lucrative career and I'm sure your years of higher education just to land a job like that should itself warrant an immediate 7 figure salary. Quit looking for scapegoats in other people based on their skin color.

And you are refuting something I never said, that's called a strawman.

They do organize. What I did say is that overall, liberals are in no way as organized as conservatives when it comes to influencing legislation.

Even in voting in Congress for example. How many times have you seen a strictly partisan vote where all or all but 1 or 2 republicans vote on one side and only 80-90% of democrats vote on the other? I've seen it tons of times because the liberals are harder to organize and make vote or march as a group.

I'm impressed that you guys think we liberals are stronger than we actually are.

Yeah, a lot of people got mad in WI, finally. It's about time. But how well did it work? Not well at all, yet. It's time people fought back for their rights and I hope it continues. It took an awful lot to get them finally pissed off.

If you were to look at state laws now across the country like right to work laws, union busting and other anti-worker pro-corporate laws in place or being proposed right now you would realize that complaining about the power of unions is just silly.

Florida sunshine? I haven't been to Florida in 6 years.

Mmmmm, whoppers. Haven't had one of those in a long time either.

My blood sugar is low.
I need a snickerdoodle.

Yeah, that's the stuff. You have diabetes?

In order:
Racism is when systems have the ability to control laws and situation that effect peoples lives. There really aren't any minority controlled institutions that hold the white man down.

Ever hear of affirmative action? How about quotas, especially in universities where its sold as "diversification"?
And don't forget the dumbing down of standarized tests in order to be more inclusive.
Don't kid yourself into thinking that only a "minority controlled institution" could enforce a racially motivated rule.


I'm sorry you think that the black man is keeping you down in the rental car clerk business, really. That's a fast pace, high earning, cut throat, lucrative career and I'm sure your years of higher education just to land a job like that should itself warrant an immediate 7 figure salary

??
Before I comment, I'll allow you a chance to explain your intent here.
Because it appears to use sarcasm to imply that someones chosen occupation is not honorable or otherwise important.
I'd describe the sort of vile loser that one would have to be to employ such a tactic to simply make a point, but I'll save it until you've had time to reconsider your words.

I honestly hope I have misinterpretted.

That's hilarious right there considering what's happened on this board, seriously, you have GOT to be kidding.

It always goes wrong when we get to the snickerdoodles.

I have heard about those things. I don't agree with dumbing down tests. I do agree with changing some of the language though. For example. Regatta, catilion, debutante, are examples of words that were removed from some standardized tests. Tell me, what kid from the inner city of Pittsburgh or the mountains of West Virginia are going to be familiar with those words? It's just not part of their life and it's not taught in school. That's not dumbing down the test, it's making it less exclusive to the people who are privileged enough to have those things in their life.

Universities have been through the years notorious for not accepting minority students, regardless of grades. In order to change that. . I'm sure you know the story. Now, one can argue that it's no longer needed, good students get in regardless of race, fine and good. However, there are a disproportionate number of students in poor neighborhoods with low tax revenue that are minorities. Because of the low tax revenue, schooling is bad, leading most often to bad education, then bad jobs, then lower tax revenue in their neighborhoods in which they are now stuck, and the cycle continues. Books have been written about this.

Now, another argument can be made in order to break this cycle it is a good idea to bring in students from these areas who show promise, yet still may not have the academic achievement in high school. It is with this justification that most affirmative action programs are supported now.

As far as the job crack, it is what he used to explain his 'reverse racism' theory and how the everyone thinks about race, so much so that he dismisses a scientific study. It's ludicrous.

I'm a Libertarian so I'm allowed to insult anyone I want to...

There is nothing wrong with those words. That is dumbing down the test. We're not supposed to give As to everyone.


Some people are just peasants and that is OK.

While true that some people are destined to become paupers it doesn't mean we can't try to prevent as many as possible. And it certainly doesn't mean that there are some princes who would have been paupers if left to their own devices and not born into privilege.