On Tea Parties and Republican hypocrisy
As you may already know, there will be nationwide protests on April 15th, Tax Day, to protest spending and tax hikes by the Obama Administration. These protests, referred to as Tea Parties, have taken place nearly every week since Friday, February 27th (yours truly attended the Atlanta Tea Party and was interviewed by Neil Cavuto on Fox News about the events) and have been gaining notoriety and slowly more people are attending. The protest here in Atlanta had around 300 people, not bad for a cold, rainy day. Other cities have seen as many as a few thousand people show up.
These protests serve do a purpose, despite what pseudo-libertarian talk show host, Neal Boortz, says or believes. They show that everyday Americans want less spending, less government and personal responsibility. However, they are at risk of being co-opted by Republicans who either stood silently or only gave passive criticism to the spending spree of George W. Bush.
Republicans do not realize the serious credibility problems they have when it comes to criticizing .JPG)
the economic policies of Barck Obama. According to a recent study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, George W. Bush was the biggest spender in the last 30 years. The table to the right shows the massive increases in non-defense discretionary spending.
Sean Hannity, who will be attending the Atlanta Tea Party on April 15th, says he has criticized Republicans on spending. He has been more vocal of late about Republicans getting back to the supposed small government roots, but even he was only passive while the gross expansion of government was taking place.
Newt Gingrich and his group, American Solutions, recently announced that they were endorsing and supporting the protests. Gingrich has supported and lobbied for a $9 trillion expansion of Medicare and more recently, the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP or Wall Street bailout), which has resulted in trillions of taxpayers dollar being put at risk by a completely incompetent government. This is exactly the sort of spending that these protests are against. An argument can also be made, after reading Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government, that Republicans began to lose whatever principles they claimed to have while Gingrich was Speaker of the House, something can be verified by the table above by looking at the growth in spending in the second term of Bill Clinton.
The involvement of politically polarizing figures will ruin and destroy the credibility of a good movement. Accusations of astroturfing surfaced immediately after the events on February 27th. This makes those accusations have substance.
Despite all this, concerned taxpayers should show up to these events to voice their disapproval at these economic policies that have lead us down an unsustainable path. There are several of these protests lined up on April 15th across Georgia. You can find a list here.
C/P: Examiner and The Liberty Papers
Comments
I hope there will be a very large turn out at the Tea Party to maybe send a message to the government.
Posted by: The Doctor | April 1, 2009 09:42 PM
Hopefully we the taxpayers are finally fed up with 'do nothing', self serving politicians who think only about themselves and their buddies while completely ignoring most their constituents. After the Atlanta Tea Party we need a Henry County Tea Party and start a taxpayer revolt against some of these politicians who really need to be Recalled. Sooner then later these public servants will realize who is really in charge.
Posted by: Mark | April 2, 2009 09:30 AM
Great! Count me out, Im not going to be a pawn for loudmouth Sean Hannity, who did and said nothing while Bush was on his spending spree. Hannity is just showing up to make it all about himself.
Posted by: Xavier | April 2, 2009 09:47 AM
Xavier
I can agree that the conservative radio and television talker did not castigate the Bush administration for outrageous spending but you do understand the during the 8 years of the Bush mis administration was nothing more than a trip to the Dairy Queen when compared to the OBOMA spending and Constitutional violations in just 45 days...
What OBOMA has done is not only neglecting the problem it is adding to the spending of the past with even more stupidity....
I don't care who shows up to support an effort to stop OBOMA because it is about MY debt that is did not authorize not a talking head pundit.
Don
Posted by: Don Henderson | April 2, 2009 06:09 PM
Having a Henry County Tea Party is an excellent idea. It should take place in McDonough at the Admin Building and show those who sit in power that the people are still the people and not drones who follow their lead into everything they propose.
Artie
Posted by: Artie Gray | April 2, 2009 06:44 PM
I, too, support a Henry County tea party at the admin building. But Obama is not the reason. He is just the front man (an ideological shill) for the socialist regime now in control.
The real call for protest is about principles and values. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have clean hands... while the nation burns, the Statists fiddle. It does not matter that some are simply dipping into the open trough to buy votes in 2010. It DOES matter that unprincipled and anti-American skunks now fill the ranks in government.
Personalities like Hannity, Rush, Church, Levin, et. al., serve a purpose. They offer a focal point for many people - a legitimizing factor. What they provide is varying levels of education to an otherwise emotional and uninformed citizenry. Read Levin's "Liberty and Tyranny" or the text of Rush's CPAC speech. Nobody can honestly say either is seeking pawns.
The reason for protest is the call for government as prescribed in the Constitution. Citizens want and will support a candidate ready and willing to pledge his life, fortune and sacred honor. Citizens are hungry for representatives at all levels of government truly dedicated to the blessings of Liberty, and who will earnestly endeavor to secure it for the present and future generations.
Don, Artie and everyone else wanting to organize the Henry Tea Party: Count Me In.
Posted by: Larry Stanley | April 2, 2009 10:14 PM
Baring any unforeseen calamity I will be at the Henry County admin building on the 15th not that the BoC will be there and ev