Time to Confront the Tea Party

I had a gentleman get on my case the other day, because I have no use for the Tea Party. He told me I wasn't being reasonable, and maybe it was time for moderates to band together and fight liberal takeover in the country. Well, aside from the fact that "liberals" are too disjointed to take over anything, I decided to educate him on just how "moderate" the Tea Party is.

In fact, TeaParty.org, in the "non-negotiable core beliefs" (non-negotiable implies a complete lack of open-mindedness), the following are stated:

Illegal Aliens Are Here illegally.
Pro-Domestic Employment Is Indispensable.
Stronger Military Is Essential.
Special Interests Eliminated.
Gun Ownership Is Sacred.
Government Must Be Downsized.
National Budget Must Be Balanced.
Deficit Spending Will End.
Bail-out And Stimulus Plans Are Illegal.
Reduce Personal Income Taxes A Must.
Reduce Business Income Taxes Is Mandatory.
Political Offices Available To Average Citizens.
Intrusive Government Stopped.
English As Core Language Is Required.
Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged.

Common Sense Constitutional
Conservative Self-Governance

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Let me take these one at a time.

"Illegal Aliens Are Here illegally"

Won't argue the premise, but if rich people, many of whom vote GOP, stopped creating jobs for them, they'd stop coming to the US. They come because there are jobs here and not there. Those who say Mexico's problems are not America's problems are incredibly naive.

Don't get me wrong. I understand and appreciate the argument about publicly-funded benefits, but that's an easy fix, too. Work closer with Central America governments to get better infrastructure, jobs and benefits there and we won't have to deal with it here.

"Pro-Domestic Employment Is Indispensable."

And if we had fair wages we wouldn't have Americans turning down jobs for which employers feel compelled to hire illegals.

"Stronger Military is Essential"

What exactly does that mean? I was in the military. A well-trained, well-equipped military is a boon in times of international crisis. But there is not one enemy out there that we don't outmatch in terms of technology and training. And among potential enemies, we're not going to match the Chinese in shear numbers. So from whom exactly do we need to be "stronger"?

"Special Interests Eliminated"

Which special interests? Apparently not those interested in lower taxes, more military spending (and if we lower taxes, this makes zero sense), low minimum wages, pro "traditional family" (more on that in a minute) and pro corporate interests. "Special interests" are among those codewords some in the right use for gays and other 14th amendment advocates who, for some reason, think that when the Constitution says "equal protection" and "due process" for all, it means exactly that.

"Gun Ownership Is Sacred"

I'm an advocate of the 2nd Amendment, but the terminology here is interesting. Sacred? Really? Show me that in the Bible. It seems I remember something about false idols in there, but maybe it's just me.

"Government Must Be Downsized"

You get no argument from me, but I may have major differences with the Tea Party on which parts get downsized. Obviously, I'm going to be opposed from cutting any programs that protect women and children, the elderly or the very poor. And I won't even consider scaling them back until I see scale backs on things conservatives like that I don't like.

"Deficit Spending Will End"

Too bad they didn't think about that under Bush. Clinton actually had us out of the red for a while, and Bush ramped up military spending for a needless war in Iraq.

"Bail-out and Stimulus Plans are Illegal"

Great! And if the economy completely collapses when hardcore right-wingers refuse to bail-out some industries, I'll make sure the hungry, homeless masses know where Tea Party headquarters are in every city in in every state. Gun ownership is sacred! :)

"Reduce Personal Income Taxes A Must."

Great! Start with the poorest first. For once. But that's not what they want to do. They want to chop the taxes down at the top and roll out the old Reaganesque trickle down. Word to the wise, folks: That didn't work under Reagan and it won't work now. When the flow is trickling by, people tend to dam it at their level, so that nothing reaches the bottom. Thus, Reaganomics only helps the very rich and hurts the very poor and does damned little in between.

"Reduce Business Income Taxes Is Mandatory"

Great! Start with small businesses first. For once. Too many laws (including tax laws) are passed to benefit the big dogs. Time to stop paying lip service to mom-and-pop operations and do right by them, instead of using government as the lap dog of Corporate America.

"Political Offices Available To Average Citizens"

Uh, they already are. This is a complete straw man.

"Intrusive Government Stopped"

Unless you mean spying on gays and lesbians, requiring people to do official business in English, looking for green cards and racial profiling at airports. Then the Tea Party is all for that.

"English As Core Language Is Required"

No, you mean Am-ur-ican as core language is a requirement. That's what I hear all the time. "Dammit, ev'ybody needs to speak Am-ur-ican." Usually followed by a diatribe about illegal aliens working at the chicken processing plant and filling up local schools and clinics.

Look, in Europe, practically every kid learns two or more languages. I have found, in my adult life, that the insistence on teaching just one has been one of the major downers in my education. I feel deprived, just because some group of assholes didn't want to have to learn another language. Plus, in America, language is one of the major ways we identify the "other". Always has been and always will be. If we stop treating people like outsiders, we'll stop having outsiders and everyone will feel like an "American". We want to act like it's a "melting pot" culture, but we don't want to let anyone blend in with us in any type of natural way. Some Americans increasingly don't like natural anything. They want to force everything, because they want a sense of control in an increasingly chaotic world. Understandable, but nonetheless wrong-headed.

"Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged"

Which tradition? If you mean one man-one woman and maybe a kid or two, that's not traditional. That's a very recent trend. If you mean church weddings, that's pretty recent, too. In fact, in the middle ages, weddings were held outside of the church because they were considered, as they were practiced then, too vulgar for church (men would practically strip the bride, to "loosen her up for the wedding night"... It's where the practice of tossing the garter came from. Women would carry extra garters in their bodices, to toss to the men, in order to maintain SOME dignity by the time she left the premises). "Traditional" is codeword for "queers not allowed."

"Common Sense Constitutional Conservative Self-Governance"

I would replace 'common sense' with well-educated, since common sense can fail on counter-intuitive reality. Constitutional to them means "everything that I like and nothing I don't, like the 14th Amendment". Conservative means "moderates and commies need not apply. In fact, they can go straight to hell". Self-governance is a misnomer because with these core beliefs, they are not about to let me and my kind govern our own world. They are going to impose their will upon us, if they get the chance.