Okay. I have to admit there is a germ of appeal to the so-called "tea party" movement. But it's just the smallest germ, a nano-germ actually. I mean, who in their right mind doesn't want to pay lower taxes and have more freedom to live their lives as they see fit?... And that's about where the appeal ends for me.
It ends there because I'm smart enough and experienced enough and educated enough to understand there's a huge difference between dreams and reality. And from what I've seen so far, the same cannot be said for those who populate this so-called movement. Having been fortunate enough to engage a few in discussions, it's clear they have no idea what they want, except for the pie-in-the-sky demands for smaller government, less taxes and no socialism. So, despite clear signs that none of these people can even define socialism, let's begin there and do away with any government program or department that engages in, or promotes any kind of socialist agenda.
First, let's demand that Our Government stop placing all those terrible restriction and rules on those struggling private companies who are just trying to engage in good-old American capitalism. Thing is, that would mean companies like Northrup Grumman, Boeing, Newport News Shipyards, GM, FMC, Raytheon, Honeywell Avionics and countless others , all privately owned but currently controlled by the government, would be unrestricted in defense-related sales to China, Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and any other government or private entity who had the money to pay for their products. But wait, you know the Fed's never going to allow that to happen. It would pose too big a risk to national security, and I don't mean some little pissy-assed risk -like a bonehead with a shoe bomb and wet matches - I mean risk like stateless religious fanatics with the money and will to buy and deploy realweapons of mass destruction... NBC weapons. So those companies would either have to close their doors, or move out of the country, throwing millions of high-paying jobs into the toilet and taking tens of billions of dollars out of the U.S. economy. Is that what you mean by ending socialism? Of course not. No Real Amerian Patriot would want to put his nation at risk of destruction. You must mean stuff like ending corporate welfare and bailing out banks that are "too big to fail," right?
If that's what you want, it's further evidence that you don't know what you're talking about. Listen, that whole bank bailout thing happened because the last administration gave you exactly what you're now demanding: no government oversight or imposing rules on private businesses. It's not like there were no laws or government safegards in place to protect people against losses. It just that the Bush Administration believed exactly as you say you believe. Decrease oversight and rules, and let businesses police themselves in the marketplace... Competition will decide the winners and losers. How did that work out for you, and your investments, and your retirement accounts, and your job, and you ability to get bank loans?
So, just tell me, tell all of us who think Teabaggers are (in the most diplomatic terms I can muster) a band of boneheads with not the slightest understanding of what they're asking, exactly what you want and why you want it.
