The ironic civil war

Rumor has it that the Right isn't playing nice. So, what's new, you might ask? Well, I'm talking about the in-fighting that has escalated between the good ole boys at the GOP and the new blood of the Tea Party movement. Here's the basic rundown as I see it: The republicans of the GOP put up people like Tea Partiers as figure heads, the Tea Partiers just put them up as actual candidates. In other words, the GOP makes a poster with the hard working average American and puts it up on their wall next to their Harvard degrees, family tree and pictures of their yacht. The Tea Party takes that poster and makes it a poster for a candidate. The result: a civil war brewing between the elite right and the lowlier, uncouth variety. Ironic, considering who the Republicans usually count in their constituencies. Take Christine O'Donnell for example. She has about as much political background as any other "average American" and will mostly likely prove to be just as ineffective in governance. Aside from apparently being a witch (google it, I'm serious), she barely scraped through a nondescript college, had heavy economic problems and has recently landed a long coveted Republican seat with a dumb smile on her face and not much upstairs. Why is she so popular? The same reason people supported Bush. "I could see myself having a beer with him."
Unfortunately many Americans can not separate politician from drinking buddy, or church from state or Satan from fossils...pardon my tangent. I don't want my senators to go drinking with me, I want them to fucking get things done. On one of my previous posts, I shared a video of a man video taping supporters outside a Sarah Palin book signing. When asked what policies of hers they supported and agreed with, not one person could answer, or even tell what her policies were. It made my soul hurt and my brain cry. The uneducated American public think this way. It's an evolutionary (yep, evolution, I'm a demon seed) need to fit in. If you feel you're a part of a group, a pack, it gives you a sens of belonging and purpose. Now, why the hell you'd vote for someone when you don't even know what they're gonna do when they get into office is a whole other story. However, that's how the Tea Party works, and they are quite successful with their "block party" mentality of likable candidates that can play at the heartstrings of the average American.
But if you look at their agenda and compare it to the GOP agenda, there's not a lot of open air between them. Except for a few issues that push the Tea Party closer to loony-land, the GOP and Tea Partiers are cut from the same political cloth. The problem lies in the social cloth. It's really a class war. The elite GOP slither and scheme, whisper and make back door deals while the Tea Partiers are uncouth and palpably insane in full view. Very few people in the senate are just senators (democrats and republicans alike). Their back door deals with corporate lobbyists and private interests balloon their pay checks and their status in the social elite. There's not really such a thing anymore as public service, it's career politics and business is good. As we saw from Karl Rove's condescending comments on O'Donnell, there's no attacks on the issues, there's the good old fashioned "checkered background" attacks. Karl Rove and his political idols, the Bush's don't know what foreclosure means (maybe because it's a three syllable word), they never had to scrape by. When the average American with bills, a shitty job or no job, looks at two candidates on the right, they are more likely to go with the one they feel can "relate." This was also the case with Clinton. His southern drawl and lower middle class background was cause for pride and support in the typically right wing areas of America.
So where is this civil war headed? Will their be a right wing Appomattox where both factions can come to terms and celebrate with a BBQ atop Darwin's "Theory of Evolution?"
Only time will tell. Political experts are a little splintered on that question. Some say that the in-fighting will prove costly for the GOP, who is looking to gain seats this November. Moderate Republican voters may begin leaning to the left when confronted with the "proud to be extremist" mentality of the Tea Party candidates running. However, the split may give right-leaning voters touched by the Tea Party's grass roots, mom and pop feel, the extra push to head out and vote on the way to Wall Mart. As O'Donnell said, "We cannot elect any more liberals to Washington, D.C., especially ones who wear the banner of being a Republican. It is an honor to be a Republican." The patriotic pride could injure Democratic chances at holding on to seats. The outcome of this right wing tiff is very much up in the air. The Democrats need to jump on it and do their best to point out the absurdity, inexperience and unprofessionalism of the Tea Party candidates while maintaining that the right is not right for America. Republicans need to stop shoving the Tea Party away as if it were an annoying fly. It's escalated into a hornets nest and shooing will only make 'em more pissed off. They need to be dealt with and recognized as a worthy adversary, by both parties. And unfortunately, while I too can appreciate a grass roots, working man organization, the Tea Party is a sad excuse for a remedy for the broken two party system. They are for the most part, uneducated, bigoted, racist, extremist religious, hateful and inexperienced.
As I say in almost every post, unless you educate yourself, unless you study the system, it's pros, cons, history and present, you will be unable and unfit to contend with it. An overhaul is needed but the Tea Party is more of the same, more of the problem, not the solution.

Not Alice's Tea Party

I've been trying to wrap my head around the Tea Party for quite some time. As I said, I used to be a member until I found out that they had taken a bus to loony-ville and weren't coming back any time soon. The idea for the basis of this movement seemed good: concerned citizens pissed off about the fact that their government was spending money they didn't have on issues their constituents didn't profit from, monetarily or otherwise. That sounds like a good start to me.

There can be books written on the derailment of this good idea but I'm not gonna be the author. I just want to point out some things that alarm and concern me.
The movement is not fully coherent, there is not one leader, there are small groups of people that run their own versions across the country. They do not have a clear cut goal, unless you consider their blatant hatred for anything not outlined in the constitution a goal. Their ideology is based on right wing extremism, with a popular shirt sold at rallies stating: "Proud Right-Wing Extremist." They seem to have no ability to see or care about an opposing viewpoint. It's the good old fashioned, "You're either with us or against us" motif.

Now, I have a fear of any extremist, whether it be religious or secular. The reason being is that, like I said above, they offer no place for opposition, for questions to be raised. How do you know God exists? He just does Timmy, get your ass to church. Same thinking here. What's wrong with this country? It's a corrupt socialist money sucking liberal hot bed! Where's your proof? Shut up, I have a gun!

I wish that last bit were just a joking exaggeration. At a recent Tea Party rally, Richard Behney, a Republican Senate candidate, told Tea Party supporters his plan if the 2010 elections didn't swing in his favor: “I’m cleaning my guns and getting ready for the big show. And I’m serious about that, and I bet you are, too.”
On ResistNet.com, a Tea Party supporting blog, "fellow patriots" are encouraged to "grab their guns." Just one day after Stack crashed a plane into an Austin IRS office, Minnesota governor, Tim Pawlenty, told a group of Tea Partiers to take a page from Tiger Woods’s wife's book and “take a 9-iron and smash the window out of big government in this country." Tea Party hero and Minnesota congresswoman, said she wanted “people in Minnesota armed and dangerous." In Texas, the Tea Party gubenatorial sweetheart, reminded folks at a rally that “the tree of freedom is occasionally watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots.”

These are just a few examples. Now, this scares the shit out of me already. But just wait, the plot thickens.
“I voted twice and I failed political science twice,” said Darin Stevens, leader of the Spokane 9/12 Project, Glenn Beck's pet project closely tied to the Tea Party.
Another Tea Partier, Leah Southwell’s admits that “I knew zero about the Constitution," having until recently been a top Mary Kay sales rep.

Ok, so here's how I'm reading this. Let me know if you think I'm off: Tea Partiers are turning to increasingly more violent rhetoric with increasingly less knowledge of their country or its past and what brought it to its current state of affairs that they are so ready to overthrow. Hmmmmm...They don't even seem to realize that one of their champions (Palin) used to be the running mate of a man they think is way too liberal (McCain)!

If you check out a previous post of mine, it shows a link to a video of a man interviewing some of Palin's supporters outside of a book signing. They know DICK about ANYTHING. It is absolutely amazing that they stand outside waiting to meet someone they know nothing about yet blindly support.

We are royally fucked (even more so than now) if the Tea Party movement ever reaches a place where it is legitimately considered a viable political party and not a cult.
Do we have no answer to this? Do we have no response to the "Proud Right-Wing Extremists?"

Oh how true...

Extremist Ideologies NOT what we need

Here's the link to my next video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgpApiKLCV8

I discuss extremist ideologies and their adverse effect on the US, using Palin and the Tea Party Nation as examples, since the convention and her keynote speech are still fresh news.