The Hypocrisy of the Tea Party Movement

I have to be honest and say that I’m not too happy with either party in the government right now.  The Republican party has been hijacked by social conservatism and the far right, all while bringing very little to the table when it comes to governance.  They want to take credit for policies they vote against, and rail against issues that they once supported.  They talk about fiscal conservatism, and small government, after causing an explosion in the size of government and spending.  All while promoting an ego-centric lifestyle, and exuding a sense of subtle racism.

The Democrats come across as a party that has little backbone.  They are taking on important issues (issues that the Republicans did not take on for the 8 years in office) and yet never seem to be able to follow through.  They are unable to keep their party in line,  and in many ways rest on their laurels.  They certainly like to spend, but how can you accomplish anything in this world without spending money?  At least they want to pay for what they spend, as opposed to just spending money we don’t have.

It may seem like I am favoring Democrats over Republicans, but I can only speak on what I see.  I have no reason whatsoever to support one party over the other, and if the Republicans came to the table with reasonable ideas, and a mindset fit for the 21st century, I’d be singing their praises from the rooftops.

The tea party movement that has risen to such acclaim this year, supposedly stands for fiscal conservatism, a return to the core country values that our founding fathers stood for, for reduced government and personal freedoms.  Those are all great ideas, I LIKE some of those ideas.  I like personal freedom, I like the idea of reducing our debt and not spending outlandishly on programs and liabilities that we don’t need or can’t afford.  Unfortunately, I don’t see that as what most of these tea party people are interested in.  To me, if I had a legitimate, well-thought out agenda, I would go about presenting it it in a respectable, logical and focused manner.

The tea party movement, to me, is another method for people to voice their dissatisfaction with people who do not agree with them, and with Barack Obama/Pelosi/Reid et al.  There’s two main pieces of evidence I have for this:

1. Many tea party rallies consist of material conveying messages of fascism, Stalinism, Marxism (or whatever other ism they can think of), portraying the President of the United States in some sort of racist, or offensive manner, or railing about issues that are totally irrelevant to what the movement is about.
2. If they were this upset about the state of the country, why are they marching only after the election of Barack Obama?  Where were they during the Bush years, when he was notching marks against what these tea party patriots supposedly stand for (which I outlined above).

It’s all hypocrisy, manipulation, and kow-towing to this right wing echo chamber.  If it would stop, if rational voices would return to the forefront then perhaps we could actually move forward return this country to its proper place in the world.

It’s gut wrenching to watch, especially when this country is heading in the completely wrong direction.  Instead of working to make this country the object of respect and hope that it used to be, our politicians are appealing to the fringes of whom the vast majority of this country would be utterly alienated from if they had the time (or cared) to learn about what these groups actually stood for.
All the while, China and Brazil are stream rolling forward into the 21st century, leaving us sitting on the side of the road arguing over who is a socialist, and who is the party of no.

It took a long time to build the foundations of this country, but it sure isn’t taking long to tear them down.