I watched a clip of Sarah Palin’s address to the tea partiers at Boston Common today and it just pushed me over the top.
SP: Borrowing and spending and inventing these big new government programs with enormous price tags, it makes no sense.
WD: $236B surplus in 2000… $600B deficit in 2008
SP: There is no way to pay for this except to see your taxes rise.
WD: So, cut taxes for the rich, right?
SP: Selfishly sticking our kids and grandkids with the bill.
WD: Iraq and Afghan war costs, since 2001, approaching 1 trillion.
SP: And that is stealing from them, steeling opportunity in this land of opportunity.
WD: Cost-plus contracts / Blackwater / Haliburton / Missing Millions / TARP / etc…
SP: It’s immoral, it’s not right, and we’re not going to stand for it any more.
WD: Wait, the torture, war profiteering, and civil liberties violations were moral and right, but an attempt to insure people isn’t?
SP: All of this makes us more beholden to foreign countries, it makes us less secure, it makes us less free.
WD: Which is what happens when we spend beyond our means and refuse to pay for it. Want war? Sacrifice.
SP: And I’m not calling anyone un-American.
WD: It’s called intimation, honey.
I understand the anger, but it is just simply misdirected. The anger should be at the corporate takeover of government. Sure, most politicians are complicit in this. But the real problem is that our policies have allowed corporations to outsource our jobs with impunity and evade fair taxation. And no, I’m not talking about small businesses. I’m talking about the too big to fail con artists in the financial sector. They have facilitated the decline of American manufacturing, exports, GDP and wages while getting unbelievably rich.
Opportunity means the ability to have a chance and to make a go of things. The current corporate driven system has done almost everything to stack the deck against ordinary “folks.” I still maintain that a lot of this tea party anger is borne out of racism, nativism, and fear. They’re trying to mainstream (and the corporate media is certainly helping them,) but theirs is ultimately a morally and intellectually bankrupt movement. I wish them failure.
I was there, watching the rally. There sure were a lot of vociferous, angry white folk. The self-righteousness of the TPers was astounding… misty eyed as Taps was played for “the America they love,” as they literally wrapped themselves in the flag. Weird, too, were all the “God, Guns and Sarah” placards. There were dissenting voices, however, as a lot of progressives did show up to be heard. Still, it was all just a robust exercise of First Amendment rights. The key test will come in the November elections.
Very vocal group but keep in mind the Ms. Palin’s popularity ticks at about 18% overall. I hope you find some relief in that. However, her path to fame and fortune is nauseating. It was disappointing to see so many Boston folk turn up for the raly. Tea Party in Boston, indeed.