Since early last year, a number of people have been involved with Tea Parties throughout the United States. I have been to two different Tea Party rallies, and have been impressed with the people I have personally met there. The vast number of them have been very normal people who are just worried about their country. I have met Republicans, Independents, and Democrats at these rallies.
As the movement has gained more and more attention, the mainstream media, and a number of Democrats have insulted, dismissed, and belittled Tea Party attendees. I have never understood this. The people who go to Tea Parties are average Americans that are concerned about the direction of their government. Their primary concern from the beginning was to stop the out of control spending by our government. When President Bush was criticized for eight years, we were told questioning our government was patriotic. Where did that sentiment go? CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets have insulted these people time and time again. Tea Party members are simply exercising their constitutional rights, even while their elected representatives ignore them. That may soon change.
There are two polls out that suggest the Tea Party is much more mainstream than even I thought. Here are two findings of these polls that should really give Democrats and the Media a pause. First, according to a Rasmussen poll, more people identify themselves with the Tea Party (48%) than President Obama (44%). Second, a USA Today / Gallup poll finds that 26% of Americans identify themselves with the Tea Party while a slightly smaller percent oppose the Tea Party.
So what does this mean? How should elected officials interpret this when the Tea Party itself has no official leaders? It's simple: Democrats, Republicans, and the media need to stop insulting these individuals and start listening to their concerns. The Tea Party has attracted a large number of Americans from all walks of life. The USA Today poll even found that the demographics of Tea Party supporters closely mirrors the demographics of the country at large. Members of Congress who ignore this group may be looking for a new job after November.
8 comments:
Your headline is about as intellectually honest as the tea baggers themselves.
Read the actual stuff from Rasmussen. Clearly the worst news is for Republicans.
If they keep insulting and ignoring then the more people become part of the group of people that are willing to speak up about their concerns. That is a good thing.
It is funny you posted this because I just read an article about blacks in the tea party movement and how they are being called traitors. However it highlights how the party is not only a bunch of white people but does have some minorities. It is not unrealistic in saying there are lots of minorities but there are some. Hopefully this Tea Party movement will finally move us past voting based on race, but that has been an issue for a long long time.
I think the following does a good job of summing up why a lot of people think the Tea Party activists are ridiculous.
I found it here - http://bestoftheblogs.com
You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.
You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.
You didn't get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.
You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.
Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans. . .oh hell no!
Anonymous you have an interesting take on a handful of historical events. I will take issue with the last comment. I believe the tea party movement got going with the bailout bills at the end of 2008 and early 2009, that is a whole long time before the 2010 health care reform bill. Also, I would think most tea party people are for allowing people to see doctors when they are sick. I think most of us are concerned that it will cost us more over the course of 10 years than the cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and still not allow everybody who is sick to see a doctor.
Under your theory anonymous the Declaration of Independence is not a worthy document and is stupid because it took 26 issues (as spelled out in the document) before the colonist wrote it as an official protest to the government in power.
As explained by the Representatives of the united States of American, in General Congress:
accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.
So yes it does take a long train of abuses before the people gather to protest. I think you are a hypocrite, you give that long list of your issues with the government over the last 10 years, but now that Mr. Bush is no longer president are you still complaining about those things?
Did you not get mad when the Supreme Court stopped the illegal prohibition of campaign finances?
Do energy companies still dictate energy policy?
Is the Patriot Act still not law?
Are we still in a county "illegally?"
Are we still spending billions on an "illegal" war?
Are we still wiretapping?
Bin Laden is still free.
Is Walter Reed hospital better?
Is the deficit still not well over a trillion?
But now you are all okay with all of this because some Americans can now get health care when they are sick.
I am on vacation this week and next, so if I don't respond to your comment as quickly, it's not because I don't value them, it's only because I am spending time with my family..
Anonymous Guy,
You continue to insult Americans who exercise their First Amendment rights in a legal manner without resorting to violence. I expect better from you. The Rasmussen article you site is very interesting. Go back and read that article and tell me what you think will happen if there is no third party,"Tea Party" candidate, but only a R or a D. Does my headline still sound dishonest?
Anonymous poster,
Thanks for the comment. I hope you come back and continue the discussion.
First, I would like to point out that not every agrees with your list. Second, as Pack said, many of the points on your list are still occurring today. Are you ok with these abuses because a guy with a "D" by his name is doing them?
As Pack said, there wasn't one act that forced our founders to break dies with England, but a long list of them. I started getting very upset with the bailouts under President Bush. I am not out to impeach President Obama. My goal is to get our congress to control their spending, and to control the rate they spend my children's and grandchildren's money.
This might not be proof of bad news for the media but it could be for democrats. I was looking at coverage from the local news paper online and expected to see an offensive or far right winged picture on the front page of yesterdays tax day tea party. I was surprised and did not see one. I was reading the local, not AP, article about the gathering and I found it to be fair. Which again surprised me and was very unusual for our paper. Here is the story. Even more surprising was the photos which again did not show the crazy ones. I am sure they were there but they were not the focus of photo album. Which is again a change for the paper.
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