I don’t know, but I would guess I probably do, as I’m a college professor in the deep South and I’m sure that the 300 or so students I’ve had since I moved here include at least one tea partier. (Well, make that the 180 or so white students, I guess.) I know for sure that I interviewed an honors scholarship student last semester who listed Sarah Palin as the single living person she most admired. (This did not prejudice her chances at a scholarship, in case anyone is wondering.)
Socially? I think one person on my LJ friendslist, none that I know of in real life.
The tea party is a coalition of all these types of people. Saying you don’t want to count them is like saying you want to know how many people know Democrats - but you don’t want to count anti-war activists, environmentalists, socialists, or trade unionists.
K. This isn’t a great debate. Think of how many Tea Partiers you know, by whatever wacky criteria you choose, and click the appropriate box. I would think it would be zero for a Canadian, but hey, each day holds a new surprise.
Maybe that’s evidence that the portrayal of the Tea Party here and on the lefty blogs isn’t quite accurate. For example, Palin has a generally high approval rating among the tea party, but if you ask them if they want Palin to be president, more will say no than yes (a recent poll tea party members had 46% saying no to Palin and 43% saying yes. Other polls have found that as few as 37% of the tea party thinks she’s qualified to be president, as opposed to 21% for the public at large).
I know a lot of tea party members. In fact, I know people who helped found the movement and are still movers and shakers. Three of them are athiests and completely hostile to social conservatism. A few of them describe themselves as Christians but don’t want social issues to be a part of politics. A couple could be considered to be social conservatives. All of them have reservations about Palin and O’Donnell and Angle. All the ones I know are very smart people - two are law professors, a couple are engineers, several are businesspeople.
I know one tea partier who would fit the profile as being an uneducated ‘redneck’ who has very strong opinions, loves Palin and the rest, and can’t tell you exactly why he believes anything other than that he’s hopping mad about something and is sure that the Democrats are at fault. If he were at a rally, all the cameras would be on him, and the media clowns would be lined up for an interview. The law professors and engineers who can quote Bastiat and Locke? Not so much.
He used to be the coolest, nicest, most mellow guy. But ever since he found “religion” (not literally–he’s an athiest–but of the anti-Obama bent), he’s turned into a grade A, sanctimonioius jerk.
Now, this is not to suggest all Teabaggers are that. But he perfectly embodies the stereotype (fast & loose w/facts and history, rude & belligerent about their opinions) that the media seems to feed off of.
My wife adores her little brother immensely, but even she had to unfriend him on Facebook because he was getting so odiously toxic and inappropriate. A shame.
There was no choice for me in the poll, which would have been ‘I don’t know if anyone I know is a Tea Partier.’ I have my suspicions, but can’t confirm any of them.
The Tea Party scares me. It may be a simplistic perspective, but I believe it’s a loose coalition of racists who have latched onto the concept of fiscal responsibility, but only as it suits their agenda.
I’m no apologist for Obama; I’m quite disappointed in him to be frank. He hasn’t come close to promoting the type of liberal agenda I naively expected. In his zeal to be all things to all people, wasting a ridiculous amount of precious time attempting to placate the implacable conservatives, he’s become ineffectual. It no longer satisfies me that Obama’s not Bush; he’s gone so far to the right that I don’t even consider him a moderate a this point, yet Republicans/Conservatives absolutely dispise him, and oppose anything he supports or promotes, without regard to its benefit to the country or to them personally.
I believe Obama is the best thing that could have happened to the conservative movement. His race has given them something to rally around, and has invigorated them. Liberals, at this point, are demoralized. If Only Obama had allowed us to experience the promise of his presidency, there’d be as much enthusiasm now as there was during the presidental campaign. Demographics are trending in our direction, but that advantage has mostly been squandered.
Conservatives will never support Obama. No matter what he does they will find a reason for it to be the worst thing any president has ever done, even if they have to manufacture it. Obama should have realized this from day one. He should have pushed for Single Payer healhcare; it would not have passed, but we may have gotten something between it and the public option instead of what we have now, which is just a tiny, incremental step that may or may not be followed by another in the forseeable future, some of which is just horrible legislation that not only perpetuates but actually grows the obscenity that is the health insurance industry. He should have pushed for a much higher stimulus package. Yes, of course it would have increased the defecit, but we wouldn’t be at 9.6% unemployment either. Obama had the wind and the country at his back, but he faltered, second-guessed himself, and got stuck in the mud. And the Tea Party, considered a joke in early 2008, found its stride by infusing the slowly deteriorating megalith of racism with new and eager members, money, and political clout. I believe a strong, decisive, truly liberal Obama would have counteracted the ascension of the Tea Party, contrary to the false belief that the opposite would have occurred. Now it feels as though it’s almost too late. And the Tea Party continues to gain strength and influence.
Republicans in 2007 didn’t have the insight or backbone to prevent a black man from becoming president, and for that they must pay, so the Tea Party movement is ensuring the failures to the conservative cause get primaried out, one by one, and replaced by those who understand that the true purpose of the US government is to support real Americans with real Christian conservative values, not poor black and brown people, Muslims, or gays who need to have their entitlements taken away, and who, let’s face it, are probably not people anyway, not really, not like real Americans…who deserve their entitlements.
Sorry for the rant. I tried to keep it coherent. I probably failed. It’s late, and I’ll probably regret this post when I read it tomorrow, not because I don’t believe what I’ve posted, I do. But with a clearer head I may have censored myself a little more. Sitting here right now, I don’t know if that’d necessarily be a good or a bad thing. {shrugs}.
Oh, then I voted wrong. I just know frothing at the mouth, tighty whitey republicans. They could go Tea Party at any minute and when they say, " I’m a Tea Bagger." I’m going to larf and larf and larf.
I chose one, but I doubt that she has ever been to any rallies or anything. I’m basing it completely on a Facebook status update that mentioned the Tea Party and had comments like “taking our country back” and “election day in November will be our 1776.” Ugh.
Wesley, Thanks for the comments. You seem like a smart young man and sensible. I have met Wesley Clark. I get where you are coming from. How will a handful of people accomplish fixing all the mistakes our government has made. My Mom, like you voted for Obama and is a supporter of the health care reform. She says he was just the right President at the wrong time. She sees him as a puppet. I still see way more money going out than coming in from that health care reform because we spend too much period on everything. We already have enough entitlement programs. Did you know that the House and Senate want to pass a bill saying that they want to opt out of the health care bill themselves…I wonder why? Seriously! If it’s good enough for us why not them?
This is a free market economy and a handful of people now hold the power. It wasn’t designed to be abused in the way it is. We need to break up the good ole boy networks like we broke up Ma Bell. It may take a less educated person with some integrity and backbone to accomplish it. Just because you have a lot of degree’s doesn’t give you common sense. Older presidents with more life experience and a work history seem to get the big picture that you can’t as a greenhorn come into the presidency and start passing your own agenda. He could have spent 4 years just on the economy alone and we would have been better off!We could have ended the war and saved the economy.
We have Obama for two more years but with the right House and Senate we could shoot down unnecessary spending. The health care bill thankfully won’t be looked at until the next administration. It really should be looked at in detail before we decide we want it. Why don’t the politicians want it for themselves?
Someone up high wanted Obama in and painted him as the next Martin Luther King and sadly he is not. I have nothing against him except his free spending ways and going back on his promise to end the war. I’m sure he was coached into keeping the war going and the bailouts, along with the other band aids by whomever is pulling the strings. We are bankrupt and we all have to accept that sooner or later all of us will be paying for it. I would rather be unpopular and save my country then look good and be owned by someone else. Jimmy Carter was an extreme tightwad and everyone hated him for it but he was just looking out for us. Greenspan could get us out of this financial mess if he didn’t sell out. He is brilliant but greed got the better of him. Something about Washington makes good people become corrupt and sell out. That is why term limits are ideal. Power corrupts absolutely or something like that.
I always look at the bigger picture. It’s how my brain is wired. I don’t see one issue. it is like a Rubik cube with many sides. If the tea party candidates make Washington cut back on spending it is not a bad thing. It is funny that it is the rich that cry foul whenever cut backs are announced. The very people that got us into this mess because of their greed. If debt is the problem lets start at the source of the problem, “Washington”. Instead of looking out for our country they looked out for themselves so they should bear the biggest burden of repaying it. Hit them where it hurts. They have bled us long enough.
Nancy Pelosi wants a private jet? Come on! If she can afford all those face lifts she can afford her own transportation! Washington is laughing at all of us suckers. They do whatever they please because we allowed them to by voting them in. They all want to be career politicians so they vote whatever way they are told. We really need term limits and get rid of the pensions they get after serving only (one) term. Nice deal, 2 years to get a pension most of us work our whole lives for. Talk about waste. A poor man can’t even run, no matter how well educated he is. That is also a shame.
I’m willing to work harder and pay more taxes if Washington in turn cuts to the bone also. I think at the point we are at now we have lost control of the ship. It doesn’t matter what party we vote for if they are crooks. A few rich elites make all the decisions. The president has no power without the House and Senate so voting for the Tea Party can only be an improvement. Would we have ever gotten rid of slavery without a war within our own country? It may come to that and if that is what it will take I’m ready to do what I can to save my country. Money is the root of all this evil so if we could make being part of government a volunteer job without pay I think things would turn around. I’m kidding. It would never happen.
The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over expecting different results. Our government does not work anymore as it was designed to. So do we stay on the crazy train or do we try something new? They have been baffling us with BS for years so why not shake things up a bit. So if no one is telling the truth how do you vote? For continuing decline vote for the people in right now. If nothing changes, nothing changes.
I understand it will takes decades to pay off the debt but if we keep spending the way we are now we can’t sustain our nation that long. How many billions do we owe? At what interest rate? Yes, it is going to hurt but we must shoulder the burden and insure this will not happen again. We have to get rid of whomever owns our government. No easy task I’m sure. No one wants to pay more then their fair share or have the ability to but the scare tactics about the Tea Party don’t wash. As if they can possibly make things any worse? :smack:
I personally would get rid of the useless government programs like The UN and the FBI, CAIR, Homeland Security, etc. I would also get out of this war we can never win. Right there your talking billions we waste on these useless arms of government. We can’t make Arabs play nice now or ever. They are bred like rabbits to fight and if it is not us they will fight with each other. They live on hatred of people with different beliefs. We don’t need the oil that bad. This whole surveillance project is so top secret that the FBI showed a known Hamas OP on a guided tour of our newest top security facilities. It is so top heavy an organization it needs to be streamlined so we can actually catch the terrorists, not invite them in for tours. How many near misses will it take before we get it organized? This is something totally separate from Homeland Security which couldn’t catch a child with his hand in the cookie jar. I wonder why the FBI would take Arabs on a tour of our most top secret new cyber counter intelligence agency? That does not compute either? I’m not making this up!It is on Acts website.
We need some good men and women right now that will put their lives on the line to try and take back some power in Washington. They may take a bullet but a true statesman will lay down his life for his country.
I don’t think that the poor and welfare types will be anymore likely to vote for the Tea Party then they did for Obama. Special interest groups will always vote for what is in their best interest. Unless you meant that the rich will vote to keep themselves rich? That is a no brainer. I can’t fault one for voting for their own preferences. We need to get back to a two party system that works or overhaul it completely and quit playing parlor games.
I guess my question back at you is do we just stay the course or shake things up a bit? Are you happy with things the way they are now? This is your future at stake. I wish some of you young people had the experience of seeing a real working government like I have. I feel it is a privilege to vote and also my civic duty. I was so disappointed that we only had a 35 percent turn out for the primaries in my state. This is so important for the state you live in to get out and vote for your Governor and House and Senate reps. I did a lot of homework and on each and every candidate online. They all lie and they are rich but who has a proven track record of being conservative is what I was after. Have they done anything illegal? Do they have ties to terrorism or the socialist party? Do they pay their taxes? Anyone who doesn’t pay their taxes should not be representing anyone that does.
History has a way of repeating itself. We left England to get away from what? So why are we going to bring back what does not work? Does anyone remember the original Boston Tea Party and what it was for? Slavery did not work either and we had to have a civil war to free the slaves. Now we are becoming the slaves again. We can fix this if we all do something about it now. It’s hard to fix a problem with the same people that created it so we need to clean out Washington by voting the crooks out.
Overhauling the government is more important then overhauling health care. That was a diversion. It sure made us forget about more important things while they were bailing out Wall Street. Health care reform isn’t even going to factor into cutting the deficit until it is is enacted. Let us not forget to vote on November 2nd for some fresh faces that could possibly stop the spending. Don’t listen to propaganda polls or how good they sound and look. If they say, “change and hope” don’t believe it. Do your own homework on the candidates track records and how they vote online. I get email updates every time my elected officials vote and how they voted on what bill. This is how you find out who is a crony. The app for this is at the “Act For America’” web site. You would be stunned at how some of them vote. I was.
I am glad we have The Tea Party. In my town we have people that go to the town meetings and tell off the mayor if he wants to spend 200,000 on a lighting survey. They keep our towns spending and taxes in check. We need that same dynamic with the government.
I play racketball with a guy who says Bush will go down as one of the greatest presidents of all time. He thinks Fox is the News station, all the others are left wing propaganda machines. He thinks Obama is a socialist and was born in Kenya. I delete all his emails.
I may live in the Bible Belt, but I honestly have never even met a Tea Partier. I’ve met people who had similar views before the Tea Party started, but no one who actually joined the party. All the people I know that like political rallies are quite liberal (and atheists). The best we get is a few people lining the street over the abortion issue. (Heck, that’s the only reason any of the Republicans I know are Republicans. A grass roots pro-life liberal group would probably do rather well here, if they can avoid the L word.)
That said, the political cartoons in my newspaper seem to be quite Tea Party-esque.
I noticed this about the GOP & “conservatives” before the Tea Party label was concocted.
I know lots of people who would vote for Sarah Palin, & were really disappointed John McCain didn’t win, like Obama’s efforts are meaningless. They’d presumably vote for Tea Party candidates, because Tea Party is pretty much a rebranding of “conservative Republican.” But I don’t know how much the Tea Party label is taken seriously around here. When conservative Pubbies have been in charge for decades, it’s hard to buy into the idea that the Tea Party is a constructive force for change.
Couldn’t vote as you forgot “Other” and “Not sure, but probably”.
My older brother is a die-hard Republican.
He firmly believes the government should never be involved with your personal life, and spends money frivolously.
He hates “Obamacare” but can hardly wait until he gets Medicare (in about 10 months).
Actually, the only reason he is still working (part time) is because he has no health insurance. This is because he has a pre-existing condition that, up to now (prior to “Obamacare”) made it impossible for him to find insurance.
He doesn’t want the government to have anything to do with his health care…but once again, can hardly wait for Medicare to kick in and intends to quit his job that very day.
He is already on Social Security - apparently another non-government run benefit?
He seriously thinks Sarah Palin was chosen to run for VP based on her stellar qualifications and education.
Let’s just say I have a sneaking suspicion he might have a few tea bags clogging his brain, but he has never admitted the fact.