# Teabaggers mock man with Parkinson's **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 19, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009 "2010-03-19T14:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/61 "2010-03-19T18:50:17Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > That’s all well and good, but don’t you think that people dragging their sorry asses out of bed and going to work for the benefit of everyone else five months a year, wich is where we are now, is “noblesse oblige” enough? That is a complete and total misrepresentation. Even if 5 months of the year represents the amount of time worked to pay taxes (and my overall rate is significantly lower than that, despite being a high earner) that tax money does not go solely towards the benefit of everyone else. Much of it goes to programs the payer either benefits from now or later, such as SS or Medicare. Other amounts go to defense, law and order, the environment etc which again are not payments for others, but instead payments for ourselves and others. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/62 "2010-03-19T18:54:25Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Actually, I’m probably one of those your “Robin Hood” would be taking from, as I’m upper middle class. I look at it as a kind of nobless oblige. Those with wealth, power, or position have certain obiligations to the society (and therefore the people) in return for this “privileged life”. It’s not new, it’s a very old concept. As am I, and I also think that it’s an obligation to help those who haven’t been as fortunate as I. Perhaps **Starving Artist** might want to rethink his reasoning. The odds are fairly good that I make more than he does, so assuming that the only reason anyone would think differently from him is that they want a “handout” is remarkably… well, stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/63 "2010-03-19T19:03:31Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > **Bricker** , esq: ". . . as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” - Matthew 25:40 Man, I wish Bricker was right about Jesus, because I’d love to see the expression on Bricker’s face when Jesus kicks his sorry selfish ass into hell. “Didn’t you pay attention to anything I said, you schmuck!” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/64 "2010-03-19T19:11:10Z")
Not so much that they themselves want a handout but that those who aren’t wanting handouts for themselves still want it for others, and for the reasons I described. Either they feel hopeless themselves, or they feel hopeless for someone else on their behalf. And when I talk about working five months a year for the government, I mean just that. Yes, some of that goes to roads and some to law enforcement and some to space exploration, but still all of that is going for the public good. So the amount we pay in taxes is money we contribute to society even if not every cent is going into social programs. And the five month period I said most of us work includes not only federal income tax, but Soc. Sec., Medicare and state income taxes. And of course then there’s exise tax, property tax, city sales tax and so forth. In fact I’d be surprised if most don’t pay more than fifty percent of their income in taxes in one form or another. And I’ve spent a considerable portion of my own money helping other people, some of whom were people that many other people wouldn’t consider derserving of it. I am far from a selfish person who doesn’t care about anyone else. But I still think that government redistribution of income is wrong, that being forced to help other people is wrong, and that the more that government pays for things, the more power it has over you. Remember when you were a child and your parents called all the shots? And why was that? It was because you had to depend on them and it was their money that was providing for your needs. Same thing now with government. If you let the government start providing for your needs, you’ll wind up with a new parent calling the shots, only you won’t ever get to actually see that parent, nor make any headway on getting it to change its mind, or following other than established procedures for dealing with your problems, or giving a shit about you as a person. It will be a parent that doesn’t know you, doesn’t care about you as a person, and whose main function is to get you even more dependent upon it so it can have an easier time making you do what it wants. Everyone hates dealing with customers and problems. Imagine how great it would be to be in control of your customers so that they have no choice but to do what you say and take what you tell them they can have. Simple and easy-peasy, huh? Well, that’s what drives government beaurocrats, and they get away with it because their customers (or children) have no choice. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/65 "2010-03-19T19:12:38Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Where we are now is a corporate feudalism where the many do all the work for the benfit of the very few. Even the paltry wages (which have stayed stagnant for decades in comparison with the larcenous incomes of the cororate execs) which the working classes receive mostly go right back into company store credit rackets. It’s all a scam. Your puppet mmasters on the radio tell you not to truse the governemnt, which you have control over, and even the ability to become part of, but you trust your coroprate overlords abjectly, even though they have no accountability at all, and which is (contrary to the “American Dream” mythos) pretty well closed to _entre nous_ by the working class. Yeesh. I regret every serious post I’ve ever directed at you in the apparently vain hope that you were a reasonable person with whom I could engage in discussion. It is now clear you are not. You are a complete muppet. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/66 "2010-03-19T19:15:50Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Yeesh. I regret every serious post I’ve ever directed at you in the apparently vain hope that you were a reasonable person with whom I could engage in discussion. It is now clear you are not. You are a complete muppet. His words ring far more true than your bullshit. _Perhaps it is you who are the muppet!_ ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/67 "2010-03-19T19:17:03Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Well, the work they did appears not to have beenall that valuable if its value was only sufficient for a payday to payday existence. In other words, anybody could be hired to do it. Get an education and develop valuable skills and you’ll make more money because you’ve made yourself more valuable. Doesn’t that presume that people’s pay will be exactly (or, at least, to within a reasonable margin) what it is worth to do that job? That people are being paid a certain amount doesn’t mean they have ipso facto worked to deserve that amount. And that there are unlimited higher paying jobs avaliable which are enough to counter whatever money is required to get said education? I mean, at the moment, there seems to be something of a surplus of trained, educated people seeking work, along with people in general. There’s no guarantee that improving yourself as a candidate improves your odds at getting an equivalent job to your ability level to a similar extent. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/68 "2010-03-19T19:31:43Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > His words ring far more true than your bullshit. _Perhaps it is you who are the muppet!_ Gentlemen, please. Two guys with fists up each other’s asses does not constitute a “muppet show.” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/69 "2010-03-19T19:34:01Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’m not doubting you at all, I think there are a lot of people that would take that deal and not regret it one bit. Hell, if I could opt out of my job’s union and give up all the “benefits” they’ve fought for for me, I’d do it in a second. > > However, I also believe that a lot of these teabagger assholes would bitch and moan the second they lost their job and didn’t get unemployment. I’d wager good money that most of them are whiny jackoffs and the ones who really do believe in standing on their own are a big minority. Maybe some of them would. In fact, given what I know of human nature, I think it’s a near-certainty that some of them would. But by the same token: _not all of them would_. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/70 "2010-03-19T19:39:32Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > 1. Liberals believe in self-reliance. Don’t be such a cartoon. What liberal policy suggests that this statement is true? > [@](#): > > 1. These people were mocking people who _can’t_ be self-reliant. What are we supposed to do with _those_ people, Christian? If you can point out the place where I endorsed or praised the mocking, please do so. The mocking was asinine. I was responding to “I have an idea. let’s cancel THEIR social security, THEIR medicare, and THEIR unemployment…” which was asinine as well, although in fairness not nearly AS asinine. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/71 "2010-03-19T19:41:27Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > **Bricker** , are you seriously proposing that Social Security be ended completely, and all those people reliant on it should just be abandoned? Is that how you people really think? > [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > No, he’s not proposing that. He’s saying he’d like it to be an _optional_ program, and that anyone opting out now would be ineligable for benefits even if they’ve paid in previously. As I explained in my previous post, I don’t agree with this view, but it’s not nearly as disagreeable as you’re suggesting. (In fact, there’s a factor in Bricker’s proposal that redeems it somewhat - since the money he’s already put into the system would stay there, in the short term the withdrawal of him and people of like mind might not cause too great a budgetary shortfall. Eventually, of course, programs like SSI would draw the surplus down, so it’s still a bad proposal.) **Mr. Excellent** ’s assessment of my proposal is correct. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/72 "2010-03-19T19:41:41Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > What liberal policy suggests that this statement is true? Opposing the repeal of inheritance tax. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/73 "2010-03-19T19:42:34Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Bricker might as well be that guy with the dollar bills. Angry, arrogant and utterly unthinking. Everyone who has less than him has worked less. Everyone who is in trouble is stupid and self destructive. He doesn’t realize that his life is dependent on socialistic programs every single day. > > Take a good look at the douchebags at that protest. Those people are who these tea-party morons are. Anger, fear and willful ignorance are the pillars of their church. Of course. Like all conservatives, we’re just bad people. I know, I know. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/74 "2010-03-19T19:44:22Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > That’s all well and good, but don’t you think that people dragging their sorry asses out of bed and going to work for the benefit of everyone else five months a year, wich is where we are now, is “noblesse oblige” enough? I have to drag my ass out of bed anyway, and I have to pay taxes anyway, so why not divert the money to something I think is good? I already pay for a lot of things - roads, military power, a court system, police deaprtment/FBI/Marshall/etc, FDA, BATF, welfare, social security, medicare, a lot of things. In an indirect way, I’m also paying for tax breaks, tariffs, and concessions made to businesses, and the salaries of auditors who watch those businesses. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Facts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@The\_Facts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Facts)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/75 "2010-03-19T19:46:05Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > …and throw dollar bills at him. > > Stay classy, assholes. > > [http://gawker.com/5495880/tea-partiers-know-the-founders-didnt-intend-for-anyone-to-be-nice-to-sick-people](http://gawker.com/5495880/tea-partiers-know-the-founders-didnt-intend-for-anyone-to-be-nice-to-sick-people) These people should be murdered. Send them to Guantanamo and waterboard them to death, ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/76 "2010-03-19T19:49:53Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Of course. Like all conservatives, we’re just bad people. I know, I know. No. \*You \*are a bad person. A lying, worthless hypocrite who holds the bible in one hand will flicking off the poor with another. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/77 "2010-03-19T19:57:02Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > What liberal policy suggests that this statement is true? What liberal policy contradicts it? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/78 "2010-03-19T20:05:23Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > **Bricker** , esq: ". . . as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” - Matthew 25:40 Ah, yes. You’ve convinced me. Our public policy must be based on Jesus’ teachings. I see that now. I was wrong to deny UHC. Um, just curious. What other changes are we making, with this new policy? I assume the First Amendment is in for an overhaul, for instance. Or… surely you didn’t mean that we should adopt Jesus’ teachings only on this one tiny point? Cause that would be kinda dishonest. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/79 "2010-03-19T20:05:42Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Sounds good to me. > > But there’s one problem with your “argument.” People currently collecting social security or on Medicare have been promised for decades that those progerams would be available for them and have paid into the system. Therefore, taking those programs away is a lot different than just not passing this healthcare reform bill. > > Although I want SS and M to go away, I believe that they would have to be phased out so that people were able to make decisions about their retirement with full knowledge that these programs were not available. All or nothing. If they get a full refund, oh well, but no guarantees ( and no interest, or cost of living/inflation factored in) - after all, a guarantee would be sucking on the public teat, wouldn’t it? Besides, as you yourself like to say, they will be in a bad spot because they made bad decisions (so let them rot). ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009/80 "2010-03-19T20:06:59Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > No. \*You \*are a bad person. A lying, worthless hypocrite who holds the bible in one hand will flicking off the poor with another. My gosh, such vitriol. And from someone who is too stupid to comprehend the meaning of the word “hypocrite?” Yeah, I think I’ll lose not one jot of sleep worrying over your opinion, you brain-dead assmunch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teabaggers-mock-man-with-parkinsons/533009.md?page=5)