What I've Learned from the Tea Party

I am not a big fan of the Tea Party movement. I am not shy about that. After keeping an eye on the events, going to the 9/12 march in DC myself, I see it as nothing more than the grassroots and sometimes AstroTurf segment of the radical wing of the Republican Party. What started off as a halfhearted rebellion against government corruption has slowly merged with the GOP to become part of the party’s enraged fight to gain back control of the government.

This is not to say I haven’t learned anything from watching the Tea Party. In reality their antics and efforts to “win back their country” has made me that much more liberal. They haven’t inspired me to fight for a conservative resurgence. They haven’t convinced me to rail against the Obama administration. All it did was make me realize this country has a lot of people in it that have absolutely lost their minds.

So here are three things the Tea Party has taught me.

Ignorance is sometimes worn with pride.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Or, in the Tea Party’s case–more like the people feeding news to the Tea Party–make up a bunch of crazy lies and spread them like wild fire. You can’t blame the people feeding off of these lies. Their news source of choice is Fox News, and everyone but Fox News fans know it’s a load of crap. How do you go about indoctrinating your viewership to ensure their allegiance is to your station and your station only?

Talk about how evil the liberal media is over and over again ignoring the fact you yourself are part of the mainstream media.
Treat every segment like it’s a political stump speech.
Leave out any facts that disprove your point.
Only invite guests with opposing views that aren’t as smart as your hosts.
Or put them on O’Reilly so they can be shouted down.
Find an alcoholic with crazy conspiracy ideas that can feed off the racial tensions affecting the nation after electing its first black president.
When covering a rally that isn’t as big as you’d like, doctor the footage.
In the same vain, when attacking a person or an organization and you need more damning evidence, doctor the footage.
Misreport polls.
Cry, a lot.
I think I made my point. The problem is that these people are so dedicated to Fox News–a news organization that regularly twists facts to cater to their agenda–that they are unwilling to watch or listen to any other source. A source that may point out the listed facts above. Chances are they aren’t reading Liberty Den either.

With a sense of pride the Tea Party crowd boasts the propaganda and hate speech given to them by Fox News and its personalities. They then take to the streets with these lies, carry signs that make them look insane to informed Americans and proceed to think they are reaching out to more people. Maybe they are recruiting more ignorant individuals and stoking the fires but they are not reaching out to anyone but themselves. Fine, they are free to do that, I just wouldn’t want to be them.

Fear is a very powerful tool.

Hope may have won in the election of Barack Obama but fear is winning with the Tea Party. Fear of loosing their guns, fear of losing their freedoms, fear of billionaires that take advantage of them and give them poor wages losing their money and every other crazy conspiracy theory. The beauty of fear is that the message does not have to be factual. It only needs to make sense to the person it is targeting.

While it can be argued that not all Tea Party activists are racist it cannot be denied that race is playing a large factor in their anger. I would argue that President Obama is not much more liberal in the majority of his policy decisions than George W. Bush was. The big difference is the message Obama carries. Bush preached like a conservative but governed like a neoconservative. While the Republican Party rails against socialism they held ever so tightly to tax cuts for the rich–socialism for the rich.

What else would drive people to go insane over a president that is making policies that benefit them? Does a person normally look at something that benefits them and decide to vow opposition to it? What would make a middle class American stand so firmly against a president that gave them tax cuts, pushed for more affordable health care and is continuing the wars their president loved so much? Could it be his skin color? His political affiliation? Fox News? All of the above?

With the power of Fox News and the power of fear it is very easy to spread lies such as death panels, Obama taking away our guns, insinuating the census will be used to round up white people and a whatever WorldNetDaily is ranting about this week.

Progress is really hard for some people.

Maybe it’s not fair that some white people are being forced to live under a black president. Maybe the idea that we as a country are trying to evolve into a nation that does not put corporations first is not fair to people living under corporate owned America. It’s not fair that women are allowed to vote and are fighting for equal wages in the work place. That blacks were allowed to use the same water fountains and are being treated the same as whites in most regards. It’s definitely not fair that Mexicans are trying to take advantage of a country Americans always owned outright. It’s also very hard to force people to treat homosexuals as equals too. Wanting to get married and what not. Finally, it’s definitely not fair that a democratically elected government is doing what they were elected to do. That’s just a low blow.

But really, progress is hard for the hard headed. Why should we stop health insurance companies from screwing us over? Why should we let gays destroy our perfect marriage institution that has a divorce rate of about %50? It’s easy to hold onto what you already have. If you are comfortable with what you have why should things change to benefit someone else? This is my America! Not their America! Right?

I will wait with much excitement for the elections later this year and in 2012. Why? Because I want to see how much of an affect these tactics have on America. Has hope been killed off by fear? What will win? Love? Or hate? Will we decide to take a few steps back because a news organization and the political organizations they serve created bad enough fantasies to force us to fear progress? Or will we take larger steps in the right direction and re-elect President Obama? Will Americans finally come first? Or will we yet again take a back seat to the plutocrats that have such a strong grip over our nation?
I am not a big fan of the Tea Party movement. I am not shy about that. After keeping an eye on the events, going to the 9/12 march in DC myself, I see it as nothing more than the grassroots and sometimes AstroTurf segment of the radical wing of the Republican Party. What started off as a halfhearted rebellion against government corruption has slowly merged with the GOP to become part of the party’s enraged fight to gain back control of the government.

This is not to say I haven’t learned anything from watching the Tea Party. In reality their antics and efforts to “win back their country” has made me that much more liberal. They haven’t inspired me to fight for a conservative resurgence. They haven’t convinced me to rail against the Obama administration. All it did was make me realize this country has a lot of people in it that have absolutely lost their minds.

So here are three things the Tea Party has taught me.



Ignorance is sometimes worn with pride.

If you can’t beat them, join them. Or, in the Tea Party’s case–more like the people feeding news to the Tea Party–make up a bunch of crazy lies and spread them like wild fire. You can’t blame the people feeding off of these lies. Their news source of choice is Fox News, and everyone but Fox News fans know it’s a load of crap. How do you go about indoctrinating your viewership to ensure their allegiance is to your station and your station only?

Talk about how evil the liberal media is over and over again ignoring the fact you yourself are part of the mainstream media.
Treat every segment like it’s a political stump speech.
Leave out any facts that disprove your point.
Only invite guests with opposing views that aren’t as smart as your hosts.
Or put them on O’Reilly so they can be shouted down.
Find an alcoholic with crazy conspiracy ideas that can feed off the racial tensions affecting the nation after electing its first black president.
When covering a rally that isn’t as big as you’d like, doctor the footage.
In the same vain, when attacking a person or an organization and you need more damning evidence, doctor the footage.
Misreport polls.
Cry, a lot.
I think I made my point. The problem is that these people are so dedicated to Fox News–a news organization that regularly twists facts to cater to their agenda–that they are unwilling to watch or listen to any other source. A source that may point out the listed facts above. Chances are they aren’t reading Liberty Den either.

With a sense of pride the Tea Party crowd boasts the propaganda and hate speech given to them by Fox News and its personalities. They then take to the streets with these lies, carry signs that make them look insane to informed Americans and proceed to think they are reaching out to more people. Maybe they are recruiting more ignorant individuals and stoking the fires but they are not reaching out to anyone but themselves. Fine, they are free to do that, I just wouldn’t want to be them.

Fear is a very powerful tool.

Hope may have won in the election of Barack Obama but fear is winning with the Tea Party. Fear of loosing their guns, fear of losing their freedoms, fear of billionaires that take advantage of them and give them poor wages losing their money and every other crazy conspiracy theory. The beauty of fear is that the message does not have to be factual. It only needs to make sense to the person it is targeting.

While it can be argued that not all Tea Party activists are racist it cannot be denied that race is playing a large factor in their anger. I would argue that President Obama is not much more liberal in the majority of his policy decisions than George W. Bush was. The big difference is the message Obama carries. Bush preached like a conservative but governed like a neoconservative. While the Republican Party rails against socialism they held ever so tightly to tax cuts for the rich–socialism for the rich.

What else would drive people to go insane over a president that is making policies that benefit them? Does a person normally look at something that benefits them and decide to vow opposition to it? What would make a middle class American stand so firmly against a president that gave them tax cuts, pushed for more affordable health care and is continuing the wars their president loved so much? Could it be his skin color? His political affiliation? Fox News? All of the above?

With the power of Fox News and the power of fear it is very easy to spread lies such as death panels, Obama taking away our guns, insinuating the census will be used to round up white people and a whatever WorldNetDaily is ranting about this week.

Progress is really hard for some people.

Maybe it’s not fair that some white people are being forced to live under a black president. Maybe the idea that we as a country are trying to evolve into a nation that does not put corporations first is not fair to people living under corporate owned America. It’s not fair that women are allowed to vote and are fighting for equal wages in the work place. That blacks were allowed to use the same water fountains and are being treated the same as whites in most regards. It’s definitely not fair that Mexicans are trying to take advantage of a country Americans always owned outright. It’s also very hard to force people to treat homosexuals as equals too. Wanting to get married and what not. Finally, it’s definitely not fair that a democratically elected government is doing what they were elected to do. That’s just a low blow.

But really, progress is hard for the hard headed. Why should we stop health insurance companies from screwing us over? Why should we let gays destroy our perfect marriage institution that has a divorce rate of about %50? It’s easy to hold onto what you already have. If you are comfortable with what you have why should things change to benefit someone else? This is my America! Not their America! Right?

I will wait with much excitement for the elections later this year and in 2012. Why? Because I want to see how much of an affect these tactics have on America. Has hope been killed off by fear? What will win? Love? Or hate? Will we decide to take a few steps back because a news organization and the political organizations they serve created bad enough fantasies to force us to fear progress? Or will we take larger steps in the right direction and re-elect President Obama? Will Americans finally come first? Or will we yet again take a back seat to the plutocrats that have such a strong grip over our nation?

by Patrick Britton