The Tea Party: Analysis Of What Makes Them Tick! Not A Pretty Picture! :(
A New York Times/ CBS News poll last week examined the issue of what makes the Tea Party backers tick, what motivates them, and who they really are. It is all very revealing!
The poll shows that the Tea Party has 18 percent of the people behind them. It depicts them as more likely to be wealthier and well educated than the general public, and are very likely to be white, male, married and Republican. They are also older and define themselves as very conservative, and see Barack Obama as very liberal.
More than half feel Obama is more concerned about the poor than about them when it comes to policy making, and one out of four think that the administration favors blacks over whites.
The Tea Party people resent the Health Care overhaul and increased government spending, and think by overwhelming numbers that Obama is a Socialist, and do not like the President on a personal level. Many believe, wrongly, that he has increased taxes for most Americans.
And more than half hold a favorable opinion of President George W. Bush, and blame Congress for what has happened in the past two years.
They have the view that programs should be cut, by getting rid of "waste", meaning those who are poor and deprived being supported by various social programs. But don't dare cut Social Security and Medicare, while cutting spending and lowering taxes!
When one analyzes this poll date, it is obvious who the Tea Party people are. They are angry, white, upper middle and upper class people, who don't like the fact that the country is changing so rapidly with growing minority groups, and they don't want taxes to go up, but also don't want their programs that benefit them to go down.
They are conservative and Republican in orientation, who have troubles dealing with a Democratic administration, which is led by an African American President, an African American Attorney General (Eric Holder), and has a Latina Supreme Court Justice (Sonia Sotomayor). They would be the first to applaud the new Arizona immigration law, failing to see it as what it is--a racist, discriminatory law, not all that different than African Americans faced in the South for more than a century until the Civil Rights laws were finally passed and enforced in the 1960s.
The Tea Party people want an America which is no longer that of their youth, and have trouble adjusting to rapid change. And they are certainly self centered and selfish, only concerned about "ME" rather than "WE", the good of the nation at large! They would claim they are patriotic, but they are far from it, as they see the advancement of the nation only in the sense as to how they avoid taxation and have the least responsibility to their fellow men and women! And yet, many would claim to be "religious"--a mockery of the true meaning of having faith! 
Obama, Wall Street Regulations, And Mitch McConnell
One would think the collapse of the economy in the Fall of 2008 would motivate everyone in Congress to promote strict regulations of Wall Street, so that what happened can never occur again!
It was lack of regulation that allowed the Wall Street abuses to happen, but apparently that does not affect the Republican opposition, most of whom seem dedicated to prevention of any real regulatory reform!
Well known as friends of Wall Street, they now are trying to play a shell game, and claim that all bailouts must be prevented in the future, when many of them backed the original bailout that took place under President Bush!
Despite Tea Party protests, it is a fact that the so called "bailout" saved the country from a worse economic downturn, and much of the bailout money has been paid back by the banks, insurance companies, and auto companies, and the rest will be paid back.
Would it have been better to do nothing, and let the economy slip into a total depression? Why is it that now when it is urgent that reform be accomplished, suddenly the GOP is acting like an innocent child, as if they had nothing to do with the lack of regulation during the Bush era?
It is good to see President Obama declare that, just like with the Health Care legislation, he will not allow GOP intransigence to stand in the way of essential reform! It is time for action, no matter what Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, or anyone else does to block reform! It has been the height of hypocrisy for McConnell to attack the legislation, when he is well known for being close to Wall Street financiers! What a disgrace!
Obama And The Nuclear Security Summit
President Obama accomplished a great agreement at a Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington, DC last week.
47 nations agreed to track down all nuclear material over the next four years, and the goal of the meeting, a gathering of more nations than at any time since World War II, was to work together to promote the eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons.
This comes on top of the Russian-US agreement to cut nuclear arsenals by one third, with verification means to insure that both sides keep the agreement.
What Obama did this past week is the fulfillment of what, ironically, President Ronald Reagan promoted as a goal, when he made arms agreements with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
This is something, therefore, that all should embrace, but instead, predictably, conservatives and Republicans are forgetting what Reagan enunciated in his second term in office, and already promise a battle over the strategic arms reduction treaty (START) when it comes to the Senate.
This will happen, despite the fact that Republicans from earlier administrations have spoken up in favor of the treaty and the move toward nuclear security. But rather than unite around the danger of nuclear proliferation and attempt to promote progress on this, the opposition would rather use it as a political issue, so the treaty will incite a new struggle!
The Difference Between Democrats And Republicans On Scandal
It is disgraceful when either Democrats or Republicans get involved in scandal, but there is one major difference: their reaction to it, at least in many cases.
Eliot Spitzer, Jim McGreevey, and Charles Rangel all resigned or stepped down from their position of authority (Rangel). While David Paterson has not done so yet, it is clear he will be forced to very soon.
On the other hand, Larry Craig, David Vitter, Mark Sanford, and John Ensign refused to resign, and decided to "tough" it out, no matter how embarrassing to their party, and all but Craig are still in office, showing no shame.
Of course, it might be said that what is the real difference, since all of the above individuals have been involved in activities that should never have happened.
But at least the Democrats have not gone around touting their "family values" and "high moral principles" and then showing themselves as the hypocrites that Republicans regularly have been!
As a person who believes in total disclosure and promotion of truth, of course, it must be mentioned that Democrats John Edwards and Rod Blagojevich are in a separate class--despicable, and unwilling to come clean by their own confessions.
But at the end, whether revealed or confessed or not, all of the above and those others who are involved in scandal in both parties need to be condemned for their behavior, as having failed to uphold their oath of office!
American Politics In Crisis: No One Is Trusted Or Believed!
The problem of our political system is that whether Democrat or Republican, we have reached the stage where events and behavior makes most Americans lack trust or belief in any politician, and that is indeed sad!
Between the dalliances of Republicans like John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Larry Craig, David Vitter, Mark Foley and others, and that of Democrats like Eliot Spitzer, Jim McGreevey, John Edwards, Eric Massa, and yes Bill Clinton sadly along with others, most Americans have a very low opinion of the morals of our leaders.
Add to that the financial or other behavioral irregularities of such political leaders as Charles Rangel, David Paterson, Rod Blagojevich and others on the Democratic side and Bob Taft, Joe Wilson, Marco Rubio and others on the Republican side, and you get total cynicism by vast numbers of Americans!
Politics has become an industry where winning power is the only important thing, even though stalemate and gridlock is the constant result after elections. Negativism and character assassination is the norm, and radio talk shows, cable news, internet blogs, and political activists are only interested in confrontation, rather than compromise!
The sense of a common bond and a bright future are being lost, and yet there is no real alternative except to "throw out the rascals" and replace them with new leaders, who unfortunately will be likely to follow the same pattern, due to the overwhelming influence of lobbyists and pressure groups that care not a whit for anything but their own selfish interests!
And we live in a country which is oriented toward cutting taxes but keeping spending at the same or greater rate, but no one has yet figured out how to keep services such as education, hospitals, social workers, police, firefighters, paramedics, higher education, prisons, road, and other public needs met by cutting taxes. We live in an unreal world in which somehow we want and need the services, but want OTHERS to pay for them! The answer, unfortunately, is that we face the greatest cuts in public services since the Great Depression until we understand that the only way to meet public demand is to pay MORE taxes!
This is what the conservatives and the Tea Party Movement do not understand! Either more taxes are essential, or crippling cuts in public services that no one wants will have to occur! The age of constant cutting of taxes is nearing an end, whether we like it or not!
But will the American people ever again trust anyone who leads us? That is the question of the present and the future, and the likelihood is that the answer is NO!