The ME Party

Maybe it’s a morbid curiosity sharpened by the Facebook generation. Going online to see how the people we don’t like… and probably wouldn’t give two minutes of our day to in real life… pass the time. That’s how I’ve broken up my post Banned in Boston afternoon, looking at photos of the rally on Boston Common today.

It’s curiosity… and there is a small, I admit significantly minor, interest in discovering empathy. Obviously, these people are on my turf and local enough to make a day of Sarah Palin navel gazing. So, we have some common ground… even if it is just the ground. I get that the economy is still in the crapper. Young men and women are DYING on a daily basis in the interest of preserving… something in the Middle East. People don’t have jobs. And that really hurts. We’re angry. We’re all angry. We just direct our rage at different people.

So I try to understand the message of this tea party. By looking at photos. Not reading the captions or listening to the commentary of a pundit. See what I can see without being there to see for myself first hand. So, I see that anger. This anger that the government is spending money when… we don’t have money. That the government should be cutting taxes, not raising them. That health care for all is a step towards that form of extremist government, socialism. Or, as some others in the crowd, allege, Marxism. Communism. Hedonism. Am I forgetting one? No. Not going to get off track with sarcasm. It’s taxes. Jobs. Healthcare. And the government is choosing the wrong solution to these problems… if I get this right. Right?

Now I suppose some of my arguments are subject to interpretation… but last time I checked, I got a tax CUT last year. It wasn’t much. But it was more in my paycheck as opposed to less when talking about government deductions. I’ve already said before that health insurance is a different story… but I’m pretty sure I can’t argue with the tea party on the health care debate. Obviously the panic about death panels shows that side doesn’t want people to die – well not grannies and fetuses. But… unemployed Cancer victims… I don’t know. I guess that it isn’t about wanting people to die, in truth. It’s just about not wanting to pay for someone else (who isn’t a beloved family member or fetus) to live.

Jobs… well, one thing I do slightly remember from an economics class is that it takes a while for the economy to get off its knees and start hiring again. Especially when health insurance premiums cripple a budget… but, I'm pretty sure there was a whole lot of stimulus money giving people the chance to go help build a road, repair a bridge, teach in a school, patrol a neighborhood… but, hm, their paychecks come from the government. So those jobs, well, guess those jobs just don’t count. And, oh, should be eliminated.

Slipped into sarcasm again. I know that’s not fair. This isn’t a balanced blog. I try. I really do try, readers, to wrap my brain around a different side… but honestly… I look at the pictures of these tea party protesters and I think, man, I don’t think those people give a crap about anyone other than themselves. So why… why should I care about them? 

There is resentment towards the entitlement of government spending. That all these lazy, out of work, illegal slobs are going to line up to Washington DC and suck our wallets dry. Because we let them. Because Obama is Hitler. Um… seriously, if you know of an authenticated source where Hitler gave away money to undeserving underclasses, I’d be real curious to see that. 

Okay… off track again. So hard to stay focused looking at these signs. Really. ‘Don’t give away the USA.’ ‘I love Sarah Palin because she loves MY country. ‘ ‘Just want to keep the money I earn.’ Mmmmm. I don’t see a lot of signs that indicate a concern for people other than the ones holding them. Not a lot of Christian empathy for other poor, hungry, out of work, suffering – except fetuses. 

I don’t understand what this tea party stands for. I only know what they stand against. They call me a sheep because I like an intelligent orator as my president. Okay, I don’t deny, I always have a weakness for a guy who has a way with words… but, I’ve also gotten burned badly by poets so I take a fourth and fifth glance until I see through them. But I can tell you that I am with Obama and my liberal peeps because we are for a government that works for the people, by the people, and with the people. I waivered a little bit with our pres, but the man wants every ONE in this country to have equal access to a doctor. He wants to make our schools better. He wants to reduce the weapons that will destroy this earth. He wants to slow down our destruction of this earth. Yeah, he’s a smooth talking politician. But the guy gets stuff done. He spends money. He sure as hell does. On teachers and road repair = jobs. On fixing the hemorrhage of health care that will kill our economy. And on tax cuts.

I will stand by that even if it doesn’t directly help me or help anyone in my circle. And I don’t mind. Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just MY country. And this world, much though my Leonine ego fights it sometimes, isn’t just about me.