73 replies to this topic

[Stryker11487]

We have to teach it to all. There are plenty of (truly) militant left wing organizations. If the focus of blame is set on a single group of people, how is that different than the treatment of the Jews during the holocaust? Or the treatment of any group based upon race or religion...?

Practice love and preach peace and freedom of speech to all.

I love all of you... I'm done spreading my philosophies for the night. Take care, though.

Hrmm I don't believe it's something to be taught to everyone but rather learned by everyone... There is no one group to blame for say... racism but then again the Holocaust didn't involve just Jews...=/

The treatment of others should in theory be equality or to follow "the golden rule" that we all learned about as children through school... or at least that's what they taught us in kindergarten.

However, stereotypes or profiles do occur when a majority of say a religious body or racial group (to use your examples as listed above) tend to appreciate certain specific things... I'm not justifying it by any means but characteristics and profiling is caused by normal every day action not even extreme action... Ask any bartender or server... You always make a judgement on the guests you're serving not because you are anything more than deciding whether or not they're going to tip based off of how they walk, talk, what clothes they wear etc... Yes, there are exception to the rules but for the most part the profiles tend to work relatively well and you set your expectations higher or lower based on that profile... Again not saying it's justified but that it naturally occurs... And you can't teach non-judgement that is a characteristic some are born with, some learn from life experiences, and others never understand and always judge... It's impossible to change humanity as whole in regards to how people think or believe or rationalize things =/

I can say this though I do agree that war should be calmed down as I don't believe it's a primary, secondary, or even tertiary option... War has been around since the start of mankind and will not go away till the end of it... =/

Lastly, I've lived in Texas my almost my entire life Houston and New York City to be exact...I can tell you this much Cody, if you sir have never found a piece of racism or heard it I assure you it exists in both major cities and in the suburbs... Jasper is not that far outside of Houston and I don't need to remind you what happened to that poor teen years ago nor do I need to post images of the billboards saying slurs about not just race but religion. Texas is by no means a mean or rude or racist or rough state people are opinionated everywhere some strong than others and like I said previously we can't change how humanity thinks we may have all been created equal but we sure don't all think equally... Your morals are not mine and mine are not yours... =/

[iargue]

Cody.

You cannot fight someone who hates your policy without knowing what your policy is. .


When my choices are to support a government that lets people do this, and get away with it



or side with people because they hate the government as much as I do.



The tea party stands for something that you as a person should stand for. When a government turns as corrupt as ours is, someone should say something. Everyone should say something. Yes. The Racists people. Yes, the stupid people. Yes, the smart people. They should all be voicing their problems.

[luvsmyncis]

The tea party stands for something that you as a person should stand for. When a government turns as corrupt as ours is, someone should say something. Everyone should say something. Yes. The Racists people. Yes, the stupid people. Yes, the smart people. They should all be voicing their problems.

I'd prefer it if the stupid people would sit down, shut up, start taking birth control, stop spending money on things they can't afford, and try to remember our government was fucking us long before Obama was voted into office.

[stellanox]

lol i was thinking of the other meaning of teabaggers when I clicked on this topic

[Stryker11487]

I'd prefer it if the stupid people would sit down, shut up, start taking birth control, stop spending money on things they can't afford, and try to remember our government was fucking us long before Obama was voted into office.

Can I have your babies... I love you...

[Warriors]

I like how government automatically became corrupt a month after "Obummer the Nazi Indonesian Muslim born not US born" President took over...This mess we are in is not because of him, look to your own leadership and look how Bush butt fucked America...Granted Bill Clinton wasn't a great President, but he was decent. We actually had a surplus...and now deficit...


Plus, I dont think the media is really helping the Tea Party Movement haha...Stupid faux news...

Signed by a Tea Party Patriot, supposedly.

Spoiler

"This makes me MAD AS HELL. This is more reason to IMPEACH Obama for the crimes against humanaty he is comiting against WHITES. It makes me even more MAD the fact that I am paying those tribal Africans a HUGE chunk of my pay for their WELFARE CHECKS. If these blacks dont shape up, I say send them all to Obama's birthplace, Kenya where they can die of aids like all the other head hunting black African canibul tribes.

NO MORE OBAMA
NO MORE BLACK WELFARE
NO MORE AFRMATUVE ACTION
NO MORE AFRICAN FOREIGNER AIDE"

Edited by Warriors, 20 July 2010 - 09:25 AM.

[Mr. Hobo]

Let's see

Pros:
Against bail-out
Against illegal immigration
Simplify taxes

Cons:
Anti-healhcare (though I can't really blame them for that considering how poorly the average American takes care of him/herself)
Make the Bush tax cuts permanent
Pro-republican party


The way I see it, if you're white and make more than $70k a year you should be pro-republican, otherwise you should be a democrat. I think you're letting the media bias you and are villainizing them because they don't share your views

[westbigballin]

most americans are retarded. pretty much 99% of tea party protestors and us government csar protestors have no idea what theyre protesting against

i am disaappointed in americans, and i am an american myself

then again, hawaii is radically different from mainland USA

[redlion]

I disagree with the entire Tea Party social agenda. Pretty self explanatory.

However, I agree with their position that fiscal responsibility is necessary. I just have different priorities on what needs to be cut. Cutting social programs is no way to improve the overall wealth of our nation, just like tax cuts for the rich will never trickle down. What we should be doing is radically sliming our military down to size, and spending that portion of the budget to subsidize college education for deserving students. Maybe help some single moms out with free daycare. Maybe get health care for single parents, children under ten, hell, children under 18. Things that will lessen the burden on everyone.

It's not our social programs that are out of control, it's the military industrial complex.

And that's how I draw the line. Some people are for guns, both in the home and government owned, and other people are against them. Personally I'd prefer soft power and diplomacy to this asinine, adolescent war hawk persona that our nation has projected for the last hundred fifty years.

[Vivan]

These are the people who help form the "Americans are stupid" stereotype. I've never met one, and I never want to.

[Faval]

Funny stuff haha, these people should be glad they're in America. If they were in China, they'd be in prison for re education.

Edited by Faval, 24 July 2010 - 05:21 AM.

[lowellite]

I disagree with the entire Tea Party social agenda. Pretty self explanatory.

However, I agree with their position that fiscal responsibility is necessary. I just have different priorities on what needs to be cut. Cutting social programs is no way to improve the overall wealth of our nation, just like tax cuts for the rich will never trickle down. What we should be doing is radically sliming our military down to size, and spending that portion of the budget to subsidize college education for deserving students. Maybe help some single moms out with free daycare. Maybe get health care for single parents, children under ten, hell, children under 18. Things that will lessen the burden on everyone.

It's not our social programs that are out of control, it's the military industrial complex.

And that's how I draw the line. Some people are for guns, both in the home and government owned, and other people are against them. Personally I'd prefer soft power and diplomacy to this asinine, adolescent war hawk persona that our nation has projected for the last hundred fifty years.

I completely agree. The US military spending for last year was over $700 billion, about 20% of the federal budget. Surely this is a bit too much.

[lowellite]

I disagree with the entire Tea Party social agenda. Pretty self explanatory.

However, I agree with their position that fiscal responsibility is necessary. I just have different priorities on what needs to be cut. Cutting social programs is no way to improve the overall wealth of our nation, just like tax cuts for the rich will never trickle down. What we should be doing is radically sliming our military down to size, and spending that portion of the budget to subsidize college education for deserving students. Maybe help some single moms out with free daycare. Maybe get health care for single parents, children under ten, hell, children under 18. Things that will lessen the burden on everyone.

It's not our social programs that are out of control, it's the military industrial complex.

And that's how I draw the line. Some people are for guns, both in the home and government owned, and other people are against them. Personally I'd prefer soft power and diplomacy to this asinine, adolescent war hawk persona that our nation has projected for the last hundred fifty years.

I completely agree. The US military spending for last year was over $700 billion, about 20% of the federal budget. Surely this is a bit too much.

[Faval]

Well it's not like they can drastically cut the military funding. If they do, what will all the people in the army do for a living in an economy with rather high unemployment as is?

[Scot]

[EzioAuditore]

Sorry if this is grave-digging, but I just want to say that those people aren't a disgrace to America.

They are the party of people that want most of politics back to how they were when this country was founded, which sometimes includes racism.

The founding fathers were racist (slavery obviously) so does that make them a disgrace to America also?



P.S. I am not racist and I am not stating that I am a Tea Party advocate, just trying to bring light to another part of this debate.

Edited by EzioAuditore, 23 August 2010 - 07:01 PM.

[lowellite]

There's nothing wrong with respecting the views of the Founding Fathers, but the Tea Party's insistence on following an extremely literal interpretation of the Constitution (welfare not mentioned in the Constitution? Then welfare is unconstitutional) almost parallels the religious right's fundamentalist reading of the Bible. "Fortunately," the Constitution is only about two hundred years out of date...

[EzioAuditore]

There's nothing wrong with respecting the views of the Founding Fathers, but the Tea Party's insistence on following an extremely literal interpretation of the Constitution (welfare not mentioned in the Constitution? Then welfare is unconstitutional) almost parallels the religious right's fundamentalist reading of the Bible. "Fortunately," the Constitution is only about two hundred years out of date...

True, but the people that founded this country wanted those things for this country forever.

Yes, people do have a change of heart over time, and there are a lot of things commonly debated today that aren't in the constitution. There aren't any guidlines on how to reform immigration, so until that happens, a lot of people will be angry that it needs to happen, but people in the tea party would rather just close the borders first and then have reform.

There are so many things that are being debated right now that the founding fathers could have never imagined because of technology that I feel like there will be a revolution soon and people will split America into what America was founded on, and what people think America should be now.

[lowellite]

Sometimes I almost envy the UK's "unwritten constitution" (or so I heard, correct me if it's not actually unwritten). It sure makes reform a lot easier. Their system is not perfect, but still...

The problem faced by the US is that more conservative parties demand that everything must be in accordance with the Constitution and the Founders' intent. That's great and all, except that the Founders were a backwards bunch (by today's standards) who could never have imagined how technology and society would progress, as you pointed out. The only remedy to this is the amendment process. However, the Constitution is so difficult to amend that it is unrealistic to expect an amendment any time soon.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), there probably won't be a revolution. Instead, the conservative faction's worship of the "original" Constitution and "traditional American values" will most likely gridlock the US government. The US will decline in power as a result, being unable to flexibly deal with new issues such as immigration, health care, etc..

[lowellite]

Fiscal responsibility is certainly important, but it seems that even before it was hijacked by the fringes of the GOP, the Tea Party wanted to accomplish this by cutting social programs, instead of tackling more glaring problems such as military spending. Of course, they also want to cut taxes as much as possible, which kind of defeats the purpose of fiscal discipline...

[lowellite]

I'm not sure exactly what Libertarians believe, since there is a lot of variation, but they seem to be a little extreme in their dislike of the government and faith in market forces. The few Libertarians I met think that the government should only handle basic services such as military, police, roads, etc.. Education is to be handled by the market, social services for the poor are to be left to non-government charities, and all government regulation of business should cease. While such a setup may initially look appealing, I'm not sure if it will ever work.

As for isolationism, I'm not sure if you're talking about economic isolationism as well. I thought Libertarians favor free trade and such?

[lowellite]

Thank you for such an informative explanation, Cody. Your posts are always very enjoyable to read.

Again, I'm no expert on what would happen if states had more power, but I think a heavily decentralized government also has its own share of problems? Recall the condition of the US when the Articles of Confederation were still in effect. Many interstate issues, such as tariff wars between states, emerged. In today's even more complex society, having such a patchwork of laws and regulations can lead to unforeseen effects. To name a few examples, if state A had no environmental regulations on business, while state B had heavy regulations, would a business based in state A be subject to the regulations of state B when doing business in state B? Also, if state A has no estate tax, can residents from states with an estate tax simply die in state A to avoid the estate tax? Even from my limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of room for abuse if different states can have whatever legislation they want while remaining one country.

And what's the point of staying together as a country, if the states can just do whatever they want with minimal interference from the federal government? Why not just create 50 countries all together?

There's also the question of what the basic federal powers should be. Should the federal government still have the power to tax, regulate businesses, enforce environmental regulations, etc.?

As for giving to social programs, I can understand why contributions are mandatory. Even though it makes moral sense to make contributions voluntary, the human cost is not worth it. After all, most humans are selfish and are unlikely to be willing to part with their money. If contribution were voluntary, income inequality would probably shoot through the roof and the poor may face conditions similar to that of Dickensian England. However, I do believe that the US welfare program is seriously flawed and needs immediate reform (which is unlikely to happen).

Fortunately, mandatory contributions do not mean that the government will take our entire paycheck in the future. The government is smart enough to realize that taking everyone's entire salary will clearly cause a decrease in revenue (possibly the only instance that the Laffer curve is correct...) and will be detrimental to long-term innovation and productivity. And don't forget, with the members of Congress so desperate to for reelection, it's unlikely that they would ever dare to champion such an insane piece of legislation.

[MsRose]

So....Teaparty members basically have conservative views? I'm confused on where they stand on issues. They are for less spending, against abortion, etc.?



This is also helpful. It's the Teaparty's political agenda as stated by The Contract of America

• Identify constitutionality of every new law: Require each bill to identify the specific provision of the Constitution that gives Congress the power to do what the bill does. (82.03%)
• Reject emissions trading: Stop the "cap and trade" administrative approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. (72.20%)
• Demand a balanced federal budget: Begin the Constitutional amendment process to require a balanced budget with a two-thirds majority needed for any tax modification. (69.69%)
• Simplify the tax system: Adopt a simple and fair single-rate tax system by scrapping the internal revenue code and replacing it with one that is no longer than 4,543 words – the length of the original Constitution. (64.9%)
• Audit federal government agencies for constitutionality: Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in an audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states or local authorities. (63.37%)
• Limit annual growth in federal spending: Impose a statutory cap limiting the annual growth in total federal spending to the sum of the inflation rate plus the percentage of population growth. (56.57%)
• Repeal the health care legislation passed on March 23, 2010: Defund, repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (56.39%)
• Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy: Authorize the exploration of additional energy reserves to reduce American dependence on foreign energy sources and reduce regulatory barriers to all other forms of energy creation. (55.5%)
• Reduce Earmarks: Place a moratorium on all earmarks until the budget is balanced, and then require a 2/3 majority to pass any earmark. (55.47%)
• Reduce Taxes: Permanently repeal all recent tax increases, and extend permanently the George W. Bush temporary reductions in income tax, capital gains tax and estate taxes, currently scheduled to end in 2011. (53.38%)

I think it has interesting idea, but who is to say that the Blue Ribbon Task force won't just be lobbyists? How would you regulate a task force that is so important and one that would be extremely tempting for corruption? Also, a commite like this would cost quite a bit of money to assemble. How would Teaparty members be able to pay for it if they plan on cutting taxes so much?

[MsRose]

I'm not against the party, but until they loose the extremist they will unfortunately never get my vote. They should make it clear that vulgar racial slurs and things of that nature isn't what they stand by. It may loose them some supporters, but no one is going to take them seriously until they do that. Volunteers seems like a bad idea because there would be less qualified people to choose from and someone with an agenda could easily be put into a critical position. Just some food for thought.

[lowellite]

After reading the 10 points in the Contract of America (post 64), I am becoming rather turned off by the Tea Party's obsession with "constitutionality." It's quite obvious that they are trying to use constitutionality as an excuse to remove social programs for the poor and government regulations. Surely they don't think that market forces are a fix-all to everything? When unregulated, capitalism is a destructive force that strives only for short-term profit. And don't even get me started on the problems associated with a flat tax...