St. Olaf wrote:grousemaster wrote:St. Olaf wrote:...the Tea Party.
I can't stand them.
It's nothing personal.....just that they're trying to destroy America.

Like what? If you can't list some samples, there's no point in continuing this discussion.
Sure. Probably no question could be found that's easier. Even some of the knuckle-draggers in the Tea Party are beginning to figure it out......they just keep doing it because they're mean, stubborn and don't want to admit they've been wrong.
At its essence, the phenomenon can be described as this: uneducated and Fox News brainwashed poor people kissing the asses of the rich and letting vulnerable neighbors suffer and die.
The mechanism is this: these dupes are manipulated (with primitive religion and fear and jingoism) into voting for sleazy politicians whose only job is to cut taxes for the rich, cut programs for the poor and cut money for infrastructure, education, health care, highways, bridges and public services (leaving both the poor and the Middle Class with less and the rich with more--lately--A LOT MORE).
Lately, in fact, they even want to take our Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and retirement checks and leave the elderly to abject poverty with no medical care. Yes, it's true. The rich are that greedy and the Tea Party dupes are that stupid.
Sure, they're only a small group, but they can control political primaries in backward Republican Congressional Districts (and even a few similarly-brained Senate Districts) and thus put politicians in fear of a primary challenge from an even farther right challenger who could take their jobs.
So, the Tea Party can't actually DO anything legislatively, they're too small.......but they can STOP government, cause gridlock and freeze up government so that we can't get legislation passed--and they happily do that, I guess because they're so ignorant that they can't see that they're causing serious problems for America.
They're doing it today. And they're so damned dumb that they're congratulating themselves.
I'm going to try and go through your statement and make sense of it..
Cut taxes for the rich.. Sure okay. But, it is proven by history that lowering certain tax rates spur investment. In turn creating jobs. As opposed to historically when taxes are raised, and the entire economy suffers save for the rich who can afford to better plan for taxes and absorb the increase in the cost of goods.
Cut programs for the poor... Not really. What was put forth was the same common sense reform that a republican congress and Clinton signed on welfare reform that worked. Limiting welfare actually encourages people to find work. Or forces them.
Cut infrastructure spending.. That's just not true.
You mentioned highways bridges and public services.. I'll lump those into the above, programs for the poor and infrastructure. I see no reason in playing repeater with liberal talking points as you have.
SS, Medicare, Medicaid.. In fact, the plans the republicans put forth would not have changed benefits to current seniors. Any changes would have been stepped into to avoid drastic changes to people's retirement plans. The most drastic changes coming to those who are youngest who likely having planned for retirement, or even paid off their Christmas.. Sorry, holiday credit card bill.
The Tea Party doesn't actually need to DO anything legislatively. Grid lock is fine by me. That means no more increases in wasteful, wreckless, runaway spending. It attempts to hold other members of congress accountable for the money they are spending.
What the Tea Party needs to do is go through current budget outlays and determine where we can save money. That doesn't mean cutting programs and people starving. That means, like every other business has had to do over the last few years, they're going to have to tighten their belt. Eliminate waste, redundancy, as well as programs policies and regulation that have a negative effect on the economy and markets.
Common sense is probably above your pay grade, and out of your realm of understanding. That's fine. But don't punish everyone else for your lack of ability to form your own opinion or do your own fact checking. If all you are capable of doing is regurgitating talking points against a group of people you know nothing about find a hole to bury your thoughts.
What if I were to say that I would consider myself a Tea Party "member"... Kool-aid Fox News bible thumper.. Right? What if it was a black Tea Party "member".. All of the above and a Uncle Tom? But I thought the liberals were the party of understanding, no bullying or name calling.. Or does that only count when it's their agenda?