Tea Party Questions

Well, the inconsistency would be that they also complain that someone is being allowed to pee in their corn flakes and blame the "damn liberals" for allowing that to happen.Also, American Civil Liberties Union.
They hate America?
They hate Civil Liberties?If it was American Civil Liberties Militia would they cheer it even if it held the same positions?

Yes. Many people do hate some civil liberties. Primarily they hate ones they either don't expect to have to use (like the 4th, 5th, and 8th amendments) and the ones that they actively despise (a good portion of the 1st amendment). In fact, I think a case can be made that TPers hate more of the Constitution than just about any other group of Americans.And of course the ACLU normally does not take on 2nd amendment cases.

-TPers are against socialized medicine while demanding that they get Medicare.

What do any of you history buffs know about the "Know-Nothings" that were around before the American Civil War? How close are the teabaggers to being a rerun of that movement? I'm too lazy to Wikipedia them at the moment

My guess is they were voicing their opposition to homosexuality in general and gays in the military in particular. That's gross. Well, OK. What I said doesn't contradict that. I'm just saying that they are hot to trot about what they consider "personal responsibility", even if it sometimes leads to death, as opposed to being hot to trot about death.

Even for things that people aren't responsible for? That makes no sense.

Agreed.

I don't have a problem with "personal responsibility" determining how successful you are. I think it's appropriate that one's choices in life should provide the opportunity to improve one's lifestyle.That said...let's be really honest here: "personal responsibility" mostly refers to "how good you had it growing up." Many of the major influences over your life are determined before you're even old enough to make your own decisions at all, let alone be responsible for yourself.And most importantly, I don't think the ability to play on the trapeze means you have to do so without a net. I don't think there is any choice or set of choices a person can make that would make me feel appropriate just letting them die, homeless and starving. I don't think there's any choice a person can make that would make me feel right about withholding life-saving treatment for a disease like cancer just because that person can't afford it.I think personal responsibility is all well and good, but collectively we have a greater responsibility to human life and each other in general. I don't think a person should ever for any reason be made to choose between lifesaving medicine and bankruptcy. I don't think a person should ever for any reason need to choose between feeding themselves or their children. Or a house and food. Or food and transportation to work.I don't mind paying taxes. I mind when I feel like my tax dollars are being spent to kill people in foreign nations instead of being used to guarantee universal, single-payer healthcare for every American, just like what they have in Canada. I mind when my tax dollars are spent on tax breaks for the rich who don;t need them, instead of being used to provide shelter for the homeless. I mind when my tax dollars are spent to bail out the banking system who caused the so-called "Great Recession," but not to put those responsible in prison. I mind when my tax dollars are spent to put a pot smoker in jail, instead of taxing his pot.But I suppose I'm an idealist, or something. Fuck the Teabaggers, and fuck Wall Street.

Wait.... do you really think the audience thought the man to not be responsible? You had a good point but you seem to have caved early to avoid dispute.

sort of, but equalizing things like the state you were born in levels the playing field. and if you open the umbrella of personal resonsibility to include the parent-child relationship, then the whole thing makes more sense.considering your children to be an extension of yourself; the way you raise them, or the way your parents raised you, becomes included in personal responsibility. and if those choices are extended beyond the single individual, to include the parent-child relationship, then i can transfer some of that to my own children as i should be able to do. i consider that to be a large part of my "success". as long as you don't become unrealistic sure, why not

---

sorry for the lack of caps, moose, but i'm not at home and this shift key is all fucked up... and its a shame that'd i even have to type this

To be fair, they are not the only group who vote against their own interest. Another group that behaves somewhat like this is the hispanic community. They have a pretty good record of voting republican even though the republican party hates them. Why? Because I guess the hispanics are more anti-gay than they are pro-immigration rights.

The current tea party movement is not even close to the know-nothings. First of all, the know-nothings weren't supporting policies that were against their self-interests. But more importantly, they had an excuse to be ignorant bigots. The current tea partiers have absolutely no excuse to being shamelessly ignorant bigoted sons of bitches.

As far as I can see the TPers are like chickens running with their heads cut off. They have no idea where they are going.

And what I am saying is that the Tea Partiers are hot to trot about OTHER people having personal responsibility, but give one of them cancer and they'll be bitching about their lack of medical care.

Those children are American Citizens.You are saying that an American Citizen's rights should be determined by the whether or not some other American Citizen was responsible or not.That's ridiculous.A 5 year old child with an illness can not be held responsible for his illness. The child of a coal miner has the same right to healthcare as the child of a stock broker.Blaming the child for being born to coal miners is ridiculous.