The rise of the Tea Party is being chronicled as a threat to democracy, or a grassroots collective unlike anything we have seen in many years.After thus proving the old adage that a blind pig can find an acorn in a stopped clock twice a day, he jetted on back to Bizarroworld, but it was refreshing to see at least this much honesty from someone with whom I am largely diametrically opposed.
As Public Enemy wisely put it with their hit song in 1988, "Don't Believe the Hype!"
First, let's deal with the Tea Party haters. Please, shut up.
How can any liberal, progressive, moderate or conservative be mad about a group of Americans taking to the streets to protest the actions of the country? What they are engaged in is constitutional. The freedom to assemble, march, walk, scream and yell is right there in the document we all abide by.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
We interrupt this weltanschauung for an accidental brief moment of lucidity...
Roland Martin, a man who spends very little time on the same planet as me, actually managed to squeeze a couple of paragraphs about events here on planet Earth in his last column:
He probably had a sudden realization, perhaps after going through the Hall of Presidents at Disneyland, that one party doesn't remain in power forever. Seeing as they Tea Partiers haven't burned down the Capitol yet, perhaps Mr. Martin decided that they probably never will and that it would be best to ensure that the inevitable power shift doesn't result in draconian speech restrictions.
ReplyDeleteWow. With one glaring fallacy, the entire argument falls apart.
ReplyDelete"What they are engaged in is constitutional. The freedom to assemble, march, walk, scream and yell is right there in the document we all abide by."
It is "the document we all abide by" that breaks the beauty of the piece. If every party involved, from the Demoncratic and Republican parties, labor unions, Homeland Security, the ATF, the warrantless phone tappers and the FBI, all the way to Congress and the President, were clearly and strictly obeying the limits of the Constitution - there wouldn't be a Tea Party because there would be little of substance to protest.
"the document we all abide by." Huh. Tell that to Rahm Emanuel and B. Hussein Obama (who couldn't swear an oath of office in public) that, and watch the laughter.
Bingo, Brad K.!
ReplyDelete