Reader: Tea Party not going away
On Dec. 16, 1773, a group of patriotic Americans had a Tea Party in Boston Harbor to protest the tax imposed upon the good people of the colonies by the British government. This protest, and many other actions that followed "I won't get into a long history lesson "lead to the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Now, let's fast-forward 234 years. Once again, we see a large group of patriotic Americans waving the American flag and engaging in nonviolent protest regarding the way this country is being driven to financial ruin by the current administration.
The liberal Democrats and liberal media cannot stand this kind of protest and will use every dirty trick in the book to bring them down. But, guess what? This movement will not stop and will continue to grow. This is mainstream America speaking, and they will be heard loud and clear and will make a difference.
And, by the way, I am a registered Democrat, but a patriot first, and I will support your Tea Party, Mr. Dillon.
Recently, letters have appeared in the paper from Mr. Derek Spence and Ms. Nancy Palmquist decrying the fact that Tea Partiers were using tax-supported venues for their meetings. I will not respond to their concerns here, but instead, refer them to a letter that appeared in The Evening News a few days ago from the Clark County librarian regarding the use of that facility.
I currently do not own property in Clark County. I have in the past and will in the future, and therefore do not pay property taxes at this time. Does that mean I cannot attend concerts in Warder Park, use the free public library, attend any of the functions during the summer on the riverfront or use other tax-supported venues available to the general public?
Ms. Palmquist referenced Red Queen Palin, Mad Hatter Beck, Tweedle Dee Rush, Tweedle Dum O'Reilly and all the crazy white "rabbits" in her tirade. She left out Fox News.
Yes, I know, they were not part of Alice in Wonderland, which is a place I think Ms. Palmquist lives. I would rather get the conservative side of the story and the truth from these folks, than hear it from the current ultra-liberal administration.
Jim McCoskey, Jeffersonville
Why are you so angry? Why are you all so angry? Every time I hear someone complain about the Tea Party movement, I wonder why they are so distraught that Americans are actually voicing their discontent with government control. I'm especially concerned when I realize that the complainers haven't even taken the time to attend the event they complain so loudly about. Some times, I guess I just have to conclude that they must enjoy being angry.
So, let me first say thank you to the self-identified Jeffersonville resident who said I'm a Democrat, so I didn't really want to attend your Tea Party. Hint: this is a politically stupid thing to say. If you want to win votes and influence people, it isn't real smart to alienate ones' opinions from a growing number of Americans who are almost certainly voting in November. Of course, you'd expect comments like these from the GOP chairman since we agree in principle with many of the ideas expressed by these newly-vocal fellow Hoosiers.
Next, I really want to thank Kelly Curran for her recent article which better illustrates the attitude I think I would take if I really wanted to know what these folks are actually thinking. She attended a Tea Party rally and found it to be (if I may repeat) "a gathering of a normal, rather mainstream, frequently intellectual group of people who have taken the steps of being actively involved in politics in order to preserve principles they believe in." Thanks Kelly. I couldn't have said it better. You actually attended an event, met the people involved and formed an independent opinion. I guess it's easier to claim slurs against a group of people you haven't even bothered to meet when all you have to do is blame Rush Limbaugh for everything you dislike. You didn't do that.
Again, though, I ask. Why are you all so angry? Why is the notion of those who were previously silent about their political beliefs now voicing them so threatening to you? And, isn't this exactly what your "side" was doing the last eight years when a Republican President was in office? It seems a little hypocritical to condemn those who are now doing what you did for all those years.
Obviously, this has very little to do with discussing what's best for our country and more to do with making sure everyone thinks the same way you do. You find those who choose to think for themselves a challenge to your agendas. Then, instead of engaging in reasoned debate to perhaps learn why you might be wrong, you resort to name calling and attacks against principles that our political leaders have been ignoring for far too long.
Hmmm. I'm starting to sound like at Tea Partier myself. But I guess that's OK since I happen to agree with most of what they are saying. Maybe if I can help provide them with good candidates who already agree with their principles, they might vote our way….instead of just voting for the next eloquent speaker who comes along and tells us he can "hope and change" everything back to the way they want it. Gee, that isn't working either, is it? I guess I can see why you're so angry.
Dave Matthews, Chairman, Floyd County Republican Party
Gonder responds to Matthews letter
Dave Matthews, Chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party, recently asked Tribune readers: “What is it about the tea party that makes you so angry?”
For me it is not so much anger, as it is sadness. It saddens me that people, whose interest in the direction and future of our country is evidenced by their passion at rallies, are so misdirected. Tea partiers zealously defend corporate interests that care nothing about their well-being, or about working Americans in general. Tea Party heroines, Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann, as well as many Republicans, are defending BP. Palin blames the BP disaster on environmentalists, and Bachmann criticizes the $20 billion escrow fund as a “redistribution of wealth.” It’s clear whose side they are on.
The fact is that the prevailing corporate model thrives on short-changing American workers. If that were not true, would corporations send American manufacturing jobs abroad in a steady race to the bottom of the wage ladder? Unemployment and downward pressure on wages by the private sector threatens the viability of our middle class. The constant quest for low prices may be a formula for the success of the “malefactors of great wealth,” as Roosevelt called the corporatists of his day, but it is not a formula for a vibrant American middle class.
Prices are kept low through near-slave labor in foreign sweat shops devoid of concern for workers’ rights or environmental standards. Recently, several Chinese workers committed suicide due to the harsh working conditions in a factory making iPhones for U.S. distribution.
Small, local merchants are driven out of business because they lack the purchasing power to compete with the mega chains. To add insult to injury, many — if not most — of the biggest corporations, including BP and GE, have “shell” companies off shore to avoid paying federal income taxes, despite posting billions in profits. This unfairly shifts the tax burden onto ordinary Americans. One would think the tea partiers, who complain about their taxes, would direct their anger more appropriately. And that they would understand that social issues are used by politicians beholden to corporations, to divide, factionalize, and ultimately diminish the real political power of the middle class.
President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are not the enemies. The enemies are the plutocrats — the “malefactors of great wealth” — who exploit our differences, instead of cultivating our commonalities, so they can maintain their economic power over us. It is plutocracy that threatens our democracy, not socialism.
Incidentally, the Roosevelt who coined the phrase “malefactors of great wealth” was not FDR, but the Republican Roosevelt, Theodore, whose views would no doubt be unwelcome in Mr. Matthews’ Republican/Tea Party.
— John Gonder, New Albany city councilman
bob wrote:
What a bunch of bunk...No where in the past year have we heard of any public group - political or educational talk about reducing expenses only about increasing revenues which means taxes. The Floyd Co School Supt in yesterdays tribune was quoted as (last paragraph of rticle) saying the schools need to raise revenue - And a wind farm will to that !?! And John we do not want a 'democracy' what we want is a 'REPUBLIC'
CURRAN: Not a foil hat in the room
By KELLEY CURRAN
> SOUTHERN INDIANA On Thursday night, I hitched a ride with some local Tea Partiers over to John E's restaurant in Louisville to hear Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul speak at the group's social gathering.
Paul is the anti-establishment Republican candidate running against, and holding a double-digit lead on, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson. He's also the Tea Party favorite in the race.
I really went because I wanted to hear Paul, and I really did bum a ride as I have no business driving in areas I'm unfamiliar with after dark without new glasses. I also didn't tell those I was traveling with that I was intending to write a column on the subject as I hadn't yet decided to do so.
A Rand fan as my new sticker says, I was not really an objective observer. Therefore, I am not going to include direct quotes or names. It was a social gathering. I was there to listen and be social.
That said, there were some interesting thing to note, particularly the conspicuous lack of crazy people in attendance. If one were to only follow mainstream coverage of Tea Party events, they may have formed a picture of crowds of angry, ignorant racists. Instead, I found myself in a richly paneled room, standing-room-only full, of civil, well-dressed, mostly Republican folks.
There was an explicit appeal from a leader of the Louisville organization for people to think about the stereotypical way they're being portrayed and be sure they're not playing into it. There was a distinction made between being angry and violent and being truly concerned about the way the country is headed.
An ideological difference of opinion was articulated concerning minorities, that while Tea Parties are perceived as being racists, they honestly and compassionately believe liberal policies are designed to keep minorities under the thumb of government.
When Paul spoke, he made a point of stating it wasn't just Democrats that have taken the country into debt and away from constitutional principles, but Republicans as well. He harshly criticized the former president, stating that rather than a conservative, George W. Bush had in fact been a tax-and-spend Republican who had expanded the federal government.
It should also be noted this line received warm applause from only about a quarter of the room I might've been one of the louder ones while most other comments drew applause from the entire group.
By a couple of speakers, the word, "socialism" was thrown around some, but pretty appropriate in context. "Communism" was mentioned once. However, these are words describing political philosophies, and, again, the context was appropriate and surprisingly intellectual rather than rabble-rousing.
I did occasionally have the sense of party crashing similar to that I experienced while voting in the primary, though it was a different party I was crashing. One gentleman from Southern Indiana said he knew me from somewhere. We ended up establishing it was from my picture that runs with the columns. He admitted he had trouble pegging my political position from the columns.
The word "libertarian" came out of my mouth before I thought too much. There were a few odd looks, which seemed odd to me coming from people who came out to see Ron Paul's son.
Most of these people seemed like proud conservatives and/or Republicans. Nearly everything they said would be consistent with libertarianism, but it didn't appear anyone was wearing the label.
The only point at which there was inconsistency and the sense of party crashing became uncomfortable was when immigration was brought up. I, seemingly alone, refrained from cheering a speaker who claimed we should stand with the people of Arizona. I might be able to support that statement technically, but I strongly suspect it's different people of Arizona we think might need support.
In all, rather than a Klan meeting, gun-toting militia gathering or other stereotype, this was a gathering of a normal, rather mainstream, frequently intellectual group of people who have taken the steps of being actively involved in politics in order to preserve principles they believe in.
Even if I don't agree with them on every singe point, there is something very positive and exciting about such a large number of people, including several young people who informed us, "We love Rand," coming out to listen to and support a candidate who represents a real change from the status quo.
Want to know who they most reminded me of? Barack Obama supporters in 2008. An age of apathy appears to have ended.
Jeffersonville resident Kelley Curran usually dislikes social gatherings with a conspicuous lack of crazy people in attendance because she feels oh so alone. Write to kelinawriterhat@aol.com
Don't invite me to your tea party
There's much back and forth in the paper about the Tea Party, with little blurbs telling how the partiers are using public tax-supported places like the library and park for their gatherings.
Let me go even further than Derek Spence who in a recent letter to the editor called this practice "ironic." I say it is positively hypocritical for Tea Partiers to claim to be "anti-tax" all the while using tax-supported places for their meetings. That's like an atheist wanting a church wedding!
And by the way I am a Democrat, so I really didn't want to attend your Tea Party, Mr. Dillon.
With Sarah Palin as the Red Queen shouting "off with their heads," Mad Hatter Glenn Beck ,Tweedle Dee Rush and Tweedle Dum O'Reilly, plus all the crazy white "rabbits" running around muttering I'll be glad to skip this party.
Nancy N. Palmquist, Jeffersonville
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