Tea Party: Just a Catchy Name for a Dangerous Organization

In 1773 when the original Tea Party occurred, the population of the thirteen original colonies was around 2.2 million souls, and that's not counting slaves (if they were being counted, it was only as 3/5 of a whole human being) or native Americans.  I'm not even sure if women were included in that head count, but let's say that they were just for grins.  Slaves were still being imported even though headway was being made to stop that odious offense to humanity.  Women were the chattel of their husbands and children had a tough row to hoe.  Life expectancy  in 1793 was 36.9 years.  If improvements are not made to our health care system, we could well see that lifespan average again.

And the original Tea Party was formed in protest because the colonies were not represented in the British Parliament.  There are no similaries between that Tea Party and the people who are part of the Tea Party movement now.  They simply hijacked the name and appear to be intent on electing  people to our government to slowly dismantle the progress that has been made in these United States over the past 200 years. 

The current Tea Party battles everything that helps our society as a whole: SSI, food stamps, and Medicare/Medicaid.  They say they want a balanced budget.  We HAD a balanced budget when President Clinton was in office.  To balance our budget, we should withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else we are.  We cannot police the world.  And if we use our troops in other parts of the world, let's use them to bring aid to people rather than killing innocents and, yes, most are innocents, but we refer to them as "collateral damage."  Much tidier, don't you think?

The current Tea Party backs proposals that hurt the disenfranchised, the working poor, children, elderly, those who haven't gotten a break in life.  The only people that aren't being hurt are the rich and corporations.  It truly is all about money.  And, good grief, the number of times Tea Party members bring up Christianity or wear a cross on their lapels.  Really??  Is this what we, as a nation, have come to?

I'm reminded of that song by the Temptations, the first few lines of which goes:

"Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don't lie"

Think of those leaders in the Tea Party movement -- those media saavy, photogenic talking heads.  Smiling faces.

People who choose Public Service as a Career

In the current hue and cry against people who are in the employ of tax payers, otherwise known as public  servants (this is a cycle that occurs about every 20 years-I'm on the downhill side of the mountain and my memory is long), let us please remember that people who choose to serve in their local, state, or federal governments in any public capacity also PAY TAXES and SPEND THEIR INCOME.  Public employees, in effect, pay their own salaries. 

Public servants get married, have children, buy food and clothing, travel, celebrate holidays . . . just like everybody else.  They are not sitting in a rarified atmosphere getting rich off tax payer's money, believe me.  Our current inability to accept the fact that taxes need to be raised will hurt us in the long run. 

That first call to the police department or fire department . . . minutes, hours tick by . . . as we wait, or visiting the local library, only to find the hours have been shortened,, or a service we counted on is no longer available.  The Tea Party and their ilk want something for nothing;  the fact is if everybody gives a little, everybody gets a lot.

As to the current collective bargaining broohaha in Wisconsin:  public servants deserve collective bargaining.  They are public SERVANTS, people, not public SLAVES. Actually, anyone who works deserves collective bargaining.

I'm a big believer in a rising tide lifts all boats and when everybody does better, EVERYBODY DOES BETTER.

It seems like periodically the citizens of the United States of America are asked, by events, to decide if we are, in fact, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, or a bunch of separate individuals who happen to live in this country known as the USA.   United we succeed, separately we fail. 

Blizzard 2011

As our newly elected governor, Mary Fallin, declared a state of emergency for Oklahoma before the first snowflake fell so that, if need be, we Oklahomans could apply for federal disaster aid, let us pause to remember where those federal disaster aid dollars come from:  our tax dollars.

So all you Tea Partiers out there, remember, as you whine about not increasing tax revenue, the money has to come from somewhere.  We are all in this together.  Each of us can give a little to make a big difference in all of our lives or we can complain about our federal and state governments as if they were alien institutions.

Government:  of the people, by the people, for the people.  Simple concept.  Too bad it's so difficult for some citizens to grasp.

North facing window.



Spring is next month!

Why the pet door cover should be installed over the pet door
during a blizzard.