Selective Ideology

Fuck the Tea Party and it's followers. Yeah I said it.

Why?

Simply because for all their blustering and preaching, there is not one thing about their ideology that is real. They are the political equivalent of the child that throws temper tantrums when their parents don't give them exactly what they want. Their whole ideology seems predicated on a selective morality that is rigid to those outside the group, and flexible for those within. Here's some examples:

1) Spending.

- Obama and the democrats are spending a whole lotta money (for the record, I believe democrats, Obama included, are simply the "good cop" in this dog and pony show that we call a political system) and driving up the deficit. Agreed. But the previous administration did way more damage to the economy, not only through their equally loose spending policies, but even more so with their "anything goes" approach to regulation (see housing market crash, for example).

Where was the tea party then? Where were the "Bush is a Nazi" signs, the Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck rants, the teabag hats and the don't tread on me flags? After all this country was driven from surplus into deficit way before Obama was even a murmur in the presidential race, yet for some reason all these "patriots" didn't find it urgent or worthwhile to step out and make their voice be heard...

2) War

I'll flat out state that I am against any and all wars. Regardless of my personal feelings, I find it odd that once again, there were no tea parties protesting the wars during the Bush years, yet now, they are protesting "Obama's War" in Afghanistan... How exactly did he manage to acquire full ownership in 2 years, when the war had been raging for 8 years prior?

More importantly, how did the same people that questioned someone's patriotism if they opposed either war during the last administration rationalize changing sides on the issue?

3) The role of government

There is clearly a libertarian basis for a lot of the Tea Party's arguments, and in principle I agree with concept of a non-obtrusive government. Where I diverge is when the principle of a non obtrusive government gets used to further personal agendas. How is it that the Tea Party can say the government can't provide healthcare, yet the same government is supposed to block abortion? How can they argue for freedom, when they demand the government infringe on freedom of religion and block a mosque from being built near Ground Zero?

These are just a few examples of the disconnect between their ideology and their actions. You may agree with me, you may think i'm out to lunch, but in the end...

Fuck the Tea Party