Neal Boortz isn’t very impressed with the tea party movement:
OK .. I’m going to make some people mad with this one, but would you folks please put this asinine “tea party” idea to rest? I’m just a wee-bit tired of hearing excited stories about people sending tea bags to their congressmen. Sorry … but how LAME!
(…)
Do we need action? Yes, absolutely. We’ve lost control of this government. We’re rapidly approaching the point … give it two years or so … where the majority of eligible voters in this country will be getting checks from the government instead of paying taxes. Can you guess how these people will vote? It certainly won’t be for anyone who promotes self-sufficiency. And you think we’re going to turn this thing around by mailing tea bags that will get thrown away in some postal handling facility miles away from the office of the elected official you sent them to?
Not trying to rain on your parade .. but you’re taking the easy way out here. “Hey, we’re in a jam, but I DID something! I mailed a tea bag to my congressman! When the history of the 21st century is told I’m going to be right there because I mailed a tea bag!”
Over two hundred years ago young patriots dragged their naked feet down icy roads – leaving a trail of blood – to fight for independence. And you’re sending tea bags. Put a tea bag in the mail and your job is done.
Boortz is, I think, largely correct.
Sending tea bags to your Congressman isn’t going to accomplish anything. Neither is participating in tea party protests that barely draw a few thousand people and, as a result, get minimal coverage in the media. And I’ve already noted that I don’t think very much about this whole “Going Galt” meme, which strikes me as little more than a way for conservatives to appropriate a character from a book that they clearly don’t understand in order to tweak the Obama Administration.
Maybe Boortz and I will be proven wrong and these tea parties will manifest themselves into some kind of national movement against Obama’s policies.
Maybe, but right now there’s no sign of that happening.
I think I largely agree.
But the response Boortz probably is advocating is neither one which he can publicly advocate safely, nor one in which old guys like me are likely to engage.
Boortz is a pompous windbag.
I do agree that the tea bags are kind of dumb, but the protests aren’t.
Jason,
Until I see the protests actually manifests themselves into something concrete, I’m not convinced.
Doug,
If I recall correctly, you were skeptical of the protests from the beginning. Give it a chance.
Crowds are growing, we just need to keep it up.
Jason,
Primarily, it’s the numbers that aren’t convincing me. I’ve seen tax protests that actually resulted in real change draw tens of thousands of people, and I’m just not seeing it right now.
Part of it, quite honestly, is that I just don’t trust the conservatives on this one. They’ve betrayed us before when it comes to fiscal conservatism, and I’m convinced they’d do it again.
Perhaps, Doug, the problem with the numbers is the fact that those who are targets are: (a) too few in absolute numbers; and (b) too busy bearing the unreasonable burdens being placed upon them.
Of course, the former explains the fundamental flaw in a tax system which continues to rush headlong into a system where only a minority bear the burdens of the cost of government.
James,
Given the fact that we’re talking about marginal tax rates that, in the end, result in negligible increases for most people I guess I just don’t believe the people who claim that they’re “going Galt” — especially when I know they won’t follow through on what that really means.