Interesting article, Zen. The liberal media here have been reporting on the being “primaried” thing. (Don’t know if Fox discusses it, since Fox always makes me want to puke every time I try to watch it.) From your link:
Quote:
That makes it especially important for someone running for a House seat to pay intense attention to those who vote in her or his primary.Their votes are more important in the almost always lower-turnout primary than in the higher turnout general election…
That gives enormous power to those who vote in GOP primaries. The issue that's almost singularly important to them is taxes.
|
(emphasis my own)
This brings us back to the rank and file of the tea party – the tail which wags the dogs in Congress. Yes, they are vehemently opposed not only to new taxes, but to any taxes at all. Their goal is to shrink the government by starving it of funding.
BTW, major corporations also love the idea of a smaller government since financial regulatory agencies and others like the EPA and OSHA would be rendered powerless in such a scenario. How nice to be able to play whatever games you wanted with financial instruments and never be reprimanded, much less caught. How great for the bottom line if only you didn’t have to comply with costly rules to protect the environment and worker safety, etc., etc.
But back to the rank and file. They like the fact that a smaller government means smaller to no “entitlement” programs. They view those who are assisted by such programs as mostly lazy con artists; Mexican illegal’s who sneak over the border to get on food stamps; and last but not least – the infamous African American “welfare queen.” Americans are supposed to be self sufficient and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. After all, as the myth has it, this is the land of opportunity where anyone can become a millionaire if only they work hard enough.
The American paradigm has yet to change to reflect the fact that we no longer have a vast frontier with land available to all who wish to plant "fields of grain from sea to shining sea.” How ironic the words engraved on the statue of liberty, “Give me your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free” when right wingers call for Mexicans crossing the border to be shot on sight – no quarter given. The hum of dissonance in this country is overwhelming, so most Americans keep their fingers in their ears to avoid hearing it.
My feeling is that the US is going to become a victim of its own hubris as well as its history as a nation that endorsed slavery – a circumstance which has polarized the country from its inception and continues to have social fallout to this very day.
Never mind the fact that America is slowly but surely becoming more of a plutocracy and less of a democracy with every congressman bought out by special interests and every Supreme Court decision in favor of the CEO at the expense of the citizen.
If I were younger, I’d be filling out immigration forms for Australia.
sent by a lone voice crying out in the desert