How To Dismantle A Tea Party

...just get me to admit that i want honey in my tea...

There may be nothing i hate more in this world than lies. As the liar gets more stubborn and insistent in their repetition of lies an energy swells, grows inside of me getting stronger and more powerful. Emotion is a powerful thing, at times seeming an endless supply of power. Frequently as emotions increase in magnitude a haze can start to form within your mind causing a scattering of that power. In these moments actions can seem to take on a randomness not natural to our typical dispositions.

As i mark off the years in the non-constant of time i strive to harness that energy associated with strong emotion in those moments while practicing my ability to focus it. We do not really have control over how things make us feel, but we can work to control what we do with those feelings and with the strength that we can draw from them. i work on this on a weekly basis, some days being more successful than others. i do feel as though i am doing better more often than not, but again with the perception of feelings.

Is this more sith-like or jedi-like? Why have i gone on this long without getting to "Tea Parties"? Good questions.

The modern political back-lash movement self professing themselves as "Tea Partiers" is what i am discussing here with aims to explain deflation techniques. i have not yet mastered my emotions, so from here on out i will refer to them by their original chosen name before they decided to check it on google: "tea baggers". i find it simultaneously more fitting and more transparent in regards to my true feeling about them... in hopes of alleviating any possible reader confusion.

The "tea bagger" movement is overwhelmed by emotion, both in the driving of their actions and in the reactions to them. Logic must be used in handling both the "tea baggers'" emotions and in our own dealings with those individuals.

First off, how over the top fucked-up are their protests. Really now. Is that what you have got? First up, in this day and age hopping right to some sort of nazi reference is a short-cut to thinking. Throwing a magic marker Hitler mustache on a picture of Obama? That is as weak as that jack-off kid in your 8th grade class who was always screwing around and then called the teacher Hitler for yelling at him. Is that the maturity level that this country's politics is working at? Oh and racial slurs? Those can never be tolerated no matter how heated or emotional things have gotten. It is two-thousand-and-fucking-ten! Racism is sooo 20th century and needs to have died with the 2000 bug. Again to reiterate: RACISM IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE!

Now that i have gotten some of the pettiness out of the way lets get to the logical dismantling. Tour buses with custom decaling? Unless you are drooling on yourself this clearly advertises how this is a corporately backed muckraking exercise. They are typically organized and funded by deceptive branches of corporation's special interests. Keep this in mind and use it to help with perspective. Each of their typical statements can easily be more than countered, but disarmed (just be careful as they are typically and literally armed).

Cries of government getting too big, invading too much of our lives, and cries of socialism make me smirk as i try not to laugh aloud. Government spending too much money? Running up too much debt? Where the fuck was your bus for the 8 years of Bush Jr? Can you say "biggest debt ever" or are the tea bags in your mouth mumbling your words?

Here is my counter to these accusations: What did you have for breakfast this morning? Lunch? How did you arrive to this current destination? Interesting... it sounds like the government was with you at every step. The cost of the eggs you ate are kept artificially low with government subsidies. The meat you've eaten... also heavily subsidized to keep prices artificially low. The high fructose corn syrup in almost everything you have ingested so far today... that is right, once again heavily subsidized. Oh, and you came here in that huge bus that you so nicely labeled? Once again fueled by fossil fuels receiving gigantic government subsidies. By the way, the electricity supplied to your alarm clock which woke you up this morning, running the lights that illuminate your way and run all those other gadgets was made by what? Over 50% of our electricity in produced using coal which receives what? Yes little Johnny more government subsidies. The US government has been right there with you in your bedroom, kitchen, living room, and vehicle.

You really want smaller government and a smaller deficit? Lets drop all those subsidies. i am all for it. Watch as the price of meat, eggs, and milk increases so fast people who previously laughed at vegans and vegetarians will start giving up such products. Watch as gas and electricity prices give you whiplash. Suddenly things like solar panels for your home and hybrid or electric vehicles start paying for themselves within an incredibly short time. Alternative energy would drop the "alternative" over night becoming just how we do things. If the "tea baggers" adopt the 'cut subsidies' mantra i just might join them with my own mug of green tea, but in the mean time lets drop the hypocrisy.

i could go on and on with arguments but you probably would not get past this step as they would get consumed by emotion and resort to the continuous repetition of lies at a crescendoing volume. This, i am afraid, i still have not figured out how to counter. Yelling the truth back seems to make zero difference as they start to only hear what they want and you leave yourself unnecessarily drained.

In conclusion i would like to bring up how the idea of calling themselves the "Tea Party" is actually quite fitting of their movement. The Boston Tea Party was not carried out by some dedicated group of idealistic rebels. It was carried out by a bunch of racist, polluting, cowards. They all dressed up like Indians (native americans) so that the blame would be re-directed to the indians, which they hated. Boston harbor has been polluted ever since (as the locals joke). These misguided souls can not even gasp the realities of history, let alone the complicated world we live in.

i do not have a problem with people questioning government, in fact i think it is not only healthy but utterly necessary. Nor am i trying to defend the current administration. i openly acknowledge that this country is a collection of individuals, for better or for worse. i would be even more outraged if i thought that people were unable to question and criticize the government. My concern here is with the level of discourse. Not only do these "tea baggers" make themselves look horrible, but they makes the citizens of this country look infantile, ill-informed, and utterly un-respectable.

Be forthright and forthcoming in presenting your ideals, otherwise you risk the integrity of not only yourself but all those around you.