But logic has never played a part in the tea party movement. What I have discovered in reading letters to the editor and postings on-line is that tea partiers seem to believe that only they are entitled to the rights enshrined in our Constitution, whereas the rest of us deserve what we get when we protest, when we speak up, when we defend our liberties. One letter writer in our local paper reasoned that because the tea party protesters had permits and cleaned up after themselves, they were somehow better than the OWS protestors, whom she likened as unclean. Translation: conservatives are clean, liberals are dirty. Tea partiers are entitled, OWS protestors are bums and deserving of police abuse.
It’s that “liberty and justice for all” part in the Pledge of Allegiance that tea partiers so adore that apparently only applies to some of us, as in, only the people that agree with the tea party ideals. And the Constitution? Clearly only there to protect some of us.
In thinking about it, the whole tea party seems wrapped up in this sense of entitlement. I mean, how can they demand less government and then still expect to get their Medicare and Social Security benefits? I guess what they really mean is, only people who DESERVE their benefits should get them, and screw the rest. Taxes? Forget em. Um, except the ones that help pave the roads in the land of tea partiers and provide police and garbage service.
I see this day to day in the hospital where I work. People get sick and are flabbergasted by the cost of their bills, and instead of blaming their HMO, they rant about how some “bum” is getting the healthcare they deserve. Never mind that the people they want and put in power want to take away everyone’s healthcare, clearly those “unclean” people are to blame. And tea partiers would be just fine if THOSE people had their benefits taken away, as long as THEIR benefits remain in place. Because, clearly they are the deserving ones, right?
As I muse on this, it occurs to me that logic rarely, if ever, trumps ideology. And clearly, the ideology is one of victimhood combined with entitlement. It’s like the guy on our local news last year whining about the Obamacare thugs coming to take his healthcare, while Medicare and Medicaid were paying the entirety of his month long hospital bill! I guess he was worried that the mean ol’ government was making tea partiers pay taxes and giving them services that they didn’t want other people to have!
Tea partiers also whine and whine about their rights being taken away while they applaud people without insurance dying and boo a gay soldier and celebrate waterboarding. Hey, torture’s okay for some of us, right? Just don’t torture a tea partier! They’ve earned their rights. The rest of the people? Well, screw ‘em!.
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