Shocking new insights into the Tea Party

A new study about the so called Tea “Party” has been released. It was started back in 2006 and it confirms what many of us already knew about the Tea Party. Their origin story was false and it was just a rebranding campaign for the discredited GOP.

Here’s what the study reveals:

It turns out they are white.

They are partisan Republicans that most likely had engaged in the political process previously.

They don’t like Muslims, blacks or immigrants (in other words they are racist and xenophobic).

They are deeply religious and want religion to be a part of political debates.

They want to take their country back, but their country doesn’t approve of them. In fact their poll numbers are lower than Republicans, Democrats, atheists and Muslims. It notes that one of the few groups that approach their unpopularity is the Christian Right.

They are in line with the Christian Right.

Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.

It brings to mind the example of the Erie County Tea Party's weird candidate questionnaire, which, among other things, insisted that humans have no influence over pollution in the environment, and that God controls carbon levels.

There are some things that the study didn’t confirm, but are still clear.

They claim to stand for the constitution, but they want to change it.

They wrap themselves in the flag, but they actually stand against everything the country stands for. The first amendment clearly states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

They have utter contempt for the mainstream media even though the corporate media has promoted them and their narrative. The corporate media continues to promote their narrative and corporate friendly agenda despite the fact that the GOP didn’t win back the Senate because of the Tea “Party” candidates.

Yale Professor examines the "impressive continuities" of the "Bush-Obama presidency"

Sen. Barack Obama gave millions of Americans unprecedented “hope” for “change” you can believe in’ in 2008. But Yale Professor David Bromwich does an excellent job of laying out the “impressive continuities” of the “Bush-Obama presidency”.

Social Security turned 76, now Obama wants to slash SS and Medicare

Photo courtesy of here.

Yesterday marked the 76th anniversary of Social Security-a retirement/disability program. SS has proven to be one of the most popular and successful programs in our nation’s history. Sadly, President Obama has proposed cutting it and Medicare in order to protect the bloated Pentagon budget.


Social Security and Medicare are extremely popular programs which have improved the quality of life for the elderly in a very efficient way for decades. Instead of protecting these programs President Obama has proposed making cuts to these programs which have been the Democratic Party’s crowning achievement.

The Republicans opposed these policies and have wanted to get rid of them ever since they were implemented. President George W. Bush took a political thumping in the polls when he went around the country attempting to drum up support for privatizing Social Security.

But now as Glenn Greenwald notes, we have a Democratic administration that has clearly stated that they want to cut these “entitlements” in order to protect the bloated Pentagon budget. Though polls clearly show that Americans from across the political spectrum don’t want cuts to Social Security or Medicare both parties are pushing for cuts to these programs.

It is clear that the politicians in Washington aren’t working for the American people. This difference between public opinion and public policy is striking and referred to as the Democracy Gap. We now know what the two corporate parties want to do. The only question that remains is ‘what will the American people do’. Will we watch corporate owned politicians dismantle the New Deal and the Great Society? Or will the American people roar as citizens in Egypt and around the world are at draconian government policies?

The myth of Obama's "blunders" and "weakness"

Glenn Greenwald explains how Obama got what he wanted out of the budget deal. The consensus in Washington is that Obama is a bad negotiator, but it was really a “shrewd negotiation” that got him what he’s wanted for a long time-which is to impose pain on those who can least afford to bear it.

Action Alert! Stop new Republican ID laws that will disenfranchise the poor!

Republicans hate government and they don't want people to vote, especially minorities and the poor. They have consistently worked to disenfranchise minorities and the poor and they have been successful at it.

This is an important message from the Coalition on Homlessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO).

Rumors persist that the Ohio Senate will be voting on the restrictive photo-ID bill this Wednesday, 7/13. Senate President Tom Niehaus needs to hear from you today.

Please call (614-466-8082) or email (SD14@senate.state.oh.us) his office and ask him to oppose Sub HB 159.

In a recent news release, COHHIO Executive Director Bill Faith said, “It’s easy for many people – including legislators -- to sit in their comfortable chairs and say, ‘What’s the big deal about requiring a photo ID to vote?’ But they are making voting much more difficult -- if not impossible -- for nearly one million Ohioans who don’t have a photo ID today.

“The bill is unnecessary. It’s burdensome. It reduces access to voting under a flawed rationale of phantom voter fraud. And when absent of sound justification, this bill looks like voter suppression to us.”

For analysis of the bill, click on this


Thanks for your support,
Cathy

Spread the word and act now!

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"-Mahatma Gandhi

Politics 101: Everything you need to know about American Politricks in 3 minutes

Glenn Greenwald shows once again why he is without a doubt one of the best political commentators alive in this latest article. And the George Carlin “American Dream” bit he links to should be mandatory viewing for every American citizen.

If you’re too busy or lazy to read Greenwald’s column just watch the Carlin bit. He was a genius and nobody could explain our political system more concisely. Greenwald just relates his premise to Obama and the two corporate parties. Pass these along to anyone that doesn’t understand politics because it’s actually pretty simple.

Discussing a Taboo Subject; Mandatory Voting

I’ve never spent much time thinking about a taboo subject like mandatory voting. There are some people that don’t think everybody should vote because many voters are already low information voters, but there’s an interesting case that was made for it here.


There’s no doubt that a democracy or democratic republic can’t work without citizen participation. Then again if people don’t know who or what they are voting for that can be problematic as well.

So what is the answer to restoring or improving our democratic processes? Well, that’s a tough question that probably requires a multi-pronged approach. And by disconnecting from the political process people have only allowed the abuses and political corruption to get much worse.

Maybe if people were required citizens to go to the polls they would take more time to get informed. But they shouldn’t be forced to vote for candidates that they don’t support. One option is allowing people to write in whoever they want or to vote none of the above. If none of the above gets the most votes a new field with a special election would be called for.

In reality we probably need to institute campaign finance reform, media reform, reinstitute civics classes in school and the idea that with the benefits of citizenship comes a responsibility to live up to our civic duties. We should also get rid of the Electoral College and electronic voting. Mandatory voting may or may not be a part of the answer, but it certainly shouldn’t be a taboo subject.