When Ben said our next blog post was about the Tea Party, I thought he meant the Boston one, which since this movement is a spin off of it -- i guess i was close enough. lol I have learned all kinds of new things in this class already. I am not ashamed that I didn't know about this already, just like I wasn't ashamed to not know who Glenn Beck was. Because I have tried to avoid anything to do with politics my whole life. I just can't bring myself to care. My philosophy has always been, that eventually things have a way of working itself out. I know a lot of people disagree with me, probably a lot of you, but at least in my life so far, my philosophy has held true. If I spent all my time thinking about politics, or other big world issues, I would not be the happy go lucky person I am. I choose not to worry, or fret over these issues because I do not believe I have the ability to change what is going [supposed] to happen.
A group of people who do believe they have that ability are the people that make up the Tea Party Movement. They have been described as; "an authentic popular movement, brought on by anger over the economy and distrust of government--at all levels, and in BOTH parties." "an American political movement that has sponsored protests and supported candidates since 2009. Its platform is explicitly populist and is generally recognized as CONSERVATIVE and LIBERTARIAN." I think its important to point out that while a majority of the people in the movement are republican, it does not mean all of them are. They describes themselves as, "a grassroots movement that calls awareness to any issue that challenges the security, sovereignty, or domestic tranquility of our beloved nation, the United States of America." A majority of the issues I saw that they stood against were Obama and the economy. Which makes sense to me. If I decided to start to care about politics, I could easily see myself as a part of this "Tea Party" A few things that stuck with me, from our reading, when Grimes is quoted in response to things that are untrue::: "You can have all the facts, but if you don't trust the mind-set or the value system of the people involved, you can't even look at the facts anymore. This made a lot of sense to me. I have never been a fan of Obama. And from reading the poll, I found out that a lot of people who took the survey just generally don't like him, other top reasons being the health reform or that they didn't know. I don't have very good reasons as to WHY, but a lot of it comes from the fact that I believe he is a charmer, and spends entirely too much time talking. Not enough doing. And my daddy told me never to trust a man that was good with words - they're dangerous. But that's just my perspective -- from no research.
Grimes makes a good point, without the trust - facts don't exist as far as they are concerned. Carender said, "I feel like it was just running right over me and I didn't have any say in it at all..." I feel like this statement is the reason a majority of the people in the Tea Party joined the movement in the first place. They were frustrated and wanted to DO something about it. They were ready to be HEARD.
I also agreed with the themes of the Tea Party as said by Glenn Beck, "that Democrats and Republicans alike were to blame. That free markets just needed room to work. And that it was the American people, not the elites in Washington, who knew how to confront the crisis." The second one plays very nicely into my philosophy on life. Give it some space, don't hover- IT WILL WORK ITSELF OUT. So as I may not be ready to spend my free time at a rally or protest, I think what the people of this movement are doing, is good.
As Jennifer Stefano put it, "No one was representing me-- not the Republicans, not the Democrats.... Nobody cared about people like me, at all" and later said of the Tea Party: "this is where I belong." I thought this was important. This movement, I believe, is for those who don't feel like they've been represented accurately. Who don't agree with either side, right or left, anymore- the conservative liberals have found a group to belong to. People that "are as mad as hell and don't want to take this anymore" - as Howard Beale from the network said. Howard encouraged people not to just lay down and take it anymore, but to get up out of their chairs, and do something about it. Much like what the people of the movement are doing.
Sources: Washington Post, Tea Party Website, Zernicke, and myself :)
Dear Pink Highlighter,
ReplyDeleteEven though you acknowledged that many may disagree on your philosophy of life, I believe that many can also relate- a lot of people choose not to care about politics because quite frankly, being aware of worldly issues can often times be really depressing! I enjoy your happy-go-lucky attitude, and as long as you are self-aware enough to realize that you avoid politics at the risk of becoming a glum realist, then more power to ya. I applaud your ability to admit to your lack of knowing about political knowledge; you truly aren't alone.
I think it was interesting what you had to say about how conservative liberals affiliate themselves with the Tea Party movement because it provides a proper label for these seemingly unidentified people. However, I think it is also important to take into account the fact that many Tea Partiers, regardless of whether their thoughts contradicted their affiliation with the TP, felt connected to this group because of the idea of it, rather than the politics behind everything. I am not saying that you're wrong by any means, but I do think that we should all take into account the number of Tea Partiers that felt comfortable in finding their niche as opposed to finding the absolutely accurate movement to identify with. I believe there are a lot of other persuasive factors, that is all! :)
Fondest regards,
Heidi
Dearest Booth,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your grand input on my post. I'm glad you liked what I said about conservative liberals, I never really thought about it until last night when I realized I would be considered a conservative liberal. I mean I fit the definition of conservative to a T until one considers my personality and pink hair :) I appreciate the feedback and will take your suggestions into consideration. :)
Forever yours,
Oswald