The Rapid City Journal published a column by Jim Kent on 9/2/2010. Jim says he likes tea and I’m sure he is an aficionado in the tea world but he obviously knows nothing about the tea party movement. He says that the tea party movement is a phase but then he says it’s a “power-broker controlled movement” so I’m not quite sure his phases are in order. Perhaps his phase is waning when it should be waxing.
In any case, the tea party movement is anything but power-broker controlled. The tea party groups are not controlled at all. They are autonomous groups of people united by the belief that government has gotten too big and too intrusive in our lives. They believe in a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. They believe in the Bill of Rights, all of them, including that pesky 10th Amendment. They believe in fiscal responsibility, family values and Almighty God.
The tea parties are not led or controlled by anyone, not Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. All of those great Americans supporters the tea parties because the tea parties stand on conservative principles of limited government.
Mr. Kent wants to know from whom the tea parties want to “take back America.” Here’s your answer, Jim. They will take back America from you!!! Drunk on the liberal kool-aid (not tea) you question the rationale of cutting federal spending only because South Dakota receives more in federal funds than it pays in federal taxes.
Whoa, let’s pause here a moment to explain that the State of South Dakota doesn’t pay federal taxes. The people of South Dakota pay taxes. So the monies we “get” from the federal government were collected from the people of South Dakota and from other hard working Americans. It was then “managed” and appropriated by bureaucrats who extracted a huge percentage of it for “management” and then disbursed some of it through dubious and incredibly inefficient agencies to programs cleverly designed to make every American dependent on, you guessed it, the federal government. The result is deficit spending extraordinaire.
It’s not the “road projects, school projects, law enforcement projects and on and on that keep South Dakota going” as you stated. It’s the hard work of the men and women of South Dakota and South Dakota businesses that keep us going through the taxes that they pay. Do you work, Jim? Have you looked at your pay stub? The government rips money from your paycheck before you get to buy food, medicine, clothing, healthcare, housing, etc. If the working people of America had to write a check for their tax liability each payday, there would be more than just a tea party movement but a full scale tax revolt.
You also write about Glenn Beck’s “selective civil rights mentality.” I presume that you are alluding to his support of Arizona in the illegal immigration issue. When did it become wrong to expect immigrants to adhere to immigration law in the United States?
Perhaps you can better understand Arizona’s problem by looking at it this way. “What if the owners of the (Phoenix) Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn’t be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns’ ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?” This was posted by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on FaceBook. Do you think that if you owned the Phoenix Suns that you would take some action to remedy this problem? Do you think that you might ask some fans to produce their ticket stubs?
Turns out we do agree on two things though. The first is that the Republicans must share the blame for the financial debacle. But the Republicans that must share the blame are the RINOs, those Republicans that have become liberals….those Republicans that have abandoned fiscal conservatism, those Republicans that the tea party candidates are defeating in primaries across the nation. Tea party members are not just Republicans, they are conservatives that will supplant the RINOs and return the GOP to the conservative principles on which this country was established and prospered. The second thing we agree on is that you really should stop whining, that would free up some time and mental dexterity to do your homework before writing about something based on supposition.
Ed Randazzo-Rapid City, SD
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You right wing d u n c es don’t yet get that India is no longer a backwater, it is a force to be reckoned with (IT guys: where have your jobs gone?). They are as deserving of a top-flight summit as Russia or China are. By starting the good-will train early, we help ensure that India links with us, as opposed to Europe (read: Russia) or China.
What is wrong with some of you people? I don’t get it! Why would you want to extend the Bush tax cuts to the highest earning (2-3%) to the wealthy? It’s been proven that these individuals do not re-invest in this Country. If anything they take their dollars and invest in other countries and with goes millions of jobs with it! Haven’t they stuffed their pockets enough and why do you support this, unless you people make more than $250,000/yr. You fools remind me when Hitler was in power and the have not’s followed him as well.
I agree with you that you don’t get it. The wealthy, the risk takers, the business owners are the ones who create jobs. They derive their success from the sale of goods and services to their consumers, who in turn, provide the profits AND pay their taxes as well.
I’ve read the above article and I am hard pressed to see where Mr. Obama is bringing home much of anything. These deals where for the most part a done deal…yes, yes I know they say that his presence just solidified them, forced the event, helped the negotiating parties concentrate, are you kidding me…. to that I call Bulls@*t!. Pardon the vulgarity, but I have to call this one as I see it. That is the biggest crock of you know what that I have heard. People….I can assure you that these principles have done nothing but concentrate on getting these deals done, why you ask……MONEY, they are in business to make Money. This is an example of Mr. Obama jumping on a band wagon just as the tune is coming to a conclusion so that he can claim that not only did he play most of the instruments but was the director as well.
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WordPress
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BCB,
Nice post. As you know you and I differ on the AZ immigration law so I hope you’ll appreciate my sincerity as to the merits of your post. I am also confused by the Tea Party’s zest for fiscal responsibility when so much of their platform will require billions in additional funding.
For example, can you imagine what would happen to the farming and ranching economy here in S.D. if federal subsidies were diminished by even 50%? So I’m wondering exactly how the Tea Party will handle federal subsidies? Would they reduce them by a significant percentage? They vehemently opposed the Wall Street bail-outs and corporate bail-outs. What’s the difference between them and the vast amount of federal “welfare” dollars dolled out to virually very farm and ranch in S.D?
Help us out Ed.
TEA = astroturf
Mr. Randazzo,
Thanks especially for your comments about Arizona. As Governor Brewer has explained, Arizona appears to be a very dangerous place these days given that State’s problems with enforcing that State’s own laws against murder, rape, robbery, burglary, and other violent crimes, due to the federal government dropping the ball on rounding up Mexican families and deporting them.
Some SD folks I know had planned to visit Arizona during the cold months and perhaps even take up a retirement residence there. Assuming what Governor Brewer says to be true about how horrible and dangerous a place that State has become these folks will undoubtedly change their plans and will visit other safer places in the cold months, if any can be found in the USA.
To make matter worse, current news reports indicate that the prisons and holding tanks in America are already overcrowded with estimates of 2.3 million prisoners, which is apparently more prisoners than any other country, including those countries such as China and India with significantly greater populations than the US. The cost of incarcerating this group of prisoners is estimated at around $70 billion dollars a year. Recent reports predict that by 2011 the U.S. prison population will increase by 13%, and that paying for that increase in incarcerated people alone will cost American taxpayers and local/state budgets an estimated $27.5 billion more.
If the TEA party prefers that the federal government step up and do its immigration law duty, then would the TEA party support whatever increase in federal taxes and federal employees that might be necessary to pay for the unavoidable cost of building and maintaining more prison camps to hold these dangerous people pending deportation, and to pay the cost of deportation once each man, woman and child is processed? The news reports that there are over 11 million of these undesirables living in the USA right now who have not yet been tracked down and apprehended by federal agents, which is over five times the number of people currently being held in prison. Tracking down and incarcerating 11 million people will be costly.
Under these dire and urgent circumstances, would the TEA party advocate increasing the federal bureaucracy by five times, and assessing additional federal taxes to raise the approximately $137 billion dollars more (5 times the above $27.5 billion estimate to meet the 13% increase) needed to incarcerate the 11 million Mexicans and others deemed undesirable or illegal throughout the USA?
In addition to the cost of incarcerating these men, women and children, I also wonder how many new federal police officers will be needed to search each of our homes and businesses, and examine each of our papers, to root out the undesirables? If this requires another increase in the federal bureaucracy, along with an increase in taxes to pay for the salaries of all the additional federal police officers, along with the expenses of going to each American’s home and place of business to examine our papers and search for undesirables, would the TEA party support the necessary tax increase? Or does the TEA party advocate that these expensive duties be the obligation of State and local governments? If the cost seems too high for State and local governments to pay, then would the TEA party support instead privately funded vigilante groups?
This is really a big problem and I have not seen any meaningful proposals to address these details from either party. I truly wonder how the TEA party would suggest approaching these issues?
Dear bearcreekbat,
The unwillingness of the federal government to secure our borders has indeed worsened the illegal immigration immeasurably. I, too have not seen any meaningful proposals to deal with and overcome the problem that already exists inside our borders.
As it is a complex problem, I will commit to a study of the various aspects of the problem and propose some solutions. I will begin an investigation sometime after the November elections. I will say at the outset that TEA parties do not oppose taxation for the legitimate Constitutionally mandated operation of any government, federal, state or local.
Thank you for your questions. If you have suggestions or proposals you would like to suggest, please share them with me.