Congress, Justice, Politics, Society

Tea Party Versus the Middle Class

Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger

 

It seems like everywhere you turn there is a story about the how bad the deficit is and how the government must make drastic cuts to save the economy and reduce the deficit.  The Tea Party is clinging to their demands for $100 Billion in budget cuts or they say they will shut down the government.  “Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, a tea party favorite in Congress, urged taking a hard-line on budget cuts – and if that meant a shutdown, then so be it.  “If liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and shut down the government instead of making a small down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, shut it down,” Congressman Pence said, eliciting a chant of “Cut or shut! Cut or shut!” from the crowd. Republicans worried about blame for a shutdown might not be so happy with Pence for that.” Christian Science Monitor

It is interesting to note that cuts in the bloated defense budget were not included in the demands made by the Republicans and Tea party faithful.  They want to cut the programs that seem to do the most good for the poor and the middle class, all the while allowing the wealthy and corporations to get tax breaks and tax credits. We have seen the stories detailing so many of the big corporations that paid little or no federal tax.  “Last week, the New York Times reported that General Electric (GE), the world’s largest corporation paid nothing in federal corporate income taxes in 2010. In fact, the company made over $14 billion in profits and actually received a $3.2 billion tax benefit.” Think Progress

That is an amazing statistic.  GE not only paid no federal taxes, they actually got billions in tax credits!  That means that all of those nurses, and firemen and state workers who were in danger of losing their jobs, paying more in insurance premiums and losing their collective bargaining rights in states across the union because of the dire economic situation in their states, actually paid more taxes to the Federal Government than the Third largest corporation in the world!  Why aren’t the Tea Party faithful going after the GE’s of the world to share in the sacrifice?

The Tea Party is not satisfied with the large cuts that have been already made and those offered by the Democrats, they simply want to tear away at the heart of the programs that help you and I.  They want to end all funding to Planned Parenthood that would actually put poor women in the street looking for serious health care programs because they are also demanding to defund The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as they refer to it as. “With a hard deadline looming, talks to prevent a government shutdown have been stymied for a week because Tea Party members of the House have demanded everything: not just some of their cuts but almost all of them, and not just a reduction in spending but a reduction only in the programs they don’t like. Many are insisting Democrats also agree to nonbudgetary riders, like ending the financing of Planned Parenthood or health care reform. “  New York Times

Why does the Tea Party want to attack the programs that help the most people?  Why doesn’t the Tea Party include the Defense budget in its budget cut plans?  Why does the Tea Party not want to force our largest corporations to pay their fair share of Federal taxes?  I submit that the Tea Party is only concerned about helping themselves.  Just who makes up the Tea Party?  According to one poll, the majority of the Tea Party is comprised of white, male, wealthy Republicans. “The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.   They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”  And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.” ‘ New York Times

If I read this poll correctly, the Tea Party hates Obama and they think black people and poor people are getting all of the breaks from the government.  They also want to end wasteful government spending, but most of them want to keep “government’s big hands” off of their Medicare and Social Security!  In other words, I want mine, but the hell with everyone else!  These guys might be well-educated, but they must not be well read if they think the poor and minorities are getting all of the “big breaks” from the Federal government.  Maybe they need to stop listening to intelligent politicians like Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul and start reading Prof. Turley’s blog!  What is your take?

 

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger

489 thoughts on “Tea Party Versus the Middle Class”

  1. Hey Libs, you all still celebrating? I think you read this wrong. People are really pissed off and I see you misreading how people are thinking on a daily basis.

    You need to get out more and take the pulse of the nation, not read what other libs are saying and thinking it constitutes a majority.

    Most of the time its funny to watch you all land on your faces.

  2. W=c,

    I have a long time crush on Ms. Merchant. Yes indeed. Her voice is sooooo sexy.

  4. ekeyra,

    “Heres a line of logic that i doubt anyone has presented to you before. If I, as an individual, have no right to commit violence on you or take your money or your possessions how can any number of people confer a right they do not have to any government?”

    Because social compacts involve tradeoffs for benefits. Derived from the consent of the governed, they are an agreement to abide by laws, protect one another from violence, fraud and/or negligence, and to accept certain duties in exchange for this arrangement. Duties like taxation where the monies are spent on the general welfare and common defense in the case of the Constitution. It’s not violence. It’s an agreement. And like any agreement, you are free to leave and enter into an agreement with another country if you so desire. You may leave and renounce your citizenship should you so desire, thus removing yourself from both the duties and the benefits of the compact. Being born here grants you membership in the compact automatically, but you are indeed free to leave it.

    “Also, i bet that negro guy is really upping your appreciation of my correspondence. haha jeez whered you find him?”

    It’s not that I don’t appreciate your correspondence. You have shown you are capable of thought no matter how misinformed it may be at times. It’s just that many of your political and economic stances are simply childish when compared to the scope of all possibilities. The reason I say this is because throughout the entirety of human history, no society with any kind of stability has ever operated off of anarchical principles. Contiguous civilization requires stability. Stability requires a certain amount of rules. If you want to see what the principles of anarchy yield, you need look no further than post-colonial Africa. Many of their countries are essentially lawless and essentially a giant crime scene where the strong brutalize the weak without fear of repercussion. In addition, they are technologically retrograde, their inherent instability unable to attract foreign investment in infrastructure or build a domestic tax base stable enough to build on their own.

    As to how I attract imbeciles and trolls? It is a well known fact that the mentally and intellectually deficient often lash out at those smarter than them out of jealousy, feelings of inadequacy and intimidation. He (or she, but most likely he) can’t help it. They are simply too stupid and lacking in self-examination to control themselves. In this instance I am talking about the trolls who insist on making it personal – as if I give a damn, not the paid political operatives.

  5. Ekerya,

    Econ 205: When the teacher explained the limitations and assumptions of various economic models.

    He then told a joke about a spherical cow in a vacuum.

    You?

  7. ekeyra:

    they think we have a free market here in the US and that is what caused our current problem. Same stuff the New Dealers said, capitalism failed. Never mind that the banking system was manipulated through the Federal Reserve which caused a worse situation. Wait didn’t we the do the same thing in 2008?

    I don’t think there is any hope for them. You cant teach them anything because they know it all already. I have never seen a group of people so cock sure about what isn’t so. Must be those liberal arts educations they have. Long on fluff and short on substance.

  8. Yes voting irregularities, right here in River City and that rhymes with real shitty and that stands for Fraud with a capital F.

    So we wont know the results until the votes are recounted and if both sides are smart they will contest some of the votes.

    I understand you dont need to register prior to an election in WI.

    I bet there hasnt been an honest election in this country in what, 224 years.

    It really needs to be cleaned up somehow.

  9. Gyges,

    Glad to know your so qualified on the behavior of free markets. Where did you study yours? According to buddha every country in the world has taxes, so where is this free market you are drawing your conclusions from?

  10. Woosty’s still a Cat,

    Oh my god … that was positively hilarious! Nice cello work.

  12. Ekerya,

    Corn subsidies are targeted to reduce prices, not increase competition, thus not covered by what I said.

    The idea is that if 5 big agricultural companies control market, then disrupting one of them interrupts 20% of the food production in the country. If however, there are 100s of smaller countries producing food, each of them is responsible for a much smaller share of the food supply. Protecting the food supply from disruptions by localized events. In other words, the goal isn’t to distort the costs of food, which is the goal of the current system; the idea is to counteract the tendency of markets to become oligarchies when there are high barriers to entry, like their are in the agriculture business. Free markets are only efficient when they’re competitive markets.

    Regarding GE, It’s already their money by the time it gets taxed. I don’t suddenly get more money because GE didn’t pay their taxes. I’ve already paid for the product. If they’re getting taxed on profit, it means they’ve found a price where they can make money selling their good. All the tax does is make their net profit a little less, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re still making a profit.

    So it’s either I buy a product at $X and pay my share of the taxes, or I pay $X and pay my share and GE’s share. Boy, I sure am glad they avoided taxes to put money in my pocket.

  13. I heard today on the radio that in 2004 there were 4000 to 5000 more votes cast than people casting.

    So there may have been voting irregularities.

  16. ekeyra,
    My life and many others were made better because of the sacrifice of my Father and many others Fathers and Mothers. If war was necessary to stop Hitler, then I guess violence is part and parcel of war.

  17. AY,

    It’s the Thursday/Friday trolls. Really, it’s kind of an insult because they used to be assigned to us starting on Wednesday. I don’t know if we fell in importance or they had a cost-cutting memo …

  18. SwM,

    Besides, AY and I are headed out there in our fully outfitted vote counting bus … we’ll show ’em how it’s done!

  19. So who is jacking this thread? I agree with Blouise….that its almost done…but still…is the asshat from Florida around….and I don’t mean Spindell….

  20. SwM,

    Don’t worry … this was bound to happen. Keep the Franken/Coleman situation in mind …”Five months after a loss on Election Day, four months after he won in a recount, a week after prevailing in a tedious trial, the comedian and author might well be on his way to becoming the 59th Democrat in the United States Senate.”(CNN)

    The lawyers are all set to go and Walker’s administration will be spending a huge amount of the state’s budget on this recount plus all those recalls coming … it’s going to be a busy, busy summer which keeps the issue in front of the people which is perfect for the democrats and not so perfect for the republicans.

    With any luck this will carry over into 2012 which is very much in the best interest of democrats. The democratic base, huge as it is, takes a lot of prodding to get moving but once it starts to move, it rolls over everything in its path as the election of Obama proved. The base is now moving …

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