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”

  2. What? Shutdown averted? But what about all the drama? What about all those goofy congress people preening for the cameras? What about the News coverage? What about the teabaggers? Oh my …
    whatever shall I do with my wringing hands???? Now what useless ploy will I worry about???? Dingbats

  3. Here’s a thought:

    Let’s have a do over in Brookfield. Bring in U S Marshals to all polling places. Only citizens already registered to vote may do so. Enough legitimate ballots shall be available at each polling place. All those coming to vote must have a form of identification which must be presented to a Marshal and matched to their registration before receiving a ballot. Absentee ballots may be requested within the first week after this announcement. Only those absentee ballots within the possession of the Government Accountability Board when the polls close will be counted. When the vote is completed, the Marshals will take possession of all ballots and bring them to the Government Accountability Board for tabulation. The vote will take place within three weeks of this announcement. (The three week time frame is provided for the purpose of absentee ballots … i week for requests, 1 week for distribution, 1 week to return)

    Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus (R) must immediately surrender all pertinent material to the Government Accountability Board and must agree not to leave the state until the do over is completed and a decision is made as to whether or not she should be charged with any criminal action.

    Problem solved. A bit of a hassle for the citizens of Brookfield but then they were the ones dumb enough to accept someone like Nickolaus in the first place.

  5. “We have confidence in Wisconsin’s county and municipal clerks, and do not believe any of them would do anything illegal to jeopardize their own reputation, or Wisconsin’s reputation for clean, fair and transparent elections.”

    It’s not like that’s never happened before either!

    cough cough cough Florida cough cough cough

  6. Thanks Elaine…I had just seen the link….When your own party running the county Nick….just sat there with a grin on her face….and did not understand that the board had concerns about her ability… all public records….funny…

  7. TPMDC
    Wisconsin Election Officials Sending Staff To Waukesha County
    Eric Kleefeld | April 8, 2011
    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/wisconsin-election-officials-sending-staff-to-waukesha-county.php?ref=fpb

    In the latest development in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the state Government Accountability Board — which oversees elections — has announced that it has sent staff to Waukesha County, to review procedures after a sudden shift in the vote count gave incumbent conservative Justice David Prosser a gain of over 7,500 voters, pushing him into the lead.

    “I have been in close contact with Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus since her news conference on Thursday, and have directed her to make the official returns from the polling places available for public inspection,” GAB director Kevin Kennedy announced in a statement. “These documents are public records. I believe she is now taking steps to ensure transparency and public confidence in the official results.”

    The statement also adds: “We have confidence in Wisconsin’s county and municipal clerks, and do not believe any of them would do anything illegal to jeopardize their own reputation, or Wisconsin’s reputation for clean, fair and transparent elections.”

    In addition, as Jessica Arp from the local CBS affiliate in Madison reports, Kennedy told reporters Friday afternoon that that GAB was not informed by Waukesha about the problem until Thursday, before Nickolaus’s press conference. Had the GAB known about it Wednesday — when Nickolaus says she first discovered the matter — Kennedy said they would have gone to the county in order to oversee the canvass, and let the press and campaigns know about it at that time.

    In the unofficial results given by the counties to the Associated Press after the election, Kloppenburg led by 204 votes, and on that basis she declared victory on Wednesday.

    But then on Thursday, as the official canvassing process was moving forward — in which counties review their polling place results from the optical ballot-scan machines, and are likely to make some amount of corrections — Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus (R) announced that a computer inputting error had resulted in the omission of the town of Brookfield’s 14,000-plus votes.

    “I’m thankful that this error was caught early in the process and during the canvass,” Nickolaus said Thursday, at a press conference in which she was joined by both the Republican and Democratic members of the county canvassing board.

    The county’s overall adjusted totals gave Prosser a net gain of 7,582 votes — an unusually high change for a recanvass, which has many Democrats crying foul. Both campaigns have now recruited top-tier attorneys with experience from the epic 2008 Minnesota Senate race recount and litigation, and the Kloppenburg campaign has announced that it will seek all relevant records from Waukesha.

    According to WisPolitics, the most up to date total of the official canvass, Prosser has a lead of 7,075 votes — which is in fact still within the 0.5% margin that would entitle Kloppenburg to request a recount at state and local expense.

  9. Chan,

    You still can’t teach a child without optic nerves to see.

    Living a full and productive life is beside the point.

    Compensating for aberrant biology via education is not the same as correcting it. A lack of physical capacity is a lack of physical capacity. Just like you don’t have the capacity to process complex thoughts like argument by analogy.

    And that is what I mean by you’re not very bright.

  10. BIL , Gyges, et al: I have a chili recipe that has been known to set fire to the wallpaper. I like chili, and I do not use ground beef. I use brisket and dice it by hand. No food processor or meat grinder for me when it comes to dicing meat. I like hot chili. In fact, I like spicy anything. I use Tabasco like other people use ketchup. Part of that comes from spending some of my formative years in Louisiana. We lived in Natchitoches and West Monroe where I developed a lifelong love for the local cuisine.

    I will check out the chili recipe in a few minutes.

  11. A child without optic nerves was your analogy not mine. I also never said that free will or rationality could overcome a physical problem like that.

    But the child with no optic nerve can learn to read using braille and can go on to live a full and productive life in spite of the loss of sight.

    And that is what I mean by biology is not destiny Mr. Nuance.

    I guess I have to explain every little simple idea to you. I didn’t spell it out because I didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to think that someone could overcome some physical malfunction through rationality and reason. They can overcome the consequences like the blind child reading through braille but not the condition. Unless of course it is a correctable condition.

    yeesh, I guess I have to be Mr. Obvious with you.

  12. OS,

    Check out his chili recipe. It sounds wonderful. As to the food beer conundrum, I find that a bit of grub aids in drinking even more beer if it is beer friendly food. Non-beer friendly food though, like ice cream, is just a good way to get out of a bad date. :mrgreen:

  13. “You are right about that, but lefties left leaning rationalists like Buddha really get off on control justice. He is a freak about control justice.”

    There.

    That’s more accurate.

  14. BIL, I did not get past the beer part. I did not realize there was more. When you have beer, what do you need food for?

  16. OS,

    Gyges has some really tasty recipes. You should check out his blog. And that is the one thing many of them have in common. They often send cardiologists screaming into the night.

  17. ekerya sez: “…the first time I ate haggis I drank the whiskey out of the gravy boat….”

    **********************

    I would wager that what you used was not the gravy boat but a quaich. A wonderful traditional Scottish serving dish for friend and foe alike to have a drink. Of course, one can put gravy in a quaich, but I doubt the residue will do a thing for The Macallan.

    http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&q=quaich&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&pdl=3000&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1120&bih=498

  18. ekeyra:

    You are right about that, but lefties like Buddha really get off on control. He is a freak about control.

    That guy would smack conservatives if given the chance or anyone else who didnt believe in socialism for that matter. Shit, he is a collectivist tool all the way.

    George Orwell was thinking of him when he wrote 1984 and Animal Farm. In future editions of both 1984 and Animal Farm the editors should substitute Big Buddha for Big Brother and Napoleon.

  19. Awwwwww. Poor lil’ Chan is lashing out. Such a fearful and hateful response to analogies you cannot understand no matter how apt. You are a simple creature.

    Stupid too.

    But and those are the best parts of what you try to pass off as a personality.

  20. Gyges sez: “,,,The tomato soup recipe starts with frying bacon in goose fat. Really.”

    ******************************************

    OMG. The coronary artery gremlin is gonna get you for that. My cardiologist would have a coronary himself if he caught me doing that to my food.

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