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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Tea Party Explained


    By retvet242, Section News
    Posted on Sun Mar 18, 2012 at 10:29:32 AM EST
    Tags: Tea Party, Kalkaska, Recalls (all tags)

    Tea Time

    by Tom Backers

    "The Tea Party Explained"

        During the recall contest between the now deceased County Prosecutor and certain members of the Board of Commissioners, I had the opportunity to canvass many areas of the County and Village of Kalkaska and spoke to hundreds of residents.  By the time the petition to recall became a moot point, two very distinct community undertones became apparent; people in the communities did not understand the Tea Party Patriots...and...many of them absolutely feared repercussions from their own local government authorities should they sign the petition to recall the Prosecuting Attorney.

        The lack of understanding confounded me.  I realize that in this County, and in this economic environment, many folks are simply too busy riding out the recession to have much time or energy to pay attention to, or research, the root causes of the situation they now find themselves in.  They only know that something is terribly wrong when they themselves have to work two or three jobs, if they can find them; and then have to watch their children and grandchildren leave the area to find work for themselves.  So in the end, the people I had opportunity to speak with at length agreed that something has to change drastically to shift the direction in which the County, Village and nation are headed; but when presented the opportunity to initiate such change at a basic and local level, feared provoking the very government that needs to change.  

        More Below

    Even so, with nearly a month remaining to the recall petition deadline for May ballot; we had collected 1,100 signatures of registered voters needed to put the issue to the people.  What is wrong with this picture?  We could have tripled that number if the people of Kalkaska weren't living in fear of their own local elected County officials.  They did not want to get involved.  

        Enter the Tea Party...

        The major impression most people get from their preferred form of media these days is that the Tea Party is made up of a collection of racist, homophobic, gun and Bible toting extremists so far to the right that they make Barry Goldwater look liberal; the younger generation will have to `Google' Goldwater, but in the print media, folks in my generation and those older will know who I'm referring to.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

        We are made up of lifelong Democrats, Republicans, and conservative `Independents' who have seen enough....and have made a personal decision to take on the established `status quo' political and government processes.  We are active in attempting to begin the process of repairing and healing the future of our children and grandchildren simply because we realize that WE are the only ones at fault by allowing the damage to that future to progress this far.   We have done this by NOT paying attention, NOT voicing our displeasure through the voting process, and NOT researching and questioning the person behind the name on the ballot.

        The Tea Party is attempting to change that simply by providing information and education of the voting public via means unavailable to them through the mainstream.  We do this by actually seeking out information and candidates that are based in facts and truth, so that those voters seeking the same are provided an opportunity have it presented to them in an open, give-and-take type forum.  This week we are right in the middle of a multitude  of such events, with candidates both local and national visiting our County over the next 10 days, most of which events have been organized by the Tea Party and local conservative Republicans.  

        The one thing any incumbent politician fears the most is a well informed electorate.  We are making every effort to provide such politicians and all candidates with exactly just such an audience, so that the people that are paying attention to the forces in play; and the need for true change in  government and outcome this election cycle are well equipped to make  informed decisions.  We advocate for principles, not status quo;  common sense, not hidden agendas; frank and honest discussion, not politically cliché' rhetoric; and we are making a serious attempt to present these things to those voters who, like us, seek facts and truth.  

        We are, as I stated previously, completely responsible for our own current dilemma, and as such...completely responsible for changing it.  Remember folks, we actually DO get the government we deserve.  This election cycle, vote like your future; and that of our children; depend on it...because it does.

    < Weekend Divertere: Alabama Presidential Forum | Following The Paper Trail and Noticing The Missing Links >


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    Well written, but... (none / 0) (#1)
    by KG One on Sun Mar 18, 2012 at 07:15:54 PM EST
    ...what you've wrote about is indicative of voter attitudes outside of Kalkaska as well.

    I had a similar issue when I was circulating the MCHF petition around my town.

    Democrats didn't like it that someone even had the audacity to try to circulate that petition. Even moreso that I was doing it by myself.

    I was shadowed. Untoward comments made at me. And people going to houses further down the block ahead of me to "educate" the people about what I was doing.

    Needless to say, going door-to-door in my own town didn't pay off as well as I would've liked.

    There were other times when local pols got a little too full of themselves and basically told the residents they they purportedly serve to "Go to Hell" in no uncertain terms. They didn't want their input.

    They were elected to make decisions. They will be making the final call.

    It will be a fitting epitaph.

    tea party extremism (none / 0) (#2)
    by Rougman on Tue Mar 20, 2012 at 12:09:59 PM EST
    It is truly an odd set of circumstances by which those who are fed up with a $15 trillion national debt, see troubles ahead for a health care system soon to be run by the same bureaucrats who currently run the postal service, and those who would like to see the departments of Energy, State, Interior, and Transportation collude on something other than how to make energy prices necessarily skyrocket, are seen to be the extremists.  

    Tea party activists are seen as too confrontational to compromise.  We fall outside the mainstream, hate progress, and yearn for the days when choiceless women did nothing but bake pies and make babies.  No wonder we are hated.  

    We hear this sort of drivel on every network news broadcast, on every cable news network (save sometimes FOX), on NPR, read it in nearly every major newspaper across America, and have to listen to it from both Democrat and establishment Republican leaders alike whenever we're unfortunate enough to have one of them find a microphone.  As comrade Lenin said so many years ago, repeat a falsehood often enough and soon it becomes the truth.

    Barbara Bush in a recent interview asked "when did compromise become a dirty word?"  She was lamenting the polar opposites of both political parties, harsh rhetoric, and was largely criticizing the uncompromising desires of the tea party.  (For Barbara's sake I'll clarify something...compromise is not a dirty word.  The recession caused by her husband's compromise on his "no new taxes" pledge was downright filthy.)

    Making compromises has never been the problem of conservatives--our problem has been that those for whom we have voted in the past too often already represent a compromise.  In fact, the greatest single motivation I had for becoming more politically active was the selection of John McCain to represent conservatives in the last presidential election.  Don't tell me that having that milquetoast bureaucrat sitting atop the ballot wasn't a huge compromise of conservative principles.

    Conservatives are asked by the GOP to compromise at the ballot box and then the candidate we poorly select is asked to compromise further for the children or the elderly or the environment or for reproductive rights.  This is how we end up with a $15 trillion debt--electing compromise candidates who make very stern faces while compromising even farther from a foundation built on shifting sand.  

    Perhaps no one wants that $15 trillion debt.  But actually wanting to elect somebody up front who will do something about it--now that is extreme.

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