They don’t understand what is happening. Don’t tell them:
For a year and a half, we’ve seen rallies and town-hall shouting and attack ads and Fox News special reports. But I still haven’t the foggiest idea what these folks actually want, other than to see like-minded Republicans winning elections. To be sure, I admire their passion, and I applaud their willingness to get involved in public affairs. If more Americans chose to take a more active role in the political process, the country would be better off and our democracy would be more vibrant.
But that doesn’t actually tell us what these throngs of Americans are fighting for, exactly. I’m not oblivious to their cries; I’m at a loss to appreciate those cries on anything more than a superficial level.
That’s right. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Update: Someone thinks she has it all figured out:
The point is that (a) the teabaggers don’t actually have a cause, just a lot of resentments; and (2) [sic] their slogans and symbols are displays of tribal dominance only. Most teabaggers have no idea what the slogans and symbols mean.
As does someone else:
I don’t really think of most of them are [sic] bad people, especially the elderly ones who have been frightened and manipulated into fighting against their own best interests. Yet, they are part of the problem and if we’re to save civil society, sadly, these are the people we must battle.
Remember, shhhhh.
——————————————–
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
they'll figure it out in about 2 months.
Done. This one was too easy. I'm just a rotten hater of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for anyone, except who I think.
I am obviously just a college educated, faith filled, middle class Mom, who only has eyes on my Children and Grandchildrens future life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Please by all means have your piece, my piece and so far, their pieces too. I'm just dismissing your rights after all, so you get everything. Correct.
Prof. Jacobson, I was unable to follow your no-doubt-good advice, in no small part because there is a perverse pleasure in handing an opponent a deadly weapon you know with certainty he cannot use. If they don't understand by now no force will penetrate their skulls, and there is also great pleasure in spleen-venting.
In case trackbacks don't work, the result is here. Your comments and advice are eagerly solicited, as are those of your commentariat.
Regards,
Ric
It seems to be a lack of insight and perspective. These people seem to have the same attitude that our politicians have.
One good example is from WWII. I knew a number of camps survivors. They would indicate that many people would assure them that the buildings were indead just showers and that the Nazis had their best interest at heart.
Apparently you and most Democrats are educated beyond your intelligence level.
They are very clear on we want.
"Yet, they are part of the problem and if we're to save civil society, sadly, these are the people we must battle."
I am sure they hope to find a final solution to this problem soon
Here's one thing not wanted:
Stimulus grants for the Muslim Brotherhood
Can't anyone stop this?
"But that doesn't actually tell us what these throngs of Americans are fighting for, exactly. I'm not oblivious to their cries; I'm at a loss to appreciate those cries on anything more than a superficial level."
and
"Most teab*ggers have no idea what the slogans and symbols mean."
And these people think they are smart? Intelligent? Thinkers who know better than us? Unbelievable. Pathetic.
"Yet, they are part of the problem and if we're to save civil society, sadly, these are the people we must battle."
This is "final solution" thinking. And we are the ones who are stupid, evil, fearmongers, etc.?
They are blind to truth. Reminds me of when Sarah Palin resigned her governor's seat. She told the people why she was resigning, and the leftists still don't understand.
Epic. Fail.
You know, the willfully blind will fall. There is no helping it – they choose not to see what is right in front of their eyes (or in this case to hear the words being literally shouted from the heights).
If it were not so pathetic, it would almost be funny. Plain as the nose on your face. (and all the other cliches that go with it!) 🙂
I will keep the secret. But I am not sure they would understand the explaination even if it were told in a Dr. Seus poem, Or a Dick and Jane book.
I am not an american, but I can say this: I ccan see November from Portugal!
The condescension dripping from the second and third excerpts almost made he hurl. I don't know why you put yourself through reading that kind of crap.
BTW, I came across a new definition of liberalism that I rather liked:
"The core of liberalism is the spoiled child. Miserable, unsatisfied, undisciplined, demanding, despotic, and useless. A philosophy of sniveling brats."
I'd say the odds are pretty high that the three authors you excerpted fit nicely in this definition.
Ooozing intelligence far above any stupid old teab@gger: (a) and (2)
????
SERIOUSLY?
I really didn't realize there was a whole community of people so insulated in their sense of superiority that they have never thought to examine their notions or look at history to see how it has worked out. Do they just believe everything they are told and swallow it hook line and sinker. Could they be so stupid as not to understand that Obama has unilaterally taken over companies, removed executives, nullified contracts and appointed overlords giving them hitherto unmatched powers? To not understand that in giving us his vision of health care he has saddled all of us and our unborn grandchildren with debt and destroyed a health care system that was the envy of the world. It is so depressing to experience those people and to realize that they are cheering on the destruction of America's Constitution and our traditional rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness and equal justice under the law.
I've always admired the ability of leftists to perceive my interests more clearly than I can.
It would help if they stopped ignoring us. Here is Obama insisting that he ignored yesterday's rally. THAT is what I call an insular and divisive president. He may be a "citizen of the world" but by his own admission, he refuses to acknowledge the will of the majority of Americans.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38906337/ns/nightly_news/
As for the other liberals who claim to not know what the Tea Party message is, it would help if you allowed us to engage in the national discussion conducted through the traditional channels. Listening is a big part of communication.
What frightens them so much is that there is no leader to destroy in order to destroy the tea party movement. Personal destruction to enervate the masses is not viable this time. There is a mass movement in opposition to their policies and leaders.
They suspect this will end badly for them…and they are right.
In fairness to the lefties, the Tea Party isn't exactly straightforward. I found this article was pretty insightful: http://www.weeklystandard.com/print/articles/two-faces-tea-party
McClatchy-owned newspaper The State in SC is a classic example of insulation. They shut down the comments on the AP article about the "Restoring Honor" rally in DC as it was getting loaded down with refutations of the AP article and the reported "tens of thousands" attendees. They relegated the print version to page 4. On the front page? All of a sudden they are proud of American exceptionalism during WWII as they are running a 5 part series on the Battle of the Bulge. McClatchy is an odd outfit!
It appears they still haven't heard us yet.
At this point, it can only be through willful ignorance. Well go ahead and play deaf, dumb, and blind. It won't buy you anything when the next Revolution breaks out.
I've read the comments posted here and, aside from Ratyan, all I'm seeing is: Lefties are so blind, stupid and brainwashed they can't understand something that is plain as day.
Well, no, actually it isn't. What does "We're taking back our freedoms" mean? From whom are we taking them back? Specifically, which freedoms are we talking about here?
When people rail against socialism, which forms of socialism are they talking about? Public schools? Public libraries? Public roads? Fire departments? Law enforcement? State and national parks? Medicare? Or is there an invisible line somewhere that only they can see?
Some say there should be no separation between Church and State, but they never tell us which Christian religion should then set the rules and dictate policy. (You do realize there are some rather large, polarizing disputes about which is the one True Christian religion.) Should the Catholic Pope determine the religious dogma to be taught in public schools? The Mormon elders? Baptists? Quakers? Pentecostals? How about an illiterate farmer, who heard the call to spread God's word while he was milking cows one night? (I actually know one of the latter.)
Slogans, generalities, unsubstantiated opinions and a recitation of talking points are no substitute for simply explaining in specific, concrete terms what you're talking about. We're not mind readers, you know.
Ratyun, thank you for introducing some substance here. I wish you had gone a little farther and included some links to your sources. Without providing any supporting data, I have no way of knowing if this is simply your opinion or you have some solid facts to work with. Which companies has Obama taken over? Are you referring to the auto industry loans that saved thousands of jobs? Or has Obama been up to some actual skulduggery we need to know about? As for HCR. Obama didn't put that bill together, the House and Senate did. Should he have refused to sign it, and left 30 million Americans without medical coverage, even though the actual cost to you and me will be about the same with or without HCR? (And no, I do not like the HCR bill. It should have been single payer, which would have been more cost effective.)
A poor teacher blames his students when they fail to learn; a good teacher blames himself. And a great teacher learns the most about his subject when he must explain it to others so clearly that it is easily understood by them.
Muldoon asks: "has Obama been up to some actual skulduggery we need to know about?"
Well, yeah. In the case of GM, he deprived bondholders of their rights under the law by abrogating GM's obligations to them outside of bankruptcy court.
A company which can only continue in business because of government support is a company which belongs to the government. Socialism.
Muldoon, Obamacare isn't going to work. Medicine is a demanding field, and fewer people will choose a life of hard work and study which results in minimal rewards.
Why do you think one insurance company (the government) will be better than the collection of private insurance companies we have now?
Listen, if you can. My daughter tried to renew a prescription for a dermatology medicine she got last year. Unfortunately, she graduated from college and my insurance no longer covers her. So, she was somewhat shocked to find that the price was $202.00. Now why is that, do you think? Big Pharma exercising their muscle? Or the inevitable result of a huge pool of insurance money being available for the product, thereby driving up the price?
Sweet Smoking Judas!!! This is so simple. If there were NO insurance for drugs, then the drugs would be affordable. No company prices products out of the market.
"A poor teacher blames his students when they fail to learn; a good teacher blames himself. And a great teacher learns the most about his subject when he must explain it to others so clearly that it is easily understood by them."
You clearly haven't been in a High School classroom here in the "dirty south".
How is it the teacher's fault if the class cannot learn due to the disrespect shown by the disruptive student…the one that cares less about learning and more about slinging rocks to get the blinged out LTD that his rap-star idols drive, to get the hand cannon that he can hold sideways like they do on TV and movies, to be able to "smack my b*!ch up" like the rap songs say? Could it possibly be that the marxist/lefty/progressive/liberals wouldn't DARE ruin the self-esteem of one of these fragile, developing minds of such huge potential by kicking them out of the classroom, corporal punishment and banishment to an alternative school where they could possibly learn a trade or perform public service, military style? give me a friggin' break, mister "I'm an elitist, much smarter than you". We are America and we are sick of you!
"against their own best interests" – this sums it up in a nutshell. The schizophrenic left can't fathom that there are people in this country who actually are concerned about something beyond the end of their nose, however they will turn around and call us every name in the book when we say what we DO want : (Insert secret list of demands here)
Not to mention, how do they know what is in my best interest? Isn't that for me to decide?
Thanks for your response, David.
I am incensed about the whole TARP thing. For years, stockholders had been told that corporate CEOs deserved to make mega-millions, because they're so good at what they do. Well, that was a lie now, wasn't it? Unfortunately, when the housing bubble burst and we were threatened with the worst depression since the crash of '29, the scoundrels pretty much held a gun to America's head, and said, "If we go down, we're taking all of you down with us."
In Obama's defense, by the time he took office, that steaming pile of manure was already there, sitting on his desk. The financial institutions had already grabbed their TARP money–no strings attached–and run off with the loot. And two of our three major car companies were sitting there with their hands out, saying, "ME too."
At this point, Obama had to make a judgement call. Should he let GM and Chrysler crash and burn–in which case everybody loses, including bond holders who would only receive pennies on the dollar (if that) in a bankruptcy fire sale–or should he try to salvage this mess? We might have differing opinions about the wisdom of his choice, but I think we'd both agree that the bankster debacle was a travesty. So Obama said, "Not going to go down that road. If the taxpayers are bailing you out, that makes them shareholders, and as shareholders we have a right to some say in how your companies are run. You are free to buy us out at any time."
For more on how complicated this mess is: http://www.gao.gov/PRODUCTS/GAO-10-492
I think the high cost of drugs in the U.S. borders on criminal, but I believe this is primarily due to the deep pockets of Big Pharma and the buying of favorable legislation. Check out the cost of those same drugs in Canada (it's easy to Google). Canada provides national health care for all of its citizens. So why do the same drugs cost so much less there than here? Used to be you could get your meds from Canada, but as of 5 or 6 years ago, they're confiscated at the border. Who passed that legislation making it illegal to purchase legally prescribed drugs in Canada and bring them back into the U.S.? Why did they do this? We're talking about the same drugs, manufactured by the same pharmaceutical companies.
I agree with you that if no one carried insurance, drug prices would have to go down.
But how do you propose to accomplish this? I seriously doubt that many of us with private insurance would willingly drop our drug coverage–this, despite the fact that it has become increasingly harder to afford the rising rates. Why are the rates skyrocketing? One reason is because expenses for medical treatment of those who have no health care coverage is passed on via inflated charges to those of us who do have insurance. Like it or not, we're already paying other people's medical bills.
Many thanks, David, for explaining where you're coming from. There's really no difference between those on the Right and those on the Left; we share the same concerns. Problem is, both groups rely on totally different sources of information and, as a consequence, neither group understands what the other is talking about.
Scooter Jay,
Where did you get the idea that teachers on the Left want to coddle those disruptive little rotters? Can't speak for the "dirty south" (your words, not mine) but in the State where I live, they get jerked out of classrooms and sent packing real quick by teachers on both sides of the political aisle. Here alternative schools are available, where at-risk kids can learn a trade or get their act together, but this often comes with some pretty stiff rules, such as regular attendance, zero tolerance of disruptive behavior and mandatory drug testing.
What kind of responsible teacher or parent could possibly approve of the toxic garbage being spewed out by the entertainment industry? Despite what you may have seen on some concocted TV show, most liberals every bit as much as most conservatives consider this trash pure poison. There's good reason why advertisers pay millions for a 60 second commercial — it sells products. Well, if 60 seconds sells a product, think what tripe gets sold in a TV show, movie or music piped directly into kids' ears.
The First Amendment to the Constitution says:
"Congress shall make no laws . . . abridging the freedom of speech…" So my question to you is: What do you propose that we do about this very serious problem?
Frankly, I don't have any good answers. But if you do, I'd be very happy to fall in line right behind you.