Tea Party

As some of you know I am running for a political office. Its a school board and non-paid (just like my nonprofit propheting) but an elected position all the same. And of course I would have opponents so I'm having to purchase signs and campaign and all that jazz. But I have to admit its pretty damned interesting.

Being a fiscal conservative and a social moderate is quite the balancing act. To mix reason with politics is almost undoable. Its like Spirituality and Religion - its hard to get past the rhetoric and noise to what is actually important. But I'm trying.

I have been on this Facebook thing for some time now and it is quite interesting as well. Reconnecting with folks I haven't heard from in 20 years and some folks I have never even met. I like the way technology functions in this respect. However, sometimes our media doesn't always work this way.

Take the Tea Party's of last week. To watch the mainstream media, one would think that it was an isolated minority of right wing extremists fueled by Fox News and talk radio. That the audience was exclusively those folks. I think the British attempted the same labeling and propaganda against the Colonists/Founding Fathers when they threw their little temper-tantrum in Boston. Admittedly, there were "some" fringe elements there, but they were NOT representative of the overall crowd. There were democrats, libertarians, republicans, conservatives, moderates, christians, non-christians, spectators, and others.

And I think the main stream media and possibly some talk shows have missed the point. Its not Anti-Obama. Its Anti-Stupid spending of our tax dollars. And this was started in the last days of the Bush Administration. Of course the finger pointing is always prevelant depending on one's point of view, and enough fingers pointed in enough differing directions is bound to cause enough confusion so that the issues and solutions are not forth coming. And thats unfortunate.

Now I'm a pretty simple fella, and somehow spending money we don't have (and spending it recklessly) just doesn't make sense to me. If we have people in this country without medical insurance, losing their homes, and a growing unemployment rate, why in the world would we pledge billions to other countries (such as Sudan) when we are having to borrow money from China just to stay afloat here? And if we are going to bailout anyone, how about the people who paid the taxes in the first place? Why give it to the big corporations? We see what they have done with it and the common folks, like myself, are still no better off.

Well, Bush is to blame. No, Obama is to blame. No, greedy corporations are to blame. No, irresponsible home buyers are to blame. How about all of the above. Okay, so everyone is to blame. Could we at least quit the pandering and propaganda and solve this issue. The media tore Bush down all the time. The talk shows tear Obama down all the time. Maybe its time we tore ourselves down, and these political lines and idealogy, come to grips with we aren't ever all going to agree on the best way to do anything, and at least get something done?

probably not. Well, I gotta go put out some more campaign signs....