Day: April 16, 2009

I’m a passionate person.

But I don’t think I’m really that passionate on my blog.

I try to be politically correct and look at a situation from all angles. I have friends (hi friends!) and family (hi family!) who read my blog, so that accountability is always, ALWAYS, in the back of my mind whenever I post something here.

But I have found myself becoming a bit more passionate, a bit more preachy, a bit more opinionated these past several weeks and I’m not sure why.

Well actually, I think I do know why: I’m losing patience with people in general and our imperfect government specifically. I’m frustrated, worried, scared, and angry with the direction our country seems to be headed.

This current administration has just served to be the fuse that has lit my opinionated explosive. I was just as passionate about how things were run with past administrations but the only thing that kept my outbursts under control was the fact that I could agree with some of what was happening.

I haven’t been able to agree with many things since Obama took office.

The fact that the Republican party doesn’t really have a spokesperson through all of this frustration is the core reason the Tea Parties even took place yesterday. People are frustrated. And they (we) feel hopeless. No one person is taking a stand and saying, “Hey there, whoa cowboy. Don’t you think we’re moving too fast? Don’t you think pouring all of this money into the economy is going to make things worse in the long run?”

But no one appears to be doing that. At least, no one Washington is listening to.

I made the mistake of following the hastag #teaparty on Twitter yesterday. There were some really good responses to what was happening around our country, but the majority of responses disappointed me.

The sheer number of people who CHOSE to focus on the wrong things and compare this protest to something disgusting like the whole tea bagging thing (look it up in an urban dictionary if you don’t know what that means) or who resorted to insults simply because they didn’t have an intelligent thing to add to the controversy, was alarming. The fact that so many people simply didn’t get WHY the protests were even happening to begin with was disturbing.

Is our country really that dense? Truly?

For those out there that honestly didn’t know what the issues were behind the Tea Party protest, let me enlighten you.

Five Reasons behind the Tea Party:

1. We don’t mind paying reasonable taxes, but we don’t believe our wealth should be “spread around” in the manner Congress and the President are proposing.

2. We believed Democrats when they spent the past eight years criticizing President Bush for deficit spending, and we are upset that in just over three months President Obama, along with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, have tripled the deficit.

3. We believe the “Stimulus” bill contained too much pork and not enough stimulus. We believed candidate Obama when he promised to reduce earmarks and reform the earmark process, then were outraged when he signed a bill containing thousands of earmarks.

4. We oppose the current bailout mentality and oppose the bailouts, both past and future. We not only fear the amount of debt funding the bailouts adds to your children and grandchildren, but fear the exercise of control the government is exerting over those it “bails out.”

5. We believe businesses should not be under attack by the United States government, especially during a tough economy and we oppose increased government control of the private sector. We don’t believe the way to promote and encourage strong businesses and entrepreneurial spirit is to attack CEOs for taking bonuses the government had already approved and then tax those who did not return them at 90 percent. We don’t believe the President should be asking for the resignation of the CEO of General Motors or any other American company. We don’t believe the President should be capping the salaries of American executives or of any other American working in the private sector. We don’t believe the President of the United States should be guaranteeing our car warranty.

In essence, the government is driving for more control, which if left unchecked, would result in a socialist country.

And history proves, socialism does not work. It can’t, and won’t work, for our country, either.

The right is not OPPOSED to taxes. (Please read that sentence again). The right is OPPOSED to over-taxing, gross and negligent spending, and too much government control.

The protests are not about Democrats vs. Republicans. The protests were about trying to retain the core values of this country. It was about protesting the new direction and changes that are taking place at alarming speeds. It was about making our voices heard – for this country is about US, not about our GOVERNMENT.

When people resort to insults and try and distract others with inconsequential (and disturbing) issues/jokes, it only proves that there is a percentage of our population that honestly doesn’t understand what is happening around them. So, to compensate for that confusion, they allow their anger and frustration to manifest itself into stupidity.

And I read / witnessed A LOT of stupidity yesterday, from BOTH sides of the Tea party fence.

The bottom line is, we need to find a happy medium, something we can all (somewhat) agree upon. I think our current administration wants to do the right thing, I just think they are trying to control the situation instead of guiding our situation down a more fair, and proven, path.

I have no intentions of turning this blog into a political arena. But I won’t suppress issues I feel strongly about simply because it’s not politically correct or it makes readers uncomfortable.

I can not, and will not, passively sit by and watch our country be turned upside down and left for our children to deal with.

THAT is simply not right, no matter what side of the fence you sit on.

___________________________